In the former warehouse spaces of Vinnytsiaoblenergo, there was IT company MMI Engineering, engaged in software development, network servicing and training of artificial intelligence. Local media reported this.
According to the company’s lawyers, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which early in June announced the closure of a large mining farm, circulated false information.
They refuted the facts of electricity theft and said that MMI Engineering had signed electricity-supply contracts with Vinnytsiaoblenergo and Enera Vinnytsia. The company pays invoices at commercial rates.
According to the AIN.UA edition, the agreements between the parties do exist, but the texts could not be examined in detail.
The SBU search took place at the premises on Energeticheskaya Street, 6A, which MMI Engineering rents. This was indeed the former premises of Vinnytsiaoblenergo, but it now belongs to the company Alpha Energy.
According to available information, the SBU investigation concerns executives of Alpha Energy — they are suspected of illegal mining.
Representatives of MMI Engineering noted that the search paralyzed the company’s operations and created problems with investors. The value of the seized equipment is about 30 million hryvnias (over $1 million).
Lawyers for the company filed a complaint about the SBU’s actions with the Pechersk District Court in Kyiv, and also with the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Earlier, according to initial information from the SBU dated July 8, unknown residents of Kyiv and Vinnytsia placed in the building 3,800 game consoles, more than 500 graphics cards and 50 processors, which were illegally connected to power grids. All equipment allegedly used for mining cryptocurrencies.
According to preliminary estimates, the monthly damage from the farm’s operation was about 5-7 million hryvnias (around $220,000).
The day after the SBU’s press release, Vinnytsiaoblenergo said that their specialists did not detect electricity theft, and the company’s premises were not used for cryptocurrency mining.
Based on law enforcement information, the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities suspected Vinnytsiaoblenergo of artificially inflating electricity costs due to cryptocurrency mining.
Later it emerged that the data center was involved in bot boosting for the football simulator FIFA.
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