Russian Court Recognizes Cryptocurrency as Means of Payment, Prosecutors See Precedent

The City Court of St. Petersburg has recognized a ample magnitude of cryptocurrency handed implicit by the unfortunate successful an extortion lawsuit arsenic a means of payment, Russian media reported. The prosecutor’s bureau successful Russia’s second-largest metropolis describes the ruling arsenic a precedent.

Two Men Sentenced for Cryptocurrency Extortion successful Russia

Two Russian citizens person been sentenced to 9 and 7 years successful situation nether strict authorities for extorting 5 cardinal rubles (almost $90,000) successful currency and 55 cardinal rubles (close to $1 million) successful integer assets from different man.

In the people of the trial, the St. Petersburg City Court has recognized the cryptocurrency arsenic a means of payment, the crypto leafage of Russian concern quality portal RBC reported. Prosecutors see the ruling a first, arsenic the authorities successful Moscow is yet to find the legal status of bitcoin and the like.

Four years ago, 1 of the perpetrators, Pyotr Piron, introduced himself to the victim, G.A. Shemet, arsenic an serviceman from the Federal Security Service (FSB). He threatened Shemet with transgression prosecution to extort wealth from him successful the signifier of fiat and cryptocurrency, the nonfiction details.

As Shemet did not judge Piron was a information authoritative and refused to springiness him the funds, the second enlisted the services of an accomplice, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a erstwhile worker of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).

The 2 told Shemet a transgression probe volition beryllium launched against him for alleged amerciable circulation of cryptocurrency. In the summertime of 2018, they staged a fake apprehension of the crypto proprietor who, nether the menace of torture, handed implicit the fiat currency and his crypto stash.

The metropolis court’s archetypal determination did not instrumentality into relationship the misappropriated crypto. It stated successful the verdict that cryptocurrency “is not a means of outgo connected the territory of the Russian Federation, truthful it cannot beryllium recognized arsenic an entity of civilian rights and a taxable of a crime.”

Following an appeal, a cassation tribunal declared that the cryptocurrency tin nevertheless beryllium considered a means of outgo and returned the lawsuit to the tribunal of archetypal instance. Without changing the situation presumption of the defendants, the metropolis tribunal issued a caller verdict, adding the integer cash.

The improvement comes aft past month, a territory tribunal successful St. Petersburg allowed instrumentality enforcement officials to confiscate stolen cryptocurrency successful different transgression case. Investigators had demanded the seizure of 2 twelve crypto wallets of a suspect, holding 1 cardinal rubles successful ethereum (ETH).

Do you expect to spot much cases involving cryptocurrency successful Russian courts? Tell america successful the comments conception below.

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