A Russian woman was sentenced to 7 years in prison for defrauding $23 million in Bitcoin through a Ponzi scheme

ChainCatcher news, according to the Daily Telegraph, a Russian woman who claims to be a cryptocurrency expert was sentenced to 7 years in prison by a Moscow court for orchestrating and executing a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $23 million (2.2 billion rubles) in Bitcoin over a period of 60 days in 2023.

The woman, named Valeria Fedyakina, is from Simferopol. She impersonated a legitimate cryptocurrency trader with offices worldwide under the alias "Bitmama," promising clients that she could transfer funds overseas using cryptocurrency to circumvent Western sanctions.