Moscow court orders 98.8 million rubles in damages for illegal mining

The Moscow region-based Electroset proved in court that Innovative Digital Technologies (IDT) stole electricity to power its mining operation. Interfax reports.

The case file indicates that the mining equipment was connected to networks without a contract and electricity consumption was not paid. The participants in the case did not dispute this, but IDT’s lawyers insisted that the company had no involvement in the illegal use of electricity.

IDT installed the mining equipment on land that changed hands three times between 2017 and 2019 and passed through two managing companies. Later one of them transferred the site to IDT.

The first-instance court ruled that Electroset failed to prove the transfer of energy-receiving devices to the defendant, and on that basis dismissed the suit.

However, at a retrial, Electroset confirmed that IDT had de facto involvement with the equipment. Materials from a separate arbitration case indicated that part of the mining equipment worth 82 million rubles was sought by IDT from Bittech LLC, which had custody of it under a storage contract.

The Arbitration Appellate Court found the evidence sufficient and ordered IDT to pay 98.8 million rubles. The amount of the loss was calculated on the basis of the cable’s maximum capacity and the duration of the period of illegal electricity consumption.

As previously reported, in October three former police officers received five years in prison for the seized mining equipment.

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