U.S. dismantles crypto money laundering service E-Note, indicts Russian citizen

Federal prosecutors in Michigan, in cooperation with international partners, have dismantled an online cryptocurrency money laundering service called E-Note and announced an indictment against the defendant operator, who is accused of being a Russian citizen. According to the Eastern Michigan Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the FBI, Michigan State Police, and foreign law enforcement agencies seized the entire online infrastructure of E-Note in a campaign targeting a network believed to serve transnational cybercriminal organizations.

Authorities have charged Mykhalio Petrovich Chudnovets, 39, with conspiracy to commit money laundering, a crime with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. According to the indictment, Chudnovets assisted cybercriminal groups in transferring illegal funds across borders and converting cryptocurrency into fiat currency. Since 2017, over $70 million of illicit funds from ransomware and other cybercrimes are believed to have passed through E-Note and related “money mule” networks. Investigators have seized servers, mobile applications, and transaction data from E-Note to facilitate further investigations.