Russian influencer Valeria Fedyakina, also known as “Crypto Queen” swindled investors of over $22 million in crypto scams and reportedly funded the Ukrainian military amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
According to Russian media reports, 24-year-old Fedyakina portrayed herself as an expert in cryptocurrency and digital assets on social media pages where she gained the trust of investors and her victims. Now she will face multiple counts of “large-scale” fraud.
Crypto Queen scammed many including four victims who came forward
After gaining trust with investors, the Crypto Queen then swindled her victims of their funds, and so far four victims whom she stole money from have come forward.
The flamboyant influencer who went by the name “Bitmama” on social media, pretended to be a well-established expert in crypto with offices in Dubai, Monaco, Moscow City, Serbia, and Turkey. She convinced the victims to trust her with their millions of dollars.
The state news agency, TASS, indicated that the Russian Investigative Committee (RIC) had completed their investigations into the case with police saying that the Crypto Queen duped her victims by convincing them to transfer their money to a Dubai crypto account to avoid banking restrictions.
According to the victims, they were promised a 1% bonus on the cash they transferred to her once she converted it to crypto.
The reports also state that she frequently posted on social media pages showing off her flamboyant lifestyle, promising investors “income in the shortest possible time,” as well as asking acquaintances to “invest fiat or cryptocurrency in the project.”
However, the cash would quickly vanish as the Crypto Queen funneled the money into Ukraine’s armed forces to help them fight against the Russian invasion.
“Fedyakina did not intend to carry out any of the actions she had promised to do so in the interests of the people who [gave her money and crypto]. She planned to use the money or cryptocurrency she received at her own discretion. She essentially stole it.”
Russian Investigative Committee.
The Committee also revealed that the Crypto Queen, through her social media posts spread “knowingly false information about a crypto-powered investment program.”
Some of her victims reportedly lost large sums of money with one of them claiming he lost as much as $70 million.
Crypto Queen offered illegal currency conversion services
Police revealed that after completing their investigations, they discovered that the Crypto Queen managed to steal about $22 million in just two months.
In her activities, Fedyakina made use of “various currencies including cryptocurrency” to carry out her illegal actions, according to the RIC.
The RIC also indicated that the Crypto Queen carried out “over-the-counter crypto transactions,” as well as using crypto to make “international money transfers without using bank accounts.”
The local media claim Fedyakina primarily used Bitcoin to transfer funds between Moscow and Dubai.
She is also accused of “providing an indefinite number of persons with services for currency conversion.”
Fedyakina was arrested last year in September while trying to leave Russia on a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and was placed in pre-trial detention.
She is expected to be formally charged in November and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to reports.
At the time of the arrest, Fedyakina was six months pregnant although the courts refused to give her a lighter punishment of house arrest and forced her to return to detention after giving birth in a special maternity hospital.
Her defense denied the claims of fraud but told the Russian media that she supports the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Fedyakina has no previous convictions, is a citizen of the Russian Federation, and is in a pre-trial detention center with her newborn daughter.”
Fedyakina legal team.
To show her support, they pledged she would donate funds to support Moscow’s military.
Fedyakina’s lawyers also claimed that she was a victim of a conspiracy.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/russian-crypto-queen-stole-for-ukraine-army/