Co-Founder of Russia’s Biggest Cryptocurrency Pyramid Finiko Arrested in UAE – Bitcoin News

Finiko, one of the founders of Russia’s most notorious Ponzi scheme in recent years, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates, according to Russian media reports. A close associate of the crypto pyramid mastermind left the Russian Federation last summer as the scam collapsed.

UAE Authorities Consider Russian Extradition Request for Top Finiko Member

Zygmunt Zygmuntovich, co-founder and high-level representative of what is probably Russia’s largest Ponzi scheme since MMM in the 1990s, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the Russian portal Business. Online,” reported Thursday. The arrest was confirmed by the Russian Public Prosecutor’s Office.

A 24-year-old German citizen has been in a Gulf country prison since early September, according to the publication. A Russian prosecutor told news outlets he was informed of his detention by a local Interpol bureau. .

Zygmuntovich, along with two other associates of Finiko founder Kirill Doronin, Marat Sabirov and Edward Sabirov, who have been in prison since July 2021, said Russian law enforcement had been accused of crimes against illicit investment schemes. I was placed on the international wanted list when the investigation was launched. The man managed to leave Russia because the financial pyramid was collapsing.

At this point Savilov’s whereabouts are unknown, as is the exact circumstances under which Zygmuntovich was arrested. However, sources tell Business Online that his two former partners may have leaked his whereabouts to security forces.

Defendants in the criminal case are another 22 people, including Finiko’s top promoter. Among them are her two women, Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdulina, Finiko’s vice president and Doronin’s right-hand man, Irgiz Shakirov. Ilgiz Shakirov was arrested in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, home of the Ponzi scheme. Last November, Finico’s mastermind offered to testify against his 44 accomplices.

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, Finiko members and executives have attracted at least 5 billion rubles (more than $80 million) to the pyramid, but the actual total losses may be higher. The money came from fraudulent investors from Russia and several other countries in the former Soviet bloc, as well as EU member states Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the United States.

Many of the victims were asked to send cryptocurrency to a wallet address controlled by Finiko, a virtual entity. According to a report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, Pyramid received more than $1.5 billion in Bitcoin between December 2019 and August 2021. This coin was sent as 800,000 deposits by people lured by promises of up to 30% monthly returns.

Are you expecting any other arrests in the Finiko case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tasev

Lubomir Tasev, a tech-savvy journalist from Eastern Europe, loves what Hitchens says. In addition to cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and fintech, international politics and economics are sources of inspiration.