Two men living in Batumi, Georgia, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments tied to a crypto mixing service called AudiA6. The platform allegedly processed more than 10,333 BTC, roughly $389 million, since it began operating in 2021.

Ruslan Igorevich Tkachuk, a 37-year-old Ukrainian national, and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev, a 25-year-old Russian national, each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The arrests on June 11 were part of a coordinated international enforcement operation involving the US Secret Service and Europol, among other agencies.

How AudiA6 allegedly worked

AudiA6 reportedly charged fees between 3% and 5.5% for this service, with some reports suggesting rates climbed as high as 10%.

The platform didn’t operate in isolation. According to the charges, AudiA6 maintained connections to the Dark2Web cybercrime forum, where illicit activities were negotiated. The mixing service was embedded in a broader ecosystem that connected ransomware operators, darknet market vendors, and other cybercriminals who needed to clean their earnings.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has described AudiA6 as a prolific laundering operation within the cybercriminal ecosystem.

A multi-year, multi-continent takedown

The arrests are the latest chapter in a sustained, multi-agency effort stretching back at least to September 2025, when an individual connected to the AudiA6 network was arrested in Poland.

The June 11 action went beyond just handcuffs. Authorities seized servers, domains, and electronic devices linked to AudiA6’s infrastructure. Associated crypto assets were also frozen, effectively cutting off the platform’s operational capacity from multiple angles simultaneously.

The $389 million figure puts AudiA6 in notable company. While it doesn’t approach the scale of previously sanctioned mixers like Tornado Cash or Blender.io, it represents a substantial volume that underscores how even mid-tier mixing operations can process hundreds of millions in questionable funds over a relatively short period.

What this means for investors

The compliance burden is worth watching closely. When law enforcement demonstrates that it can trace, freeze, and seize crypto assets across international borders, it validates the effectiveness of blockchain forensics, giving regulators ammunition to push for stricter know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering requirements.

Since 2021, the same period AudiA6 was allegedly operational, the DOJ, Treasury Department, and international partners have dramatically escalated their targeting of crypto infrastructure used for laundering.