The Petrograd District Court of St. Petersburg has registered a criminal case against two accused of extortion and theft of funds, including cryptocurrencies. Total damage is estimated at more than 60 million rubles (almost $1 million).
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According to the joint press service of the judicial system of St. Petersburg, in the spring of 2018, one of the accused Peter Piron tried to appropriate cryptocurrencies worth at least a million rubles from their owner, whose name is not called.
To do this, he introduced himself to one of the friends of the crypto trader as an employee of the FSB, saying that the latter allegedly faces criminal liability. To avoid "accusations", the trader was asked to transfer the cryptocurrency to the address indicated by Piron.
Nevertheless, neither the trader nor his friend believed the fake FSB representative. Subsequently, Piron attracted the second accused, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and five other unidentified people for the appropriation of funds by force. At the same time, the group decided to continue to impersonate FSB officers.
Together, they tracked down a friend of the cryptocurrency owner, put him in a van and, using physical violence, forced him to give the address of the crypto trader. The latter also introduced themselves as FSB officers and said they were going to detain him for financial irregularities.
“Then Piron and Prigozhin, in a rude manner, allowing obscene language, informed [the crypto trader] that if he did not follow all their instructions and requirements, they would take him to Shpalernaya Street, where they would torture him, beat, and inject chemicals into the body, that affect the nervous system, ”the press service said.
As a result, the victim was forced to give the attackers 5 million rubles ($88.000), as well as transfer 99 BTC to Piron, which value as of June 3, 2018, amounted to more than 48 million rubles ($770.000) and other digital assets in the amount of 7 million rubles ($112.000).
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Peter Piron is accused of extortion, as well as “the abduction of a passport or other important personal document from a citizen”. Prigogine will be tried on charges of extortion.