Top Manager of Finiko Crypto Pyramid Arrested in Russia’s Tatarstan – Bitcoin News

A high-ranking representative of the notorious Russian Finiko Ponzi scheme has been arrested in Tatarstan. Ilgiz Shakirov, a businessman from Kazan, rose to become vice president of the crypto pyramid that is said to have defrauded millions of investors in the Russian Federation and surrounding regions.

Kazan police arrest Vice President Finiko

Police in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan have arrested Ilgiz Shakirov, a businessman from the capital Kazan, for his alleged involvement in the fraudulent theft of money in the Finiko case, Realnoe Vremya reported. The local news agency Quotes unknown sources familiar with the investigation.

Shakirov allegedly lured 100,000 people into the Ponzi scheme, which is one of the largest financial frauds in Russia's modern history. For his achievements, the native of Tatarstan was awarded the status of vice president of the cryptocurrency pyramid.

According to a recent Test report Finiko received over $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin from blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis between December 2019 and August 2021. The digital money came in 800,000 separate deposits from investors lured with promises of monthly returns of up to 30%.

Chainalysis noted that while it is unclear how many individual victims were behind these deposits and how much of the total amount was paid out to investors to keep the Ponzi scheme running, “it is clear that Finiko represents a massive scam perpetrated against Eastern European cryptocurrency users.”

Most of the scammed Bitcoin holders are based in the Russian Federation and neighboring Ukraine, an analysis of sending addresses shows. Finiko had primarily targeted potential investors from Russian-speaking populations in the former Soviet region before the program collapsed this summer.

Police investigators are now expected to apply for a permanent arrest warrant against Shakirov within 48 hours, Realnoe Vremya added in its report published on Wednesday. Before he was arrested, the only other Finiko executive in custody was the pyramid's founder, Kirill Doronin, an Instagram influencer who has been linked to other Ponzi schemes in the past.

International arrest warrants have been issued against three Doronin employees. Together with their boss, they are accused of embezzling at least 250 million rubles (nearly $3.5 million) in collusion with “unidentified persons.” However, estimates of the damage caused in the case continue to grow. So far, 80 people have been officially recognized as victims of the fraud, with additional applications still to be reviewed.

Do you think the Russian authorities will be able to arrest the remaining suspects in the Finiko case? Share your expectations from the research in the comments section below.

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