US Department of the Treasury has excluded three Russian companies from its sanctions list. The sanctions were lifted from companies Yunikom, Vertikal and TSAO (Tsentr Avtoobsluzhivaniya), according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Restrictive measures were imposed on December 5. The US officials then said that the three companies were linked to Denis Gusev, and the agency alleged that he had helped hackers conduct financial operations.

Gusev, the owner of Yunikom and Vertikal, said that he had nothing to do with Evil Corp, adding that sanctions could be imposed against his companies by accident, Vedomosti daily reported.

The owner of TSAO, Aleksandr Lelekov also said he initially took the sanctions as a spoof.