Prosecutors Receive Bitmama Case with Reduced Damages

The criminal case against Valeria Fedyakina, a native of Simferopol known by the alias Bitmama, has been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for indictment approval, reports Kommersant.

Fedyakina collaborated with currency exchangers, receiving cash from them and promising to transfer the funds to another country with a bonus, despite the usual commission for such transactions. She justified this by claiming connections with major businessmen and state corporations. However, in September 2023, Bitmama vanished. Prior to this, clients experienced delays in payments.

The initial complaint was filed by an investor from Moscow, Gagik Gulakyan. During the investigation, three more individuals were recognized as victims—two Moscow entrepreneurs and the blogger Crypto Angel.

The amount initially attributed to Fedyakina’s thefts has been reduced by two-thirds. According to the investigation, the suspect fraudulently obtained 2.2 billion rubles from clients over two months in 2023. Initially, a single episode mentioned a sum of 6.7 billion rubles.

Bitmama has denied the charges. Her lawyers claim that she herself fell victim to fraud by Gagik Gulakyan and his partner Vaghram Stepanyan, to whom she allegedly gave large sums of money, but they owed her $40 million. Shortly after demanding the return of her funds, Fedyakina was arrested.

“Fedyakina filed a complaint regarding this matter, demanding an investigation into Gulakyan and Stepanyan, but the investigation merely attached it to the case without conducting a full inquiry,” noted her lawyer.

The suspect, who was six months pregnant, was detained on September 15, 2023. Due to her residency status in the UAE, the court placed her in Moscow’s detention center No. 6, where she gave birth to a daughter.

On October 16, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow ordered Fedyakina to review the case materials by November 1. Following this, the prosecutor’s office will approve the indictment and send the case to court. The defendant faces up to ten years in prison, but due to having a young child, she may be eligible for a deferral.

Previously, the BitOK service identified key addresses associated with Bitmama’s activities. Analysts reported that about 20% of the total assets received in Fedyakina’s wallets are linked to the Russian crypto exchange Garantex.