Russian Official’s $258M Crypto Bribery Scandal Leads To BTC Seizure

Russian authorities seized around $10 million in Bitcoin (103 BTC) from Marat Tambiev, a former ICRF employee convicted of cryptocurrency-related bribery in 2023.

The Bitcoin was stored on a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, which was confiscated as part of court proceedings and will be added to Russia’s state revenue. However, this amount represents only 4% of the total bribe Tambiev received.

In October 2024, Tambiev was sentenced to 16 years in prison for accepting 2,718 BTC—worth nearly $258 million at the time—from a hacker group known as the Infraud Organization. This is considered the largest bribery case in Russian history, according to local news agency RBC.

The investigation revealed that Tambiev’s private keys were found on his laptop in a folder labeled “Retirement.” The Bitcoin was part of bribes offered by the Infraud Organization, whose members included individuals from Kazakhstan and Estonia. The bribes were reportedly intended to halt their prosecution and allow them to hide crypto assets valued at 14 billion rubles ($138 million).

Tambiev’s case also implicated other ICRF employees accused of extorting bribes from the same hacker group. In 2023, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow ordered the seizure of 1,032 BTC (roughly $98 million) from Tambiev, claiming it was unconfirmed income.

Last year, Russia legalized the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade and took steps to formalize crypto mining, including bitcoin mining. The country is a global leader in bitcoin mining.

The law permits these payments while maintaining a ban on using cryptocurrencies as regular legal tender within Russia. However, the law does not clearly outline rules for these transactions, giving Russia’s central bank authority to oversee an “experimental” regulatory framework.

Central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina noted that Russia’s business partners in various countries are under “tremendous pressure,” and predicted that a new global payments system independent of Western institutions would eventually emerge.

The law’s details, especially on the practical execution of crypto payments, remain vague. It grants the central bank control over the experimental regime but does not specify the rules for cross-border transactions.