Sergei Mendeleev — a Russian entrepreneur and co-founder of Garantex, associated with the Exved and InDeFi projects. His profile brings together two distinct stories: the creation of a cryptocurrency exchange and the development of international payment services. The US authorities have included him on their sanctions list; he himself disputes their characterisation of his business. [4][6]
Biography and involvement in the founding of Garantex
Date of birth as recorded by OFAC — 2 November 1976, nationality: Russian. [1] According to the ICIJ, Mendeleev was involved in the founding of Garantex in 2019; in 2021, his name on the list of shareholders of the Estonian company was replaced by that of Irina Chernyavskaya. [2]
Removal from the register of owners and the termination of all business ties are two different matters. The first entry helps to reconstruct the company’s legal history. To draw the second conclusion, it is necessary to examine management, contracts and financial relationships in subsequent years separately.
Exved: public launch of international payments
On 7 December 2023, Cointelegraph reported on the launch of Exved for cross-border payments by Russian companies. InDeFi Bank was named among the partners. The platform stated that it serves legal entities in compliance with anti-money laundering requirements. [3]
In a comment to this publication, Mendeleev stated that the project’s mechanism had been reviewed and approved by the Bank of Russia and Rosfinmonitoring. This is the entrepreneur’s statement: the publication of the interview does not replace a separate document from the regulators confirming such approval. [3]
What Transparency International Russia has found out
The authors of the Crypto Laundromat investigation looked into Exved through correspondence and negotiations whilst posing as a potential client. In October 2024, they posed as a fictitious electronics exporter from Hong Kong. According to their account, following a brief verification process, they were referred to a payment intermediary. [5]
The documents mention the Russian company Paysol and the Hong Kong-based Feilian Company Limited. Journalists reported that the services under discussion covered payments for dual-use goods, including microelectronics and telecommunications equipment. They identified the lack of transparency regarding intermediaries and customer verification as significant risks. [5]
The evidential value of this episode lies in the published description of specific negotiations and the documents provided. It characterises the aspect of the service’s operations under scrutiny, but does not prove that all of Exved’s clients’ transactions were criminal or that Mendeleev personally authorised each one.
Sanctions and Mendeleev’s response
On 14 August 2025, OFAC imposed sanctions on Mendeleev, Exved and InDeFi. The US Treasury stated that the entrepreneur controls these projects and linked Exved to the circumvention of US financial restrictions. [1][4]
In a response to Bits.media on the same day, Mendeleev stated that he had had no connection with Garantex for around five years. He disputed the description of the activities of InDeFi and Exved: according to him, the former project had not been operational for a long time, whilst the latter had not carried out any transactions and did not have its own legal entity. The entrepreneur also distanced himself from the management of Grinex. [6]
Thus, the official US assessment and Mendeleev’s own public position differ. To properly investigate this dispute, documents are required regarding the actual operators of the services, existing contracts and the distribution of revenue, rather than merely promotional claims or the mere existence of the website.
Legal status and links to the drug market
In the US Department of Justice’s statement on the Garantex case dated 7 March 2025, Beschekov and Mira Serda are named as defendants. Mendeleev is not listed amongst the defendants in this statement. His confirmed status in the document package under consideration is that of a person included on the sanctions list. [7][1]
Information regarding Garantex’s client transactions cannot automatically be interpreted as evidence of Mendeleev’s personal involvement in ‘Khimprom’ or his ownership of Mega. This dossier focuses on verifiable business roles, sanctions and the dispute over the structure of international payments.
