Russia has taken action to sell Bitcoin seized during the 2023 investigation into the Infraud hacker group.
Russian news agency TASS reported that the Treasury has begun efforts to liquidate approximately 1,000 BTC. In the first phase, it was announced that Bitcoin worth about $10 million, confiscated from former Investigative Committee officer Marat Tambiev, would be sold.
Tambiev was found guilty of accepting 1,032 BTC in bribes from the hacker group and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Prosecutors discovered hundreds of Bitcoin on Tambiev’s computer and crypto wallets. However, due to these assets being divided into many small parts, it was noted that a separate court order is required for each one. Nevertheless, authorities successfully obtained court approval for the sale of Bitcoin worth $10 million.
It was revealed that Tambiev stored these Bitcoin in a Ledger Nano X wallet. Prosecutors also plan to sell Tambiev’s real estate properties and a motorcycle. Tambiev had assisted the hacker group in hiding cryptocurrency funds worth 14 billion rubles ($137 million) and, as a result, was stripped of his rank and sent to a maximum-security prison. Additional lawsuits have also been filed against Tambiev and his family, though legal obstacles continue to slow the process.
