PANews reported on December 3rd, citing DL News, that Russian prosecutors are seeking to seize a large amount of luxury assets belonging to Georgy Satyukov, a fugitive official from a secret service agency. He is accused of receiving $184 million worth of Bitcoin and $30 million worth of Ethereum as bribes from the operators of the now-defunct WEX cryptocurrency exchange. Investigators have identified assets worth $29.6 million related to Satyukov's alleged bribery. Prosecutors claim that Satyukov used the illicit funds to purchase 13 apartments in Russia, several non-residential properties in St. Petersburg, a villa in the UAE, and a million-dollar property in Saratov registered under his brother's name. Furthermore, the investigation found two Porsche Cayenne Turbo cars, seven Patek Philippe watches, and other jewelry worth over $1.3 million in his name, and over $15 million in cash and foreign currency in his family's bank accounts. The bribe allegedly originated from Alexey Ivanov, a former systems administrator at the WEX exchange, who sought Satyukov's help to evade criminal investigation. Satyukov and his former colleague, Dmitry Sokolov, are currently at large, and a Moscow court is preparing to try them in absentia. If convicted, their assets could be confiscated by the state. WEX took over the trading operations of BTC-e in 2017, after the latter collapsed in 2018 following the arrest of its founder, Alexander Vinnik, in Greece on fraud and money laundering charges.PANews reported on December 3rd, citing DL News, that Russian prosecutors are seeking to seize a large amount of luxury assets belonging to Georgy Satyukov, a fugitive official from a secret service agency. He is accused of receiving $184 million worth of Bitcoin and $30 million worth of Ethereum as bribes from the operators of the now-defunct WEX cryptocurrency exchange. Investigators have identified assets worth $29.6 million related to Satyukov's alleged bribery. Prosecutors claim that Satyukov used the illicit funds to purchase 13 apartments in Russia, several non-residential properties in St. Petersburg, a villa in the UAE, and a million-dollar property in Saratov registered under his brother's name. Furthermore, the investigation found two Porsche Cayenne Turbo cars, seven Patek Philippe watches, and other jewelry worth over $1.3 million in his name, and over $15 million in cash and foreign currency in his family's bank accounts. The bribe allegedly originated from Alexey Ivanov, a former systems administrator at the WEX exchange, who sought Satyukov's help to evade criminal investigation. Satyukov and his former colleague, Dmitry Sokolov, are currently at large, and a Moscow court is preparing to try them in absentia. If convicted, their assets could be confiscated by the state. WEX took over the trading operations of BTC-e in 2017, after the latter collapsed in 2018 following the arrest of its founder, Alexander Vinnik, in Greece on fraud and money laundering charges.

Russian prosecutors have applied to seize nearly $30 million in assets belonging to a former investigator involved in a WEX “cryptocurrency bribery” scandal.

2025/12/03 23:37

PANews reported on December 3rd, citing DL News, that Russian prosecutors are seeking to seize a large amount of luxury assets belonging to Georgy Satyukov, a fugitive official from a secret service agency. He is accused of receiving $184 million worth of Bitcoin and $30 million worth of Ethereum as bribes from the operators of the now-defunct WEX cryptocurrency exchange. Investigators have identified assets worth $29.6 million related to Satyukov's alleged bribery. Prosecutors claim that Satyukov used the illicit funds to purchase 13 apartments in Russia, several non-residential properties in St. Petersburg, a villa in the UAE, and a million-dollar property in Saratov registered under his brother's name. Furthermore, the investigation found two Porsche Cayenne Turbo cars, seven Patek Philippe watches, and other jewelry worth over $1.3 million in his name, and over $15 million in cash and foreign currency in his family's bank accounts.

The bribe allegedly originated from Alexey Ivanov, a former systems administrator at the WEX exchange, who sought Satyukov's help to evade criminal investigation. Satyukov and his former colleague, Dmitry Sokolov, are currently at large, and a Moscow court is preparing to try them in absentia. If convicted, their assets could be confiscated by the state. WEX took over the trading operations of BTC-e in 2017, after the latter collapsed in 2018 following the arrest of its founder, Alexander Vinnik, in Greece on fraud and money laundering charges.

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