Opposition press links Russian lawmaker to local crypto OTC

cointelegraph.com:

A Russian legislator who was one of the authors of the bill to legalize cryptocurrency mining in the country has been tied to a local over-the-counter (OTC) exchange known as Bankoff.

Russian opposition activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky linked Bankoff OTC to lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi in an article of London-based investigative project Dossier Center on Dec. 19.

The 6,000-word article was accompanied by a video titled “Crypto-Kremlin: How the authorities launder Bitcoin,” released on Khodorkovksy’s Live YouTube channel.

According to Dossier, Bankoff is the most active peer-to-peer trader using Russian rubles on the major global crypto exchange Binance. As previously reported, Binance continued to serve non-sanctioned Russians despite the European Union banning all crypto transactions for Russia in October. The Bankoff OTC platform accepts only cash from customers and has almost no Anti-Money Laundering or Know Your Customer controls.

Как думаете, кто может контролировать криптообменник, который приносит миллионы долларов в год? Естественно, тот, кто сидит в Госдуме и занимается регулированием крипты. В треде — всё самое важное о новом расследовании.https://t.co/ndd62kxy3n

The trader's office is reportedly on the 65th floor of a building in the Moscow City skyscraper district. The premises belong to the Bratsk Electricity Network, a company that distributes electricity around the east-central Russian city of Bratsk, which is a center of cryptocurrency mining.

According to Dossier, Bankoff could make up to $20,000 daily on up to 4% in commissions on users’ crypto transactions. Lugovoi’s wife Ksenia Lugovaya has reportedly also owned a share in Bratsk Electricity Network since 2018. A declaration filed by her husband and purportedly