Russia has sentenced Marat Tambiyev, a broken-down mid-ranking investigator, to 16 years in jail after he was caught accepting a bribe of 1,032 bitcoins, which is for the time being price spherical $65 million, from hackers he was investigating.
The bribe originated from individuals of the Infraud Organization hacking group, which Tambiyev was tasked with probing while working for the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR).
Russia’s Bribery Scandal
Tambiev has been with the ICR since 2011, taking up key responsibilities in hundreds of investigative departments across the country. Earlier than his downfall, he rose by technique of the ranks to turn out to be the pinnacle of the investigative division in Moscow’s Tverskoy district. The disgraced officer allegedly got a large bribe on April 7, 2022, from the hacking group.
In accordance to a lawsuit filed within the Nikulinsky District Court docket of Moscow, Tambiev accredited the BTC bribe on the condition that the group’s unlawful resources would no longer be confiscated, which allowed two of its individuals – Kirill Samokutyaevsky and Konstantin Bergmanov – to support a ways from jail.
When the bribe was first uncovered in early 2023, the 1,032 bitcoins were price 1.6 billion rubles, surpassing Russia’s outdated bribery epic of 1.4 billion rubles, which had been paid in installments.
A search of Tambiev’s Moscow condo led to the invention of an Apple MacBook Official, which investigators at final accessed several months later. Internal, they stumbled on a folder labeled “Pension,” which contained keys to two on-line wallets keeping a entire of 1,032 bitcoins. The stash was seized and transferred to a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet.
Tambiyev maintained his innocence, claiming that he was blueprint up and that his actions had helped the remark enhance one of the most funds connected with criminal activities. In reference to the an identical case, Kristina Lyakhovenko, a subordinate of Tambiyev, was sentenced to 9 years in jail. Both defendants’ right representatives announced plans to file appeals.
Besides, in 2021, two Infraud individuals – Sergey Medvedev of Russia and Marko Leopard of North Macedonia – were sentenced to five to ten years in US federal jail for trafficking stolen deepest data, credit ranking card necessary aspects, malware, and other unlawful goods.
Mass Arrests in Russia
Despite warming up to the crypto alternate after imposing a blanket ban in 2022, Russia has maintained a cautious stance and has engaged in different investigations connected to illicit expend. No longer too prolonged within the past, just about 100 suspected cybercriminals linked to the nameless price gadget UAPS and cryptocurrency alternate Cryptex were arrested by the authorities.
These contributors were interested in unlawful activities, collectively with cash laundering and the sale of bank cards. The US Treasury Department reported that Cryptex has processed over $51 million from ransomware attacks and more than $720 million in transactions connected with services and products frequently former by Russian cybercriminals, collectively with mixing services and products and the sanctioned alternate Garantex.
