Russian Foreign Ministry confirms detention of co-founder of Coyote Crypto and EggChange

On 2 November in Amsterdam, at the request of U.S. authorities, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency-exchange group Coyote Crypto and EggChange, Denis Dubnikov, was detained. Days later, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the detention.

According to available information, Dubnikov was initially placed in a detention cell at Mexico City airport.

Subsequently he was flown to the Netherlands, where he was detained allegedly at the request of the U.S. FBI.

CEO of Indefibank, Sergey Mendeleev reported on Facebook that the extradition order related to cryptocurrency stolen in 2018, part of which passed through Dubnikov’s exchange wallets.

In a comment under his post, the official Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the detention of Denis Dubnikov.

“Russian diplomats in the Netherlands are assisting the detained Russian citizen, and are in contact with local law enforcement authorities on the issue of protecting his rights,” – Zakharova said.

ForkLog requested comments from the Foreign Ministry and from Maria Zakharova personally, but as of this article was not yet received.

Earlier, three well-informed sources confirmed Bloomberg’s information about an investigation into the EggChange exchange conducted in the United States and Europe on money laundering. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury declined to confirm to the publication the existence of the investigation.

In late September, the U.S. Treasury added the cryptocurrency exchange Suex to the sanctions list, with offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The department contends that funds belonging to operators of at least eight ransomware programs, scam projects, dark-net marketplaces and the now-closed BTC-e passed through Suex. Among other things, the exchange processed WEX transactions worth several millions of dollars.

Co-founder of Suex, Egor Petukhovsky denied the company’s involvement in illicit activity and said he planned to defend his position in court.

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