Saint Petersburg court convicts cryptocurrency thieves in a 55-million-ruble case.

The Petrogradsky District Court of Saint Petersburg handed down a guilty verdict against two offenders who stole cryptocurrencies from a victim under the guise of FSB officers.

In 2018, the accused Petr Piron and Yevgeny Prigozhin, threatening and using violence, forced the owner of digital assets to hand over 5 million rubles in cash, and also gained access to his cryptocurrency wallets. At that time their value stood at 55 million rubles.

In 2020 the court found the two offenders guilty of theft of only 5 million rubles, excluding the cryptocurrency theft from the charges. Prigozhin received eight years in a high-security penal colony, Piron — ten years.

In June 2021 the judgments were overturned by a cassation decision of the criminal cases panel, prosecutors said in the prosecutor’s office.

Now Piron was sentenced to nine years in prison, Prigozin to seven. According to the media reports, the court also ordered the victim to be compensated 60 million rubles.

“This is the first instance in which the court has valued cryptocurrency as other property,” the prosecutors said.

The lawyers for Piron and Prigozin intend to seek a reconsideration of the case.

In Tomsk, a local resident, under threats, was forced to transfer bitcoins worth 350 million rubles.

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