Mass Arrest of Bybit P2P Traders in Moscow Reported by Lawyers

In Moscow, law enforcement has detained over ten clients of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, who were conducting P2P transactions on the platform and inadvertently became counterparts to those who embezzled funds from a monastery. This was reported by the legal agency Cartesius.

According to their information, the situation is linked to the embezzlement of 26.4 million rubles from the accounts of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in early May. Representatives of the monastery stated that one of their employees fell victim to fraud.

The funds were transferred through numerous accounts across Russia. Specifically, from May 1 to 7, they were moved from Raiffeisen Bank accounts to the Bybit exchange.

Lawyers are asking all clients of the trading platform who received funds on their cards from a user named Anisimov A.O., or from the sender’s card Maksim Sergeevich Kraft, to contact them on Telegram. They also noted that the range of involved banks and crypto exchanges might be broader.

“Instead of making requests to the exchange to find out who they worked with and asking these people questions, recipients of the money are simply being sent to prison indiscriminately, whether they are drops or the traders themselves,” commented Cartesius.

The legal team is currently gathering information on the traders who have already been detained.

Back in February 2023, a court in Russia found a participant in a P2P transaction guilty of fraud.