Russian crypto fraudster and his wife brutally killed after kidnappers failed to extract £380 million from their digital wallets

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 - A convicted Russian cryptocurrency fraudster and his wife were tortured and k!lled in the United Arab Emirates after kidnappers failed to extract access to £380 million from their digital wallets, according to reports in Russian media.

Roman Novak and his wife, Anna, disappeared on October 2 after being lured to the resort town of Hatta, about 80 miles from Dubai, by men posing as potential investors. Their mobile phones were last traced to a remote area in the Hajar mountains near the Oman border, where police later dug up a 500-by-500-metre section of desert. Their remains were recovered more than a month later.

Before their deaths, the couple were tortured as their abductors tried to force them to reveal access codes to cryptocurrency accounts that investigators say turned out to be empty. Metro is not publishing the reported methods due to their graphic nature. The bodies were later sealed in thick polyethylene bags, doused with strong chemical solvents intended to accelerate decomposition and destroy DNA evidence, and then dumped in the desert.

An investigation began after relatives in Russia reported the couple missing and informed Dubai authorities that they were likely kidnapped.

Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, said that “the investigation has established that the killers had accomplices who helped organise the abduction. They rented cars and premises where the two victims were held by force.” She added that “after the murder, the perpetrators disposed of the knives and the victims’ personal belongings, leaving them in different emirates.”

Novak had previously been sentenced to six years in prison in Russia for large-scale fraud in 2020. He was later granted parole and travelled to the UAE, where he launched a crypto app known as Fintopio, reportedly raising £380 million from investors before he was accused of defrauding them.

Three Russian citizens have been arrested in St Petersburg after returning from the UAE. They were identified as former police officer Konstantin Shakht, along with Yury Sharypov and Vladimir Dalekin. Sharypov and Dalekin have pleaded guilty, while Shakht denies involvement. All three have been remanded in custody until December 28.