The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an order to cut crypto exchange MEXC Global off from the U.S. financial system, naming it a “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. FinCEN accused MEXC of moving at least $16 billion linked to illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026, including nearly $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion.
FinCEN said MEXC’s anti-money-laundering controls had “severe deficiencies” and that it transacted with sanctioned Russian exchanges Garantex and Grinex as recently as June 2026. The order uses a provision of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act rather than a standard sanctions designation.
