Russian authorities are making ready to liquidate over 1,032 Bitcoin (BTC) valued at practically $95 million. The Bitcoin was seized from Marat Tambiev, a former investigator convicted of accepting cryptocurrency bribes from the infamous Infraud Group.
This case marked a serious crypto bribery scandal in Russia, highlighting the rising use of digital property in prison actions.
$95 Million Price BTC To Flood Market with Asset Liquidation Underway
Tambiev, who as soon as served because the chief investigator in Moscow’s Tver District, was discovered responsible in 2023 of taking 1,032 BTC as a bribe from Infraud, a world hacking group. In trade, Tambiev allegedly shielded the group from asset confiscation and facilitated their illicit actions.
Following a court docket order, authorities confiscated the Bitcoin found on Tambiev’s pc. Additionally they took possession of a Ledger Nano X {hardware} pockets throughout a search of his Moscow condo.
The worth of that BTC stash was round $28 million on the time, nevertheless it has since grown to roughly $95 million, based mostly on present charges.
In October 2023, the Nikulinsky Courtroom of Moscow sentenced Marat Tambiev to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony and fined him 500 million rubles (round $5.2 million). The court docket additionally stripped him of his rank and barred him from holding authorities positions for 12 years following his launch.
In accordance with TASS, a Russian state-run information company, the nation’s treasury has began transferring the confiscated Bitcoin to state income. The preliminary liquidation entails promoting BTC value roughly $10 million. Nevertheless, authorized challenges have delayed the sale of all the stash.
In accordance with prosecutors, Marat Tambiev had divided the Bitcoin into smaller quantities. This subdivision, due to this fact, requires separate court docket approvals to entry and liquidate all of the property. Authorities are additionally pursuing further property linked to Tambiev, together with actual property, a bike, and extra cryptocurrency.
“As a source familiar with the case materials told TASS, among the investigator’s property that prosecutors want to transfer to the state is a Honda motorcycle, several real estate properties in the Moscow region, as well as bitcoins worth several million rubles,” TASS reported.
Prosecutors additionally suspect that Tambiev transferred some property to relations, including one other layer of complexity. The continued authorized proceedings have sophisticated the Russian Treasury’s efforts to dump Bitcoin.
However, the transfer to liquidate such a major Bitcoin stash could affect the market. Particularly, if Russia decides to promote all the 1,032.1 BTC haul, the provision shock might impression the Bitcoin value.
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