Bitcoin-bribe involving Moscow investigator seized and turned over to state budget

The Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow seized 1,032.1 BTC from the former head of the Investigative Department for the Tverskoy District, Marat Tambiev, who is accused of taking a bribe from members of the Infraud Organization hacker group.

The coins turned over to the state budget were valued as of 30 January 2023 at more than 1.6 billion rubles. As of writing, they are worth more than $27.6 million or 2.3 billion rubles.

The ruling is not yet final and may be appealed.

Marat Tambiev is accused of receiving a bribe from members of the Infraud Organization hacker group for not freezing their assets.

According to media reports, at the time of the arrest, hackers provided access to ten cryptocurrency wallets into which, in December 2021, proceeds from their activities were received in the amount of 2,064 BTC. Subsequently, all assets were withdrawn from the wallets.

According to the testimony of one of the group’s members, Mark Bergman, the actual size of the bribe requested by Tambiev was 2,718.6 BTC.

Earlier, lawyers pointed to multiple inconsistencies in the handwriting analysis of notes found on the defendant’s computer.