Co-Founder of Russia’s Largest Crypto Pyramid Finiko Arrested in UAE

Co-Founder of Russia’s Largest Crypto Pyramid Finiko Arrested in UAE

Russian media has reported that one of the founders of the most notorious Ponzi scheme, Finiko, is in detention in the United Arab Emirates. The close associate of the crypto pyramid’s mastermind left the Russian Federation as the scam unfolded last summer.

Russian Extradition Request is Under Review

Zygmunt Zygmuntovich, a co-founder of the largest Ponzi scheme in Russia, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Russian portal "Business Online" reported on Thursday. The arrest has been confirmed by the Prosecutor General’s Office in Russia.

The online portal reports that a German male national, aged 24 years, has been held in a prison in the Gulf state since early September. Russian prosecutors told the media they were informed about his detention by Interpol. Russia has already filed an extradition request with the Ministry of Justice in the UAE, which is currently under consideration by the competent authorities in Abu Dhabi.

Zygmuntovich was put on an international wanted list when a Russian law enforcement agency launched a criminal investigation into the fraudulent investment scheme, along with Marat Sabirov and Edward Sabirov, two other associates of Finiko’s founder, Kirill Doronin, who has been in jail since July 2021. The three men managed to leave Russia as the financial pyramid was crumbling.

Whereabouts of Sabirovs Unknown

The whereabouts of the Sabirovs are unknown, and the exact circumstances of Zygmuntovich’s arrest are not known. But knowledgeable sources have told "Business Online" that his two former partners might have tipped off security forces about his location.

There are 22 people among the defendants in the criminal case, including Finiko’s top promoters. Two of them are women named Lilia Nurieva and Dina Gabdullina, as well as Finiko’s Vice President and Doronin’s right-hand man, Ilgiz Shakirov, who was arrested in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. The notorious Ponzi scheme was launched in the Republic of Tatarstan. Last November, Finiko’s mastermind offered to testify against 44 of his accomplices.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has disclosed that the Finiko members and executives have collected about 5 billion rubles (over USD 80 million) in the Ponzi scheme. The money has been collected from investors in Russia and several other countries in the former Soviet Union, EU nations such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, the US, and other countries.

Many of the victims were duped into sending cryptocurrency to phantom wallet addresses controlled by Finiko in exchange for high monthly returns. Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis reports that the pyramid received more than USD 1.5 billion's worth of bitcoin between December 2019 and August 2021.