Moscow court ordered on September 16th that Igor Musatov is to be detained for one month in accusations of $800,000 fraud in cryptocurrencies. The CEO of a firm was unable to amend relations with Musatov, who now has taken the matter to legal authorities and lead to his nabbing.
TASS, the information agency from Russia confirmed that Igor Musatov used to be a professional Russia-based player in ice hockey and has previously faced facing charges in fraud of Rubles worth 45m, i.e., $700,000. The data was revealed by the CEO of the company.
Musatov met this CEO in January last year and apprised him about his professional involvement in the trading of digital assets. After a month, Musatov gave the IT stalwart an offer to buy around 103 Bitcoin at the cost of 45 million Rubles, that appeared to be a huge discount on typical market price.
Thereafter the CEO accepted the deal and handed the money to an assistant at Musatov’s office, who ultimately left the premises via a secret exit.
The CEO contacted Musatov and got a reassuring outlook on the matter. But Musatov never appeared again after that and gave no information on the situation. Musatov is kept under a list of wanted criminals along with being accused of absentia till his final detention.
Musatov, however, claimed during the proceedings that he was innocent, and these accusations were an outcome of a misunderstanding. He even assured to present evidence to support his acquittal.
Musatov’s lawyer said in an interview that Musatov, his client does not plead guilty:
We believe that the relations that had risen as a result of the exchange of cryptocurrencies are exclusively civil. Criminal prosecution is out of the question,
he stated.
The incident marks another dent in the status of cryptocurrencies, that remains undefined in Russia. Lawmakers have spent years working on laws governing digital assets, yet nothing acceptable has been exercised.
The authorities are also prosecuting the fraudsters of cryptocurrencies. In April last year, 2 men of Russian origin were apprehended on robbing BTC-e codes through forum users online.
Prior to this, VCIOM, Russian Public Opinion Research Center did a survey on cryptocurrencies on April 9, 2019. The survey was done on 1,600 cryptocurrency users who were over the age of 18 years. The survey indicated a drop in the cryptocurrency fad among youngsters who now think that even Bitcoin isn’t a much sought after investment anymore.
No wonder the chaos and criminal incidents that hover the business of cryptocurrencies is much to blame.
