In The UAE, The Largest Crypto Ponzi Scheme Fraud In Russia Was Officially Arrested By Interpol

Founder of trading company Finiko was arrested in the UAE. (Photo; Doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA One of the founders of crypto trading company Finiko, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich has reportedly been arrested by the authorities. The arrests were made in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday, November 17 yesterday. Finiko is Russia's leading crypto trading company.

According to a Business Online report, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich's arrest has been confirmed by the Russian Attorney General's Office. The report also states that a 24-year-old man, a German, has been detained in a prison in the Gulf state since early September.

Russian prosecutors told news outlets that they were informed of their detention by the local Interpol bureau. Knowing this, the Russian government submitted a request for extradition to the UAE. The UAE Ministry of Justice itself is considering the filing.

Launching Bitcoin.com News, Zygmuntovich was added to the international wanted list when Russian law enforcement launched a criminal investigation into a fraudulent investment scheme, along with Marat Sabilov and Edward Sabirov, two other co-founders of Finiko, Kirill Doronin, who has been jailed since July 2021. The three men managed to leave Russia when their company collapsed.

Meanwhile, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich's colleague, Sabrirov, is currently unknown. Even so, the report states that his former colleague has notified the authorities of Sabilov's location.

Not only the names mentioned above, the criminal case also dragged 22 other people, including the main promoter Finiko. Among them were two women, Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdullina, as well as Vice President Finiko and Doronin's right-hand man, Ilgiz Shakirov, who were arrested in the Tatarstan Republic, Russia, where the Ponzi scheme was based. Last November, Finiko's mastermind offered to testify against 44 of his accomplices.

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, Finiko members and executives have withdrawn at least 5 billion rubles (more than 80 million US dollars) into pyramid scheme fraud, but the total actual loss is likely to be much higher. The money comes from deceived investors in Russia and several other countries in the former Soviets, European Union countries, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, the US, and elsewhere.

In launching the crime, the victims were led to send their cryptocurrency to the wallet address owned by Finiko. The blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis explained that the company received more than USD 1.5 billion in Bitcoin form from December 2019 to August 2021. The victims were deceived by the promise of a 30 percent monthly high return given by Finiko.

At first glance on Finiko

According to Yahoo Finance reports, Finiko has been operating between 2019 and 2021, offering investment opportunities through crypto, including deposit services with 20-30% APY (yearly percentage results), according to The Bell. The client invested in bitcoin, which Finiko exchanged for the trading company's original token, FNK.

In June, Russian crypto news outlet Forklog reported that Finiko stopped withdrawing bitcoin from its website, only allowing users to take genuine FNK tokens, which lost 97 percent of its value in three weeks.

Forklog also reports Finiko is also demanding investors submit their important data including income reports, banking transactions in one year, and tax payments reports, as well as recommendation letters from the bank. Russian authorities include Finiko in the list of companies that have signs of fraudulent Ponzi schemes.