BitRiver founder Igor Runets detained on fraud charges involving ~1 billion rubles in unpaid mining equipment.
Regulation & Gov ·
Igor Runets, founder of BitRiver, has been moved to two months of pretrial detention by a Moscow court on suspicion of large-scale fraud. Investigators allege that a company under Runets's control accepted full advance payment from an En+ subsidiary for mining equipment but neither delivered the machines nor returned the funds, with the disputed amount totaling approximately RUB 1 billion.
BitRiver operates as a significant crypto-mining firm in Russia, having previously held the top position among the country's mining operators by revenue. Runets had initially been held under house arrest before the court escalated his detention status.
The investigation remains ongoing, and it is not yet clear what defense Runets or his legal team may present regarding the allegations or the status of the equipment transaction.