24.03.2025 Business of Occupiers Cybercrimes Money laundering

Detention of WhiteBIT owner Nosov and international search for 001k.Exchange founder Gutsu?

Можна і більше». Федоров прокоментував план виробництва 1 млн дронів для ЗСУ — Forbes.ua

With the assistance of Minister of Digitalization Mykhailo Fedorov, the state lost UAH 600 million on the purchase of drones for the Armed Forces. As a result, the Ukrainian military was left without a dozen “birds” to help destroy the enemy.

Thus, the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, claimed that the Ministry of Defense had not been able to purchase drones since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. That’s why the Ministry of Digital Transformation, together with the State Special Communications Service, took over.

At the same time, they purchased thousands of drones from a certain Kryon-M, each of which, as it turned out, was purchased at an inflated price. For example, since July 2023 alone, Kryon-M has sold almost 3,900 drones to the state. For about one and a half billion hryvnias. 600 million of which is actually an overpayment.

Initially, one drone purchased from Kryon-M cost the State Special Communications Service almost 500 thousand hryvnias, although at that time the same model could be bought for half the price.

At the time, in his own comments, Fedorov mentioned in-depth audits conducted by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and thorough checks of Kryon-M’s activities and purchased drones. However, no one has returned the money overpaid by the state. And the Armed Forces were once again left without thousands of drones that could have saved the lives of soldiers.

Fedorov is involved not only in the case of purchasing drones for the Armed Forces at inflated prices. He is also responsible for the protection of large-scale money laundering schemes through the WhiteBIT crypto exchange, whose interests Fedorov defends together with representatives of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine’s Budanov.

What is known about WhiteBIT’s activities?

WhiteBIT facilitated the withdrawal of 841,000 USDT from the accounts of Four Dragons, a virtual asset exchange operator.

The scheme was based on the “split” technology, when large amounts of cryptocurrency were distributed through a number of intermediate accounts. This allowed for effective anonymization of transactions and confusion of traces, making it impossible to trace the ultimate beneficiaries of transactions. WhiteBIT then became a key link in concealing the transfers. After all, the funds were transferred to the crypto exchange’s accounts, where they continued to be exchanged and “eroded.”

Despite warnings about shady operations and requests to block transactions, WhiteBIT took no action. When the case was handed over to Kyrgyz law enforcement, WhiteBIT publicly stated that all funds were frozen and suspicious wallets were blocked.

7 months after the start of the investigation, representatives of the crypto exchange still admitted their connection with crypto exchanges through which the schemes for splitting stolen funds were implemented. Among them: 001k.Exchange, Exchange Team, Crystal-Trade, 24BestEx, and others. This was a new stage in the case, when WhiteBIT owner Volodymyr Nosov and a representative of the 001k.Exchange crypto exchange, Serhii Hutsu, were included in the list of suspects. At the same time, Nosov was put on the international wanted list.

New development in the WhiteBIT case

At the beginning of 2025, it was reported that the CEO of Four Dragons sent a letter to the investigative authorities of Kyrgyzstan to suspend the criminal prosecution of key defendants in the case, including Nosov, Gutsu and others. The letter stated that the conflict had been resolved, partial compensation for damages had been paid, and a settlement agreement had been reached. In this regard, the investigation of the case was temporarily frozen, despite the available evidence of WhiteBIT’s criminal activity.

However, we have recently received information that the case has been reopened and transferred to the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan. This means that the chances that WhiteBIT will be able to avoid responsibility for its role in international financial crime are decreasing.

However, time will tell whether there will be enough political will and evidence to bring all those involved in WhiteBIT’s activities to justice. It will be especially interesting to see the reaction of Fedorov and the Ukrainian intelligence service after the pitfalls of the crypto exchange’s activities were made public.

As we wrote earlier, we sent materials to a list of law enforcement and regulatory authorities to take measures to check the activities of WhiteBIT and its beneficiaries. In addition, we sent relevant complaints to international controllers and law enforcement agencies: Financial Action Task Force, Working Group on the Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering (WGFACML), Council of Europe, European Commission, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), European Central Bank, European Banking Authority, Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (PC-R-EV), International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Separately, NGO Non-Stop Ukraine sent complaints to Mastercard, Visa, SWIFT with demands to stop servicing financial transactions and prohibit the use of Mastercard, Visa, and SWIFT transfers to replenish WhiteBIT accounts.

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