Co-Founder of Russia’s Largest Crypto Pyramid Finiko Arrested in UAE – Zygmunt Zygmuntovich, a co-founder and high-ranking representative of possibly the greatest Ponzi scam in Russia since MMM in the 1990s, has been apprehended in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a Thursday report by the Russian portal Business Online. The arrest was confirmed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. According to the report, the 24-year-old German national has been kept in a prison in the Gulf state since the beginning of September.
The local Interpol branch informed Russian prosecutors of his arrest, according to the media outlet. Russia has already submitted an extradition request with the Ministry of Justice of the United Arab Emirates, which is presently being reviewed by the appropriate authorities in Abu Dhabi. Zygmuntovich was placed on an international wanted list alongside Marat Sabirov and Edward Sabirov, two other accomplices of Finiko’s founder Kirill Doronin, who has been jailed since July 2021.
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The three men successfully fled Russia as the financial pyramid collapsed. The location of the Sabirovs are currently unknown, and the circumstances surrounding Zygmuntovich’s imprisonment remain obscure. However, credible sources have informed Business Online that his two former partners may have informed security personnel of his location.
Included among the additional 22 defendants in the criminal case are Finiko’s senior promoters. Two ladies, Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdullina, as well as Ilgiz Shakirov, Vice President of Finiko and Doronin’s right-hand man, were arrested in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, where the Ponzi scheme was based. In November of last year, Finiko’s mastermind volunteered to testify against 44 of his accomplices.
According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Finiko members and executives have lured at least 5 billion rubles (about $80 million) to the pyramid scheme, although it is likely that the actual amount of money lost is significantly larger. The funds originated from fraudulent investors in Russia and several other former Soviet states, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, the United States, and other countries.
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Numerous victims were urged to send cryptocurrency to wallet addresses maintained by Finiko, a fictitious entity. According to a report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, between December 2019 and August 2021, the pyramid received more than $1.5 billion in bitcoin. The coins were deposited by 800,000 individuals who were enticed with monthly payouts of up to 30%.
