THELOGICALINDIAN - Russian programmer and cryptocurrency broker Pavel Lerner has been kidnapped in Kiev according to Ukrainian and Russian media letters He is the managing administrator of Exmo a above UKbased barter accepted with Russians for accepting ruble payments Lerner is additionally able-bodied accepted in Ukraine area he has startups ambidextrous with mining operations and blockchain technology development
Also read: Russian Crypto News Outlet Shook Down by the Ukrainian Security Service
Russian Crypto Entrepreneur Kidnapped
The Russian-born IT specialist chock-full answering buzz calls about apex on December 26, and was appear missing by accompany and colleagues after the aforementioned day, according to Strana.ua. Quoting a badge source, the website appear that Lerner had been abject into a van by anonymous attackers cutting masks. He was allegedly abducted abutting to his appointment on the “Stepan Bandera” artery in the Ukrainian capital.
Investigators in Kiev are because all accessible leads in a case that they accept declared as kidnapping. Security admiral accept appear the allotment cardinal of the agent acclimated in the advance and are currently administering chase operations.
Exmo’s PR administration accepted media letters in a account and appealed for any advice that could advance to award Lerner, BitNovosti reported. The aggregation additionally insisted its operations were not afflicted and assured its barter that he did not accept absolute admission to cryptocurrency accounts or added claimed data.
Is This a New Vinnik Case?
Russian media accept covered Lerner’s dematerialization cartoon parallels with addition case involving a Russian civic with cryptocurrency background. The 38-year-old Alexander Vinnik was detained in Thessaloniki this summer while on a vacation in Northern Greece. US authorities accept accused Vinnik of crimes accompanying to the Mt. Gox drudge and requested his extradition.
American prosecutors affirmation the Russian has facilitated the bed-making of over $4 billion account of bitcoin baseborn in the hack. Vinnik, who is believed to be the administrator abaft the BTC-e barter acclimated for that purpose, has denied the accusations. This ages the Supreme Court in Athens alone his address adjoin the displacement procedure, admitting objections from Moscow. Russian authorities additionally appetite him aback home area he has been answerable with burglary some $10,000 in Russian currency.
Unlike the operators of the atramentous BTC-e, Pavel Lerner, who has additionally resided in Poland and Spain, has never attempted to adumbrate his affiliation with Exmo. The barter he is managing is acclaimed in cryptocurrency circles in both Russia and Ukraine for processing ruble transactions.
Last year Exmo’s aboriginal dot com area was blocked by the Russian federal telecom authoritative anatomy Roskomnadzor but its new internet abode exmo.me has been registered beneath Lerner’s name in Krasnoyarsk. Exmo is angry the regulator’s accommodation in court, appropriately acceptable one of the actual few crypto businesses to actively argue the state-sanctioned clampdown.
According to BitsMedia, the accepted kidnapping of Pavel Lerner may about-face out to be a detention; a “second Vinnik case”, with accuse collapsed adjoin the 40-year-old Russian entrepreneur. On the added hand, his abduction may artlessly be accompanying to his abounding business interests in several countries. And while the accurate motives of the perpetrators abide unknown, “crypto ransom” additionally sounds like a believable explanation.
Why do you anticipate Pavel Lerner was kidnapped? Let us apperceive in the comments area below.
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