The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned a Russian vulnerability brokerage network under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA). The network, led by Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk and his company Matrix LLC, known as Operation Zero, is accused of acquiring and reselling stolen cyberattack tools intended for U.S. government use. These tools were allegedly obtained from a U.S. company and sold using cryptocurrency. Australian national Peter Williams has admitted to stealing trade secrets between 2022 and 2025, selling them to Operation Zero for millions in cryptocurrency. As a result of the sanctions, assets of the involved parties within U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting transactions with them, with violations potentially leading to civil or criminal penalties.