The founder of one of Russia’s largest cryptocurrency scams to date is behind bars, and his accomplices are being sought by Russian authorities. Moscow police arrested Kirill Doronin on charges of allegedly defrauding $100 million from his investors, although some reports purport the figure could be over $1 billion.
Finiko was established in the city of Kazan in 2019 and posed as a legitimate BTC investment firm. The scheme promised its investors ludicrous returns—in this case up to 30% monthly. It also claimed its investors would be able to purchase apartments and cars at discounts with the assistance of the founders, according to the Moscow Times.
In December 2020, Finiko released FNK, its native digital currency. As per local reports, the founders would take the BTC from the investors and award them the FNK tokens.
And while the promises of ludicrous returns brought in several investors, it was in its word-of-mouth incentives that Finiko managed to lure the most clients. It would award huge referral fees to those that brought in new clients. This led to many bringing in their close friends and relatives, and for many of the new clients, this was their first interaction with digital currencies.
Before his arrest, Doronin had attempted to flee to Turkey, going as far as obtaining Turkish citizenship under the name Onur Namik. Russian police have now put his co-conspirators Marat Sabirov, Zygmunt Zygmuntovich and Edward Sabirov on their wanted list.
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