Russian researcher sentenced to 16 years for accepting $65 million Bitcoin bribe from hackers

Russia has sentenced Marat Tambiyev, a former mid-ranking researcher, to 16 years in prison after he was caught accepting a bribe of 1,032 bitcoins, currently worth about $65 million, from the hackers he was investigating.

The bribe came from members of the Fraud Organization hacking group, which Tambiyev was tasked with investigating while working for the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR).

The bribery scandal in Russia

Tambiev has been part of the ICR since 2011, taking on key responsibilities in various research departments across the country. Before his fall, he rose through the ranks to become the head of the investigative division in Moscow’s Tverskoy district. The disgraced officer allegedly received a hefty bribe on April 7, 2022 from the hacking group.

According to a lawsuit filed in Moscow’s Nikulinsky District Court, Tambiev accepted the BTC bribe on the condition that the group’s illegal assets would not be confiscated, allowing two of its members, Kirill Samokutiaevski and Konstantin Bergmanov, avoid prison.

When the bribe was first discovered in early 2023, the 1,032 bitcoins were worth 1.6 billion rubles, surpassing Russia’s previous record for bribes of 1.4 billion rubles, which had been paid in installments.

A search of Tambiev’s apartment in Moscow led to the discovery of an Apple MacBook Pro, which investigators accessed several months later. Inside, they found a folder labeled “Pension,” which contained the keys to two online wallets with a total of 1,032 bitcoins. The storage was seized and transferred to a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet.

Tambiyev maintained his innocence, claiming he was framed and that his actions had helped the state recover some of the funds associated with criminal activity. In connection with the same case, Kristina Lyakhovenko, a subordinate of Tambiyev, was sentenced to nine years in prison. The legal representatives of the two defendants announced their intention to file appeals.

Additionally, in 2021, two Infraud members, Sergey Medvedev of Russia and Marko Leopard of North Macedonia, were sentenced to between five and ten years in US federal prison for trafficking in stolen personal data, data from credit cards, malware and other illegal goods.

Mass arrests in Russia

Despite the crypto industry heating up after imposing a blanket ban in 2022, Russia has maintained a cautious stance and has been involved in several investigations related to illicit use. Authorities recently arrested nearly 100 suspected cybercriminals linked to the anonymous payment system UAPS and cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex.

These people were involved in illegal activities such as money laundering and selling bank cards. The US Treasury Department reported that Cryptex has processed more than $51 million in ransomware attacks and more than $720 million in transactions associated with services frequently used by Russian cybercriminals, including mixing services and the exchange sanctioned Garantex.

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