The investigation has filed charges against Igor Runets
The investigation has filed charges against Igor Runets, founder of Russia's largest mining company BitRiver, for major fraud in supplying equipment for cryptocurrency mining to structures of the En+ holding.
Consensus
- Igor Runts, founder of BitRiver, was charged with fraud in an especially large amount under Article 159 Part 4 of the Russian Criminal Code.
- The alleged fraud involved a contract for supplying mining equipment to companies within En+ Group.
- Runts had previously been under house arrest related to tax evasion charges.
- On July 22, 2026, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow changed his detention measure from house arrest to pre-trial custody (SIZO) for two months.
- The alleged damage is estimated at nearly 1 billion rubles.
- The contract in question was signed by Runts' company 'Fox' with LLC 'Infrastructure of Siberia', part of En+ Group, in December 2023.
- The buyer paid $7.9 million as full prepayment, but the equipment was not delivered and funds were not returned.
Points of divergence
- Runts' company 'Fox' allegedly did not intend to fulfill the contract from the beginning and misused the funds at will. — tg_baikal_people
- The fraud case is linked specifically to Oleg Deripaska's En+ Group, with Runts accused of defrauding a company owned by the billionaire. — tg_moscowtimes_ru
- The investigation was expanded to include multiple arbitration disputes and tax claims, merging them into one case. — kommersant
- Clients of BitRiver allegedly paid for data center services while using the equipment exclusively for cryptocurrency mining, which was disguised as legitimate IT services to reduce taxable income. — fontanka
Coverage (5 sources)
- Founder of Russia's largest mining operator accused of fraud worth 1 billion rubles and placed in pretrial detention — Люди Байкала
- Founder of Russia's Largest Miner Sent to Pretrial Detention for Billions in 'Fraud' with Billionaire Deripaska's Company — The Moscow Times
- RBC accuses founder of Russian miner BitRiver of fraud — Коммерсантъ
- Суд арестовал основателя майнинговой компании BitRiver по делу о мошенничестве на 1 млрд рублей — Фонтанка
- Founder of BitRiver mining company arrested on fraud charges — Вести
Key entities
- BitRiver
- Igor Runets
- Russia
- RBC
- Pre-trial detention center
- En+ Group
- Moscow
- Deripaska
- Information
- Zamoskvoretsky District Court