Russian authorities will receive over 1 billion rubles in bitcoins seized from the former head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Marat Tambiev. The court established that he received a bribe of 2718 bitcoins (worth 7.3 billion rubles at the time, and over 25.9 billion rubles as of January 9, 2025) and $1.5 million in exchange for favorable decisions in criminal cases. This bribe became the largest in the history of modern Russia.
Tambiev kept the password to the crypto wallet with cryptocurrency in a folder named "Pension" on his computer's desktop. When journalists asked him what it was like to be a "record holder" for the size of the bribe, he sarcastically replied: "If you're going to be, be the best."
Tambiev was sentenced to 16 years of strict regime imprisonment and a fine of 500 million rubles. The investigation established that he and his colleagues extorted bribes from members of the Infraud Organization hacker group. They demanded a reward for terminating the criminal prosecution and the opportunity to hide cryptocurrency worth 14 billion rubles. This case became the largest in Russian history in terms of the size of the bribe.
The seized bitcoins are stored on a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet. Bailiffs have already begun to convert them into state revenue.
In addition to cryptocurrency, Tambiev's property has been seized, including a Honda motorcycle and several properties in the Moscow region. Also, at the end of 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office filed a new lawsuit to confiscate his assets, which, according to the prosecutor's office, were acquired with unconfirmed income.
Earlier, the Nikulinsky Court ordered the seizure of 1032.1 bitcoins, which Tambiev acquired without legal justification. Additional amounts are being recovered from him as part of other enforcement proceedings, including an enforcement fee of 15,000 rubles.
In December 2024, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, announced that the Russian government is currently considering a bill defining the procedure for confiscating cryptocurrency, recognizing it as material evidence, and seizing it. The bill implies the recognition of cryptocurrency as property.
Against the backdrop of today's news that the US Department of Justice has received permission to sell 69,370 bitcoins seized from the Silk Road platform, bitcoin has fallen below $93,000.
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