How did a Moscow investigator turn into a crypto oligarch?
In Russia, one of the largest cases of bribery in the country's history has reached the court. The former head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Tverskoy district of Moscow, 35-year-old justice major Marat Tambiev, is accused of accepting bribes totaling more than one and a half million dollars and 2718 bitcoins, which is equivalent to about 7.3 billion rubles. In addition, the investigation believes that he tried to illegally enrich himself by another $ 1.3 million. His accomplice is a former senior lieutenant and ex-investigator, 27-year-old Kristina Lyakhovenko.
Their colleagues from the Investigative Committee believe that the actions of the accused discredited the legal activity of the state in the fight against crime.
Initially, the case was supposed to be considered in Moscow, but the Supreme Court changed the territorial jurisdiction at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The reason was the fear that for a long time of working in the system of the metropolitan TFR Tambiev could acquire connections in the judicial corps of the capital, which would make it impossible to objectively consider the case in Moscow. Despite the objections of the defense, the trial will take place in Balashikha, Moscow region.
Major Tambiev is charged with 10 counts of receiving bribes on a particularly large scale (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code), four counts of preparing to receive a bribe (Part 1 of Article 30, Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code), as well as abuse of office (Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code). Lyakhovenko is accused of accepting one bribe, exceeding his authority and falsifying evidence in a criminal case (Part 3 of Article 303 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
The case against Tambiev and Lyakhovenko was opened at the request of hacker Mark Bergman, and lawyer Roman Meyer also testified against the investigator, who wrote a confession. The case against the lawyer on charges of mediation (Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code) was separated into separate proceedings.
The UK suggests that Meyer, under the guise of providing legal assistance, pulled money from his clients — members of the Fraud Organization hacker group, Mark and Konstantin Bergmanov, natives of Kazakhstan, and Kirill Samokutyaev, an Estonian citizen. Hackers founded the Unicvv marketplace on the darknet, which specialized in selling stolen bank card data and social security numbers of citizens of the United States and other countries. The case file says that the lawyer met Tambiev through his father's dacha neighbor.
In June 2020, five people broke into Mark Bergman's apartment under the guise of FSB officers led by the real colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yaroslav Sukovitsyn, taking money and valuables worth 5 million rubles. Lawyer Meyer turned to Major Tambiev for help. Tambiev, who then headed the Meshchansky investigative Department of the TFR, assisted in the operational initiation of a robbery case in the Department of Internal Affairs of the VAO, for which he received a bribe of 500 thousand rubles in gratitude.
Then, according to investigators, Tambiev received through a lawyer who had his share of the bribes, another 2.5 million rubles for transferring the robbery case from the police to the TFR. Later, fearing an investigation into his illegal hacking activities, Bergman paid the major another 250 thousand dollars to turn a blind eye to this. Major Tambiyev also obtained state protection for Mark Bergman for a bribe of $350,000, as well as the detention and arrest of his cousin Sultan Gasambekov. The latter was convicted in 2021 by the Moscow Garrison Military Court along with Colonel Sukovitsyn and three other accomplices for organizing a raid on his apartment.
When in January 2021 the Bergmans and Samokutyaev became defendants in a criminal case on the creation of the Unicvv marketplace under Part 2 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal turnover of payment funds as part of the OG), the case fell to investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko from the investigative department for the Tver district, which by that time was headed by Marat Tambiev.
According to the investigation, hackers through lawyer Meyer paid Tambiev $ 590 thousand and 750 thousand rubles to be released under house arrest, and not in a pre-trial detention center. Of this amount, $500 thousand. Tambiev kept it for himself, and gave $90 thousand and rubles to a lawyer for mediation. Plus, Samokutyaev paid Tambiev $160 thousand to prevent him from seizing $750 thousand stored in a safe deposit box. Interestingly, of the $360,000 transferred by Samokutyaev through Meyer, the lawyer himself took $180,000.
During the searches, hackers found more than 5,200 bitcoins in crypto wallets. Instead of seizing this huge sum, Major Tambiev suggested that the hackers divide it equally. They agreed, after which, on the night of January 22, 2022, an IT specialist, Vladimir Tislenko, was invited to the evidence storage room of the Tverskoy District investigative department. He transferred 2,718 bitcoins to Tambiev's crypto wallets, and about 2,500 bitcoins to the new wallets of the accused hackers, after which he formatted the seized storage media.
The investigation believes that part of the embezzled bitcoins Tambiev shared with his deputy Dmitry Gubin, who is now wanted, as well as with investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko.
According to the Investigative Committee, Major Tambiev then repeatedly demanded new large bribes from the three defendants. So, he wanted $300 thousand for choosing a non-custodial measure for the suspect Baurzhan Tynshimov, a friend of Marat Bergman, as well as $1 million ($333 thousand for each of the three accused) for concluding a pre-trial cooperation agreement that would help them get the minimum terms. However, these requirements were not met
Major Marat Tambiev was arrested on March 24, 2022, after he demanded that Mark Bergman pay him half of the 56 million rubles stored in the accounts of the Sloboda company that actually belonged to Bergman.
To ensure that the company's account was not seized, the accused agreed to pay, but only for show. Having applied to law enforcement agencies, he handed over a cash "doll" through Roman Meyer, in which only one million rubles out of 26 million rubles was real.
Marat Tambiev categorically denies receiving any bribes and cryptocurrencies. He believes that Roman Meyer slanders him, embezzling money from clients and hiding behind his acquaintance with him. The defense points out that during the searches, no large amounts of cash or expensive property were found in Tambiev's possession. The lawyers claim that the investigation unconditionally accepted the testimony of interested persons, such as Tislenko, on faith.
Former investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko, who was arrested only in September 2023, also pleads not guilty. She denies accepting bitcoin bribes, abuse of authority, and falsifying evidence.
In March 2023, members of the Fraud Organization hacking group Bergmans, Samokutyaev and another person involved Novak received suspended sentences from 2.5 to 3.5 years by the Tagansky Court of Moscow.
In June 2023, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow turned 1032 bitcoins (about 1.6 billion rubles) found in the "pension" folder from Marat Tambiyev's computer into state revenue. However, the fate of the remaining 1,100 bitcoins out of the 2,718 assigned to them is still unknown.
It is expected that the Balashikha City Court will start considering the case in June.
In Russia, one of the largest cases of bribery in the country's history has reached the court. The former head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Tverskoy district of Moscow, 35-year-old justice major Marat Tambiev, is accused of accepting bribes totaling more than one and a half million dollars and 2718 bitcoins, which is equivalent to about 7.3 billion rubles. In addition, the investigation believes that he tried to illegally enrich himself by another $ 1.3 million. His accomplice is a former senior lieutenant and ex-investigator, 27-year-old Kristina Lyakhovenko.
Their colleagues from the Investigative Committee believe that the actions of the accused discredited the legal activity of the state in the fight against crime.
Initially, the case was supposed to be considered in Moscow, but the Supreme Court changed the territorial jurisdiction at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The reason was the fear that for a long time of working in the system of the metropolitan TFR Tambiev could acquire connections in the judicial corps of the capital, which would make it impossible to objectively consider the case in Moscow. Despite the objections of the defense, the trial will take place in Balashikha, Moscow region.
Major Tambiev is charged with 10 counts of receiving bribes on a particularly large scale (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code), four counts of preparing to receive a bribe (Part 1 of Article 30, Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code), as well as abuse of office (Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code). Lyakhovenko is accused of accepting one bribe, exceeding his authority and falsifying evidence in a criminal case (Part 3 of Article 303 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
The case against Tambiev and Lyakhovenko was opened at the request of hacker Mark Bergman, and lawyer Roman Meyer also testified against the investigator, who wrote a confession. The case against the lawyer on charges of mediation (Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code) was separated into separate proceedings.
The UK suggests that Meyer, under the guise of providing legal assistance, pulled money from his clients — members of the Fraud Organization hacker group, Mark and Konstantin Bergmanov, natives of Kazakhstan, and Kirill Samokutyaev, an Estonian citizen. Hackers founded the Unicvv marketplace on the darknet, which specialized in selling stolen bank card data and social security numbers of citizens of the United States and other countries. The case file says that the lawyer met Tambiev through his father's dacha neighbor.
In June 2020, five people broke into Mark Bergman's apartment under the guise of FSB officers led by the real colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yaroslav Sukovitsyn, taking money and valuables worth 5 million rubles. Lawyer Meyer turned to Major Tambiev for help. Tambiev, who then headed the Meshchansky investigative Department of the TFR, assisted in the operational initiation of a robbery case in the Department of Internal Affairs of the VAO, for which he received a bribe of 500 thousand rubles in gratitude.
Then, according to investigators, Tambiev received through a lawyer who had his share of the bribes, another 2.5 million rubles for transferring the robbery case from the police to the TFR. Later, fearing an investigation into his illegal hacking activities, Bergman paid the major another 250 thousand dollars to turn a blind eye to this. Major Tambiyev also obtained state protection for Mark Bergman for a bribe of $350,000, as well as the detention and arrest of his cousin Sultan Gasambekov. The latter was convicted in 2021 by the Moscow Garrison Military Court along with Colonel Sukovitsyn and three other accomplices for organizing a raid on his apartment.
When in January 2021 the Bergmans and Samokutyaev became defendants in a criminal case on the creation of the Unicvv marketplace under Part 2 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal turnover of payment funds as part of the OG), the case fell to investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko from the investigative department for the Tver district, which by that time was headed by Marat Tambiev.
According to the investigation, hackers through lawyer Meyer paid Tambiev $ 590 thousand and 750 thousand rubles to be released under house arrest, and not in a pre-trial detention center. Of this amount, $500 thousand. Tambiev kept it for himself, and gave $90 thousand and rubles to a lawyer for mediation. Plus, Samokutyaev paid Tambiev $160 thousand to prevent him from seizing $750 thousand stored in a safe deposit box. Interestingly, of the $360,000 transferred by Samokutyaev through Meyer, the lawyer himself took $180,000.
During the searches, hackers found more than 5,200 bitcoins in crypto wallets. Instead of seizing this huge sum, Major Tambiev suggested that the hackers divide it equally. They agreed, after which, on the night of January 22, 2022, an IT specialist, Vladimir Tislenko, was invited to the evidence storage room of the Tverskoy District investigative department. He transferred 2,718 bitcoins to Tambiev's crypto wallets, and about 2,500 bitcoins to the new wallets of the accused hackers, after which he formatted the seized storage media.
The investigation believes that part of the embezzled bitcoins Tambiev shared with his deputy Dmitry Gubin, who is now wanted, as well as with investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko.
According to the Investigative Committee, Major Tambiev then repeatedly demanded new large bribes from the three defendants. So, he wanted $300 thousand for choosing a non-custodial measure for the suspect Baurzhan Tynshimov, a friend of Marat Bergman, as well as $1 million ($333 thousand for each of the three accused) for concluding a pre-trial cooperation agreement that would help them get the minimum terms. However, these requirements were not met
Major Marat Tambiev was arrested on March 24, 2022, after he demanded that Mark Bergman pay him half of the 56 million rubles stored in the accounts of the Sloboda company that actually belonged to Bergman.
To ensure that the company's account was not seized, the accused agreed to pay, but only for show. Having applied to law enforcement agencies, he handed over a cash "doll" through Roman Meyer, in which only one million rubles out of 26 million rubles was real.
Marat Tambiev categorically denies receiving any bribes and cryptocurrencies. He believes that Roman Meyer slanders him, embezzling money from clients and hiding behind his acquaintance with him. The defense points out that during the searches, no large amounts of cash or expensive property were found in Tambiev's possession. The lawyers claim that the investigation unconditionally accepted the testimony of interested persons, such as Tislenko, on faith.
Former investigator Kristina Lyakhovenko, who was arrested only in September 2023, also pleads not guilty. She denies accepting bitcoin bribes, abuse of authority, and falsifying evidence.
In March 2023, members of the Fraud Organization hacking group Bergmans, Samokutyaev and another person involved Novak received suspended sentences from 2.5 to 3.5 years by the Tagansky Court of Moscow.
In June 2023, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow turned 1032 bitcoins (about 1.6 billion rubles) found in the "pension" folder from Marat Tambiyev's computer into state revenue. However, the fate of the remaining 1,100 bitcoins out of the 2,718 assigned to them is still unknown.
It is expected that the Balashikha City Court will start considering the case in June.
