The details do not conflict with the defense position of both accused, according to which their international passports were confiscated and handed over to the investigator. Sokolov and his family tried to fly from Russia to Italy a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine. On February 25, 2022, the policeman was removed from the flight to Pulkovo because… from the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs a resolution was received on his forced bringing for questioning in a criminal case of especially large embezzlement (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) against the system administrator of the crypto exchange World Exchange Services Pte registered in Singapore. Ltd. (WEX) Alexey Ivanov (until January 11, 2022 – Alexey Bilyuchenko).
For the roof imposed on Ivanov, Satyukov received through Sokolov a bribe in the amount of at least 2,119.5265569864 bitcoins (BTC), 10,016 ethereum (ETN), equivalent to a total amount of at least 4.9 billion rubles. At the time of his arrest in Pulkovo, Sokolov was a witness in a criminal case against Ivanov. After interrogation he was released. A criminal case against Sokolov was opened only a year and a half later. In September 2023, the court granted the investigation’s request to seize the defendant’s securities.
The defense of Sokolov and Satyukov insists that the criminal cases were initiated illegally by an incompetent body and official. On September 20, 2023, Ivanov was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, a fine of 500 thousand rubles and restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year. He fully compensated for the damage in the amount of 3.167 billion rubles.
How counterintelligence officers and investigators became crypto billionaires
“The private key to a Bitcoin wallet containing 10 thousand bitcoins was handed over to FSB officers.”
“ВЧК ОГПУ”