The Balashikha court has received a criminal case against former Moscow investigator Marat Tambiev and his subordinate Kristina Lyakhovenko, accused of accepting a substantial bribe in bitcoins from members of the hacker group Infraud Organization, as reported by Kommersant.
The jurisdiction was changed due to concerns about Tambiev’s potential connections within the Moscow judiciary. Previously, he held the position of head of the investigative department for the Tverskoy district of the city.
He is charged with 10 counts of accepting bribes totaling over $1.5 million and 2718 BTC (7.3 billion rubles at the time of the transactions), as well as illegal enrichment amounting to $1.3 million. Lyakhovenko is accused of one count of bribery, abuse of office, and evidence falsification.
The case was initiated following a statement by one of the hackers, Mark Bergman. Testimony was also provided by the group’s lawyer, Roman Meyer, who confessed. A separate proceeding has been initiated against Meyer for his role as an intermediary in the bribery.
During the investigation, Tambiev denied any wrongdoing and categorically rejected the receipt of any money or cryptocurrencies. He claims Meyer embezzled clients’ funds and is now trying to mitigate his own situation.
Searches of the former officer’s premises revealed neither large sums of cash nor expensive property, leading to the seizure of several real estate assets belonging to his relatives.
Lyakhovenko also denies all charges.
According to the investigation, part of the bribe money was received by Tambiev’s deputy, Dmitry Gubin, who has been on the wanted list since October 2023 and has been arrested in absentia.
The Balashikha city court will hear the case in June. The hearings may be held behind closed doors.
Since 2022, Marat Tambiev has been in pre-trial detention, with 1032.1 BTC confiscated from him. Lyakhovenko was taken into custody in September 2023.
According to lawyer Vadim Bagaturia, 654 BTC have “disappeared” from the case.
The lawyer also pointed out numerous discrepancies in the handwriting analysis of notes found on Tambiev’s computer.