Another member of Russian crypto pyramid Finiko arrested in the United Arab Emirates – Bitcoin News

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Law enforcement authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a senior representative of Finiko, wanted for his role in the crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors around the world. This is the second arrest in the Gulf state of a high-ranking member of the pyramid announced last month.

Finiko Fraudster caught by Interpol in the United Arab Emirates, Russia requests his extradition

Another individual involved in organizing Russia’s largest financial pyramid in recent years, Finiko, has been taken into custody in the UAE. Edward Sabirov’s detention in the Arab country comes after it was announced last month that Ponzi scheme co-founder Zygmunt Zygmuntovich had been arrested. Both are said to have played key roles in embezzling millions of dollars from fraud victims.

Sabirov was placed on an international wanted list on November 12, the Russian prosecutor general’s office told the RIA Novosti news agency. The UAE National Bureau of Interpol announced his arrest on November 30. Russia’s National Central Bureau of Interpol has already asked UAE authorities for a 60-day detention and declared Russia’s intention to seek his extradition from the country’s Justice Ministry.

Another of Finikos’ most prominent representatives, Marat Sabirov, is still wanted. Investigators point out that the Sabirovs were directly linked to the top management of the crypto-pyramid, being close associates of its founder and mastermind, Kirill Doronin, who has been in Russian prison since July 2021. Together with Zygmuntovich, they managed to leave the Russia as the regime was collapsing.

Finiko, which was never incorporated, was based in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. It had branches in more than 70 other Russian regions that promoted investments in a virtual platform, offering extraordinarily high returns of up to 5% per day. Earlier this year, the Russian Interior Ministry said it had received around 10,000 applications from victims claiming losses exceeding 5 billion rubles (nearly $80 million).

However, the actual damage caused by Finikos’ activities is likely much higher. The Ponzi scheme has raised capital from unsuspecting investors in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, EU countries like Germany, Austria and Hungary, the United States and elsewhere. Many victims were tricked into sending cryptocurrency to Finikos wallets and according to a report by Chainalysis, the pyramid received over $1.5 billion worth of bitcoins between December 2019 and August 2021.

Besides Doronin, Zygmuntovich and the Sabirovs, more than 20 other people have been charged with participating in the massive fraud. The list includes Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdullina as well as Finikos deputy chairman Ilgiz Shakirov, who was arrested in Tatarstan. Anna Serikova, executive director of Finikos better known by the pseudonym of Tiffany, was also arrested.

Tags in this story Arrest, Arrested, co-founder, Crypto, crypto pyramid, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, detainee, detention, Edward Sabirov, Executive, extradition, extradition request, Finiko, founder, INTERPOL, Marat Sabirov , Member, Ponzi, Ponzi Scheme , Pyramid, Pyramid scheme, Russia, russian, Sabirov, Sabirovs, tatarstan, uae, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich, Zygmuntovich

Do you think UAE law enforcement will also find and arrest Marat Sabirov or other members of Finiko? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a tech-savvy Eastern European journalist who loves Hitchens’ quote: Being a writer is who I am, rather than what I do. Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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