A Russian Interior Ministry official received a $53.2 million bribe in bitcoins and ETH from the head of a cryptocurrency exchange, one of the country's largest newspapers reported this week.
According to Kommersant, the men in question are Georgy Satyukov and Dmitry Sokolov, employees of "one of the ministry's most secretive departments.
The media and Russia's main Telegram channel claim that the two men worked in the Department of Special Technical Measures. This bureau is codenamed "Department K.
The two allegedly received bribes in #cryptocurrency between March 19 and October 2021.
According to news reports on Telegram, Department K is a top-secret cybercrime investigation unit. Apparently, the unit was investigating the #cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e.
The founder of BTC-e was a computer expert named Alexander Vinnik. Vinnik worked for the company from 2011 to 2017; in 2017, he was arrested in Greece on fraud and money laundering charges.
The media explained that BTC-e's business operations were taken over by Wex, a Singapore-based company. However, questions remained about what should happen to BTC-e customers' funds.
Law enforcement authorities allegedly believe that a Wex executive named Alexei Ivanov provided #BTC and #BTC coins to Satyukov and Sokolov to "protect" them from police investigations.
Ivanov reportedly sent a total of 2,200 #BTC and "over 10,000,000 ETH" to Satyukov and Sokolov.
The media claim that the money was "transferred to Satukov's cryptocurrency wallet through Sokolov.
"Kommersant" reported that the couple was arrested "in absentia" after fleeing the country. According to unnamed sources, they were living in Dubai, one of them in an apartment in the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
The media claimed that investigators "learned about alleged corruption in the Interior Ministry sector" from Ivanov.
He is accused of embezzling money from a cryptocurrency exchange in 2023.
Interior Ministry, Moscow, Russia.
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