A Russian detective has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for accepting $65 million in bitcoin bribes from hackers.

Russia has sentenced mid-level detective Marat Tambiyev to 16 years in prison after he was caught accepting a bribe of 1,032 bitcoins worth US$65 million.

The bribe came from members of the Infrad hacking group, which Tambiev was tasked with investigating while working for Russia's Investigative Committee (ICR).

Russian bribery scandal

Tambiev has been with the ICR since 2011, taking key responsibilities in various investigative units across the country. Before his fall, he rose through the ranks to become head of the investigation department in Moscow's Tverskoy district. The disgraced officer received a huge bribe from the hacking gang on April 7, 2022.

According to an indictment filed by the Nikulinsky District Court in Moscow, Tambiev accepted a BTC bribe to prevent the confiscation of the group's illegal assets, which allowed two of its members – Kirill Samokutyavsky and Konstantin Bergmanov – to escape from prison.

When the bribe was first reported in early 2023, 1,032 bitcoins were worth 1.6 billion rubles, surpassing Russia's previous record of 1.4 billion rubles paid in installments.

A search of Tambiev's Moscow apartment turned up an Apple MacBook Pro, which investigators eventually recovered several months later. Inside, they found a folder labeled “Retirements” containing keys to two online wallets containing a total of 1,032 bitcoins. The deposit is captured and transferred to the Ledger Nano X hardware wallet.

Tambiev has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was set up and that his actions helped them recover some of the money associated with criminal activities. Kristina Lykhavenko, a subordinate of Tambiev, was sentenced to nine years in prison in connection with the same case. Legal representatives for both defendants have announced plans to appeal.

In addition, In 2021, two INFRAD members — Russian Sergey Medvedev and North Macedonian Marko Leopard — were sentenced to five to ten years in prison for trafficking stolen personal data, credit card details, malware and other illegal goods.

Mass incarceration in Russia

In the year Warming to the crypto industry after a blanket ban in 2022, Russia has taken a cautious stance and launched several investigations into illegal use. Recently, around 100 cybercriminals linked to anonymous payment system UAPS and cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex were arrested by the authorities.

These individuals were engaged in illegal activities, including money laundering and selling bank cards. According to the US Treasury Department, Cryptex has recovered more than $51 million from ransomware attacks and more than $720 million related to services used by Russian cybercriminals, including transaction mixing services and authorized Garantex.