Russian Official Detained for Accepting Record $28M in BTC Bribe

Marat Tambiev allegedly received 1032.1 BTC in April 2022 from the hacker he was investigating in exchange for not confiscating the hacker's assets.

Russian official Marat Tambiev has been accused of accepting $28 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) as a bribe from a hacking group he is investigating, according to local news reports. According to the report, this is the largest amount ever recorded in a single bribery case in Russia.

Tambiev was head of the investigative department of Moscow's Tverskoy district committee until he was fired for corruption. Authorities found 1,032.1 BTC in Tambiev’s laptop, which had been confiscated months earlier during a search of his Moscow apartment, the report said.

The Deputy Prosecutor General noted that Tambiyev received 11.7 million rubles (less than $150,000) during his tenure on the investigative committee. The fact that he owns $28 million worth of bitcoin "suggests that he acquired property from sources not specified by law," he said.

According to the authorities, Tambiev received a bribe on April 7, 2022 from the hacker group Infraud Organization Mark and its members Konstantin Bergmanov and Kirill Samokutyaevsky. Tambiev accepted bribes in exchange for not confiscating the illegal assets of the hackers he was investigating, the report said.

The report stated that the hackers were sentenced to 2.5 to 3.5 years of probation. Authorities recovered about $8.6 million worth of bitcoins from them.

According to reports, Tambiyev will appear in court on June 5, when prosecutors will try to confiscate all his ill-gotten gains. He has consistently contested the allegations and has denied corruption allegations. He recently sued the commission of inquiry and asked for reinstatement, as the investigation is still ongoing and the allegations have not been proven. But the suit was dismissed after a departmental audit proved corrupt practices, the report said.