A Russian citizen, Bitmama, was sentenced to 7 years for Crypto Assets fraud, with an amount reaching 23 million dollars.

Gate News bot news, according to Live Bitcoin News, Russia has just experienced one of the largest encryption crimes to date. Reports state that a woman who claims to be a crypto assets expert, known as "Bitmama", has been sentenced to 7 years in prison. Valeria Fedyakina, a 30-year-old mother from Simferopol, was convicted of defrauding investors of 2.2 billion rubles (approximately 23 million USD at the time).

Valeria Fedyakina positions herself as a trustworthy Crypto Assets professional, operating under the brand "Bitmama" or "Bitmama Finance," and claims to be running a global business where investors can convert funds overseas (mainly in Dubai) into Crypto Assets. Her business plan is straightforward, but investors seem to be on board.

In addition, she also proposed helping clients circumvent the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine and converting rubles into foreign Crypto Assets.

She even promised to give them a small bonus of 1% for every transaction, which, combined with her public image, seemed to be very effective. Reports indicate that many clients have offered her large amounts of cash in hopes of profiting from the boom in the crypto assets market.

However, behind the scenes, "Bitmama" was implementing a pyramid scheme. It is said that she did not invest customer funds, but instead transferred the funds to her own crypto assets wallet in the UAE.

In just 60 days in 2023, four victims lost as much as 2.2 billion rubles.

The report shows that sometimes the daily trading volume reaches up to $15 million. These transactions are usually conducted in luxury hotels in Moscow, where she arranges meetings with clients. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, Fedyaikina disguised herself as an investor in the oil, gold, and general commodities markets. A spokesperson for the committee stated that her actions "had criminal intent, to steal money or Crypto Assets from an uncertain number of people through deception."

However, her downfall occurred in September 2023. At this point, the pyramid scheme had begun to unravel, and investors started to have doubts.

Bitmama attempted to escape from Russia to the UAE. The UAE is known for its friendly policies towards Crypto Assets and historically lax KYC/AML enforcement. However, she was arrested at the border while trying to leave the country.

According to reports, the Russian woman was six months pregnant at the time she was detained by the Russian authorities. She later gave birth to a daughter and was held in Moscow SIZO No. 6 with her daughter.

However, last week, the Moscow Presnensky District Court sentenced the Russian to 7 years in prison. This is in stark contrast to the ten-year imprisonment initially imposed by the prosecutor under Russian anti-fraud law.

However, in addition to imprisonment, Bitmama has also been ordered to pay a total of $23 million in compensation to the victims. Just now, after adjusting for inflation, this figure is close to £20 million. Reportedly, this is not an isolated case. Currently, more and more individuals and entities in Russia are using Crypto Assets to evade sanctions and even fund illegal activities, and this trend continues.

Another survey conducted by Reuters earlier this year showed that the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) allegedly used Bitcoin to pay young, inexperienced spies across Europe.

Overall, despite "Bitmama" being imprisoned in a Russian exile, the encryption crime trend continues, with new cases occurring almost every day.