As a seasoned crypto investor with over two decades of experience in the ever-evolving world of digital currencies, I find the recent bribery scandal involving Marat Tambiyev and the Infraud Organization to be both disheartening and illuminating.
In a Russian court, Marat Tambiyev, a previous mid-level investigator, received a sentence of 16 years imprisonment. This came after he was caught receiving approximately 1,032 bitcoins, worth around $65 million at the current exchange rate, as a bribe from hackers that he was supposed to be investigating.
The bribe had its roots traced back to hackers within the Infraud Organization, a group that Tambiyev was assigned to investigate while employed by the Russian Investigative Committee.
Russia’s Bribery Scandal
Since 2011, Tambiev has been associated with the ICR, handling critical roles in different investigative units spread throughout the country. Prior to his fall from grace, he ascended through the hierarchy and was appointed as head of the investigative division in Moscow’s Tverskoy district. It is claimed that on April 7, 2022, the accused officer accepted a substantial bribe from a hacking group.
In a court case filed at the Nikulinsky District Court in Moscow, it’s stated that Tambiev was allegedly bribed with Bitcoin (BTC). The agreement was such that if the group’s illicit assets were not seized, two of its members, Kirill Samokutyaevsky and Konstantin Bergmanov, would be spared from serving prison time.
Back in early 2023, when the initial bribe was exposed, its equivalent value in bitcoin stood at approximately 1.6 billion Russian Rubles. This surpassed the earlier record for bribery in Russia, previously held at 1.4 billion rubles, which had been paid out incrementally.
A search of Tambiev’s Moscow apartment led to the discovery of an Apple MacBook Pro, which investigators eventually accessed several months later. Inside, they found a folder labeled “Pension,” which contained keys to two online wallets holding a total of 1,032 bitcoins. The stash was seized and transferred to a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet.
Tambiyev asserted his innocence, stating that he had been framed and his actions were actually aimed at recovering money linked to illegal activities for the benefit of the state. In relation to the same case, Kristina Lyakhovenko, a colleague under Tambiyev’s supervision, received a nine-year prison sentence. The legal teams for both defendants have expressed intentions to lodge appeals.
In addition, in the year 2021, two individuals associated with Infraud – Sergey Medvedev from Russia and Marko Leopard from North Macedonia – were given sentences of between five and ten years in a US federal prison for the sale of misappropriated personal data, credit card details, malware, and other illicit merchandise.
Mass Arrests in Russia
Although showing increased interest in the crypto industry following a complete ban in 2022, Russia has continued to tread carefully and has been actively probing instances of illicit activities. Lately, law enforcement officials have apprehended approximately 100 individuals suspected of cybercrimes associated with the anonymous payment system UAPS and cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex.
It’s been uncovered that certain individuals engaged in illicit actions, such as money laundering and the trading of bank cards. The U.S. Treasury Department has disclosed that Cryptex has handled over $51 million from ransomware attacks and a staggering sum of over $720 million in transactions linked to services commonly employed by Russian cybercriminals, including mixing services and the embargoed exchange Garantex.
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2024-10-13 04:48