The Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), together with other interested structures, is developing mechanisms for applying bitcoins to the state's income, since a precedent has already been set. This was announced by the head of the FSSP Dmitry Aristov, speaking at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and state Building.
When asked about the practice of confiscating cryptocurrencies, Aristov noted that "bitcoin is a problematic asset." According to him, during one criminal case, bitcoins were identified and now law enforcement agencies are looking for a solution for their implementation.
"There is one precedent, a criminal case. Bitcoins were revealed during the criminal case. We are currently working with the relevant authorities to develop a methodology for the implementation of this type of financial instruments," said the head of the FSSP.
In the summer of 2023, as part of the case of former investigator Marat Tambiev, convicted of a record bribe in cryptocurrency, the court decided to withdraw more than 1.7 billion rubles (1032.1BTC) in bitcoins stored on the Ledger Nano X hardware wallet to the state.
The value of 1032.1 bitcoins in the court's decision is calculated as of January 30, 2023, at that time it was equivalent to $23,980,843, or 1.662 billion rubles at the then Central Bank exchange rate.
Currently, the amount of 1032.1 BTC is estimated at 86 million dollars or 7.3 billion rubles.
Tambiev was detained on March 25, 2022 by employees of the FSB's own security department. Initially, he was suspected of accepting a bribe in the amount of 10 million rubles, sources close to the Moscow Department of the Investigative Committee (IC).
He was detained while receiving a bribe from a lawyer — he was handed 200 thousand rubles in marked bills, the rest of the amount was a fake.
Earlier, Tambiev received a bribe in bitcoins from hackers Mark and Konstantin Bergman, as well as Kirill Samokutyaev, amounting to almost $ 24 million for not seizing their assets. The hackers later received suspended sentences for illegal circulation of funds.
The alleged bribe was discovered during a search of the former investigator's apartment on Bolshaya Ochakovskaya Street in Moscow. They found an Apple MacBook Pro laptop in his possession, in which there was a folder called "Pension". It contained a photo of a piece of paper with notes of the moves that allowed Tambiev to access 932.1 and 100 bitcoins.
A hardware wallet with access keys to Tambiev's cryptocurrency was placed in the evidence storage room of the Investigative Committee of Russia.
The court recognized Tambiev's bitcoins as acquired with unconfirmed income. He was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony and fined 500 million rubles.
According to the investigation, Tambiev received cryptocurrency from members of the hacker group Fraud Organization for ending the criminal case and helping to conceal funds.
Aristov noted that a solution to the problem of cryptocurrency confiscation has not yet been found. He stressed that, first of all, it is necessary to legislate the turnover of "relevant" bitcoins in Russia.
In mid-March, the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, announced that the draft law on recognizing cryptocurrencies as property for the purposes of criminal and criminal procedure legislation had been sent to the government for consideration.
According to Bastrykin, the document will allow, among other things, to resolve the issues of arresting cryptocurrencies and determining the procedure for their seizure during investigative actions.
A day later, the Public Chamber proposed creating a fund for confiscated cryptocurrencies. The proceeds from such assets are supposed to be used in various social projects.
