Dmitry Demin, a former FSB officer in the Samara region, fully pleaded guilty to a particularly large-scale fraud. The officer is charged with a rather original scam – embezzlement of almost 200 million rubles worth of bitcoins from an under investigation hacker.
The victim of his term of one year of restriction of freedom has already served, while the officer is threatened with years in prison.
The officer, accused of fraud on an especially large scale, entered into a pre-trial agreement with the military prosecutor’s office and offered to testify against accomplices. Despite this, the 235th garrison military court in Moscow left him in a pre-trial detention center until December 1 and refused to change the preventive measure to house arrest.
According to the investigation, in 2021, a hacker was detained near Samara , who, using a special program, hacked into computers and stole personal data, including passwords from electronic wallets and other means of payment. During the investigation, he voluntarily provided the security forces with passwords and revealed the principles of the system. With their help, the lieutenant colonel and his assistants stole cryptocurrency from April 18 to December 7.
The case against Demin was initiated in February 2022, initially he categorically refused to cooperate with the investigation and testify. The Samara garrison military court placed him in custody. It is known that in April the officer was fired from the special services.
The lieutenant colonel who stole money from a hacker confessed, but was not released
As it became known to Kommersant, a former FSB officer for the Samara region, Dmitry Demin, fully admitted his guilt in a particularly large-scale fraud. The officer is charged with a rather original scam – embezzlement of almost 200 million rubles worth of bitcoins from an under investigation hacker. The victim of his term of one year of restriction of freedom has actually served, while the officer is threatened with years in prison.Expand to full screen
Before the next extension of his detention, retired Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Demin fully admitted his guilt in committing a crime under Part 4 of Art. 159 (fraud on an especially large scale) of the Criminal Code and invited the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office (GVP), which controls the investigation, to testify against the accomplices of fraud.
As a result, the GVP concluded a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the Chekist under investigation, however, the 235th garrison military court in Moscow refused to release the retiree, extending his detention in the SIZO until December 1, 2022 at the request of the main military investigation department of the TFR.
The reason for this was the assumption that, having been released, even under house arrest, Mr. Demin would immediately use his connections in law enforcement and state authorities, which he acquired while working in the special services since 2006, to counter the military investigation, and in addition, having colluded with unidentified accomplices, will take measures to conceal the stolen funds and continue to engage in criminal activities.
The officer himself replied that he had not been working in the FSB since April, and was not going to run away from his three children who were waiting for him in the Samara region. However, the court decided to keep him under arrest.
Under the investigation, which was initially conducted in Samara, Lieutenant Colonel Demin, who served as deputy head of the department – head of the regional FSB department, came in February of this year. At the same time, at the request of the investigation, the Samara Garrison Military Court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention for him. The defendant at first categorically refused to cooperate and testify, referring to Art. 51 of the Constitution, which allows not to testify against oneself. Then his criminal case was transferred for further investigation to the capital.
As a result, it was established that the lieutenant colonel and other unidentified persons committed fraud between April 18 and December 7, 2021, that is, the theft of someone else’s property – digital rights to cryptocurrency in the amount of 68.5 bitcoins, the total value of which at the time of the theft during conversion into Russian rubles was not less than 187 million 383 thousand 318 rubles.
The crime, according to the materials of the criminal case, was committed by a Chekist using his official position “by deceit and abuse of trust, causing significant damage” to citizen Mochalov
The hacker from Syzran who, using a special program, hacked into the protection of other people’s computers, stealing passwords from there, among other things, in order to provide access to electronic wallets and other means of payment. After the arrest, the hacker, according to his testimony, voluntarily provided the security officers with passwords, explaining how the system works. Obviously, using the data received from him, the FSB officer, possibly together with his colleagues, stole bitcoins.
The hacker was sentenced by court to one year of restriction of freedom under article 273 (“Creation, use and distribution of malicious computer programs”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.