A glamorous Russian influencer known as the ‘Crypto Queen’ scammed investors out of £17 million while claiming she was helping fund the Ukrainian military.
Russian authorities say Valeria Fedyakina, 24, presented herself online as a cryptocurrency expert after allegedly amassing millions in just two months from a pyramid scheme targeting four different people.
The pregnant content creator, who called herself Bitmama on her social platforms, purported to be a cryptography expert with offices in Moscow City, Dubai, Monaco, Serbia and Turkey, CryptoNews reported.
His alleged victims claimed to have lost staggering sums of money, with one of them accusing Fedyakina of scamming her out of almost £54 million.
Police spent the last year investigating Crypto Queen after the Kremlin first singled her out, accusing the influencer of running the huge scam to help Ukraine.
Valeria Fedyakina, 24, presented herself online as a cryptocurrency expert before allegedly scamming four people out of £17 million.
The pregnant content creator, who called herself Bitmama on her social platforms, claimed to be a cryptography expert with offices in Moscow, Dubai, Monaco, Serbia and Turkey.
She is expected to be formally charged next month and faces up to a decade in prison if convicted, reports claim.
Fedyakina’s lawyers have continued to deny that she had any intention of sending the money earned to the enemies of the tyrant Putin.
Police say the woman carried out the elaborate scam by convincing investors to transfer their money to Dubai cryptocurrencies to avoid banking restrictions.
The victims said he then promised them a 1 percent bonus on the cash they sent him once it had been converted into crypto.
One victim recounted how Fedyakina successfully convinced him to invest millions of dollars in a seemingly lucrative oil export scheme, luring him with promises of huge profits in an unrealistically short period of time.
But the huge sums of money quickly disappeared when Fedyakina sent them to the Ukrainian armed forces to help in their fight against Russia.
Fedyakina was quickly located and arrested last year as she attempted to flee Russia on a plane to the United Arab Emirates.
She was first arrested in September 2023 on suspicion of running an alleged Ponzi scheme after victims claimed she swindled them out of millions.
Investigators later announced that they had only been able to confirm losses totaling £17 million.
All of the lost money came from a total of four victims and took place in less than 60 days in 2023.
After conducting a thorough investigation, Russia’s Investigative Committee alleged that Fedyakina had deceived her four victims with guarantees of rapid increases from supposed digital money companies.
She was first arrested in September 2023 on suspicion of running an alleged Ponzi scheme after victims claimed she swindled them out of millions.
Fedyakina was forced to return to prison after giving birth to a daughter in a special maternity hospital.
“Fedyakina had the criminal intent to steal money or cryptocurrency by deceiving an indefinite number of people,” it said.
“He did so under the pretext of investing in his transportation activities and buying and selling of oil, oil products, gold and other minerals.”
She is expected to be formally charged next month and faces up to a decade in prison if convicted, reports claim.
Prosecutors also alleged that Fedyakina not only facilitated illegal crypto transactions, but also orchestrated several sophisticated scams in the digital currency space, targeting both private investors and corporations.
At the time of her arrest, Fedyakina was six months pregnant, but the court decided not to impose a lighter sentence of house arrest.
She was then forced to return to prison after giving birth to a daughter in a special maternity hospital.
After she regained her strength, the Kremlin quickly threw her back into a hellish prison.
Fedyakina’s defense denied allegations of fraud and told Russian media that she supports the invasion of the country and is willing to donate funds to support Moscow’s military.
If she is released, they say she will be happy to donate funds to support Putin in his invasion of Ukraine and claim that she herself is a victim of a crypto conspiracy.
