Lilian Nurieva, former head of networks at Russian crypto investment fund Finiko, has been sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding private investors and participating in an organized criminal group.
This $55 million pyramid scheme is considered by the Federal Foundation for the Protection of Investor and Shareholder Rights to be the second largest financial scam in Russia’s post-Soviet history.
Crypto investment fund turns Ponzi scheme
In 2021, Russian authorities began investigate the Finiko “crypto investment fund” for fraud and organized crime. According to the investigation, the fund was a Ponzi scheme that embezzled millions of dollars from investors.
From 2018 to 2021, Finiko served as a pyramid scheme presented as a crypto fund to investors. The main organizer and beneficiary of the scam, Kirill Doronin, traveled the country offering master classes, attracting thousands of customers.
Alongside his accomplices, Doronin created a criminal community to systematically embezzle citizens’ money. Criminals were approaching potential clients, claiming they had developed a “unique automatic profit generation system” that “guaranteed” massive returns in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.
Users would receive their dividends first and be able to withdraw their money in BTC. However, things began to take a left turn for investors after Finiko’s crypto token began to devalue in 2021. Within a month, the company’s offices abruptly closed and its website was shut down. closed, leaving investors empty-handed.
Donorin assured investors that the crypto fund was experiencing technical outages, but it was later established that his associates had already fled the country with investors’ money.
According to investigation, many clients had taken out loans or sold their homes to invest in the fraudulent fund. It was revealed that the investment fund operated as a Ponzi scheme, in which old clients received payments from the new investors’ money.
At the time, the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation (MDV) estimated that the company had scammed more than 10,000 people and stolen more than 5 billion rubles, or approximately $55 million.
Finiko’s first manager sentenced
Lilia Nurieva, one of Finiko’s executives, was found guilty of defrauding investors by the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan. Nurieva, a key participant in the crypto scheme, received a “light” sentence for collaborating with prosecutors.
The former executive was initially sentenced to four and a half years in prison for fraud and participation in an organized criminal association. However, Nurieva will only serve three years in prison, as her time in pre-trial detention will be counted as part of the sentence. sentence.
According to local reports, prosecutors asked for six and a half years for the Russian executive, but the former network executive was able to reduce her time limit thanks to a pre-trial agreement. This agreement allowed Nurieva to avoid up to ten years in prison.
Furthermore, the executive fully admitted the accusations and collaborated in the investigation, which allowed him to be tried separately from the other accused. His lawyer, Maria Belousova, said prosecutors’ charges against her client were “fair.” She also pointed out that Nurieva was the only one among the accused who invested her money in this scheme.
According to Belousova, the former Finiko executive invested 40 million rubles in the investment fund before joining the organization:
When she joined the crime syndicate, there were illusions that it was neither criminal nor illegal. Then, when communicating with senior leaders, clarity came.
The other ten defendants, including Doronin, have not yet been tried. The Attorney General’s Office approved their indictment on April 27 and sent it to the Vakhitovsky court. The defendants are also accused of organizing a criminal conspiracy and large-scale fraud committed in an organized group.
Bitcoin's performance in the 5-day chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
