U.S. Brings Criminal Complaint and Imposes Sanctions against Russians for Election Interference

On September 10, 2020, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Virginia brought a criminal complaint against a Russian national for his alleged role in a conspiracy to use the stolen identities of real U.S. persons to open fraudulent accounts at banking and cryptocurrency exchanges.[1]  Also on September 10, 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Andriy Derkach, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, saying he has been “an active Russian agent for over a decade” and accusing him of disseminating “edited audiotapes” and “unsubstantiated allegations against U.S. and international political figures.” The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions against three employees of the Internet Research Agency (IRA).  IRA is a troll farm in Russia that disseminated disinformation on social media as part of the Russian election interference campaign in 2016.