Russian crypto fraudster Yuriy Goognin, after striking a deal with the FBI, has begun exposing the Evita network, through which more than $2 billion was laundered for Russia
The United States continues to expand the case against Russian creator of the crypto platform Evita, Yuriy Goognin, who was arrested last summer.
Gugnin (also known as Yuriy Mashukov, also as George Goognin) has pleaded guilty to laundering funds through his crypto companies Evita Investments and Evita Pay, evading US sanctions, operating illegally as a payment processor, fraud, and other crimes. As a result, he agreed to cooperate with investigators, and within less than a month and a half, his business partner Sergey BTR was arrested in Cyprus. He is now expected to also face trial in the United States. This is clearly not the last arrest linked to the “Evita scheme”: Gugnin had dozens, if not hundreds, of partners in Russia and abroad, including representatives of the GRU and FSB, as well as advisers linked to Sergei Chemezov.
Yuriy Goognin is a graduate of Bauman Moscow State Technical University. In the 2000s, he led web development at ADV, later becoming managing partner at the RIK Business School and the consulting company Komanda-A. In Russia, he owned several companies, including firms under the “Karma” brand, where his business partner was Moscow-based Sergey Bochkov. It is also known that another long-term partner of Gugnin was Artyom Laptev, a former employee of Troika Dialog.
The Karma platform they launched in Russia provided P2P lending and even held a Central Bank licence. However, market participants openly called it a pyramid scheme and warned investors of risks. The project gradually collapsed over several years and was later transferred to another owner; in 2024 it was relaunched under the name Investin.vc (LLC “Invest In”). However, Gugnin retained the Estonian legal entity of Karma — KARMA PEOPLE OÜ.
Gugnin moved permanently to the United States in 2022. Before that, he announced recruitment of talented programmers for his new project on social media and said he had secured an investor: “We raised a round from a friendly VC fund with a family-like atmosphere of mutual support. It is more of a venture builder/studio than just money.” According to US corporate records, Gugnin is the sole founder of Evita Investments and Evita Pay, although the latter lists a president named Theodor Darenkov — likely Moscow-born Fyodor Darenkov, a Russian-American who moved to the US as a school student.
Within a couple of years, Gugnin turned the US crypto company into a covert financial channel, moving more than $530 million through the US financial system (and facilitating transactions worth around $2 billion in total), helping sanctioned Russian banks process payments. His operations spanned China, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, and other countries.
Gugnin received funds in USDT, converted them into fiat dollars, deposited them into accounts at a New York bank, and then used them to pay for goods and services required by Russian clients. At first, he used the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, but after it came under sanctions, he had to find an alternative.
US investigators reportedly benefited from Gugnin’s meticulous record-keeping in his iCloud account. It reportedly contained contacts from GRU and FSB officers (including a money-laundering scheme via China proposed by an FSB-linked figure), as well as assistants to members of the State Duma, an adviser to Sergei Chemezov (Rostec), and a representative of the Iranian government. Gugnin also kept detailed financial spreadsheets. For example, records included an address and email of a wealthy Moscow client for whom Gugnin purchased art at a US auction worth $43,500. For another Russian client from Stavropol region, he transferred €150,000 to France to cover yacht maintenance.
Purchases also included Western technologies banned for export to Russia, as well as luxury goods: optics, electronics, smart watches, auction paintings, dental equipment and implants, servers for Russian AI developers, etc. Some of the technology reportedly went to engineering units of Rosatom.
Gugnin also managed to register a company in the United Kingdom six months before his arrest. It was initially called EVITA INVESTMENTS INC LTD, later renamed ONE EVE INC LTD in March 2025. Due to missed filings, the company now faces penalties and potential forced liquidation.
BlockFills, a crypto platform used by Gugnin’s US companies, has also come under scrutiny. Its parent company, Delaware-registered Reliz Technology Group Holdings Inc., is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, making recovery of frozen funds unlikely. Its leadership may also face questioning by US authorities. Similar risks reportedly extend to other partners, including Dubai-based travel agency TRVL and French company Ponant Explorations.
According to the report, Gugnin’s network included dozens, if not hundreds, of partners across multiple jurisdictions. By cooperating with investigators, he has effectively agreed to identify them. Any travel outside Russia and allied jurisdictions could now pose serious legal risk to those involved, while Gugnin himself was facing up to 30 years in prison. By pleading guilty and cooperating, he may see his sentence reduced to around 10 years.
Technology & Business Editor
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