According to the investigation, from February 2024 to December 2025, the man took 51 mining devices "for temporary use" from three residents of Orenburg, along with money to purchase new computing equipment "for modernizing the mining operation." Instead of using the hardware and funds as agreed, he sold all the equipment, causing his partners losses exceeding 3 million rubles, as stated in the case materials.
Simultaneously, the 33-year-old man deceived another partner, investigators believe — from April to August 2024, he convinced this partner to buy mining equipment worth 1.3 million rubles, took the money, but never delivered the equipment.
The court in the city of Bodaybo, Irkutsk Region, Russia, received a case against a 44-year-old man whom the investigation considers the organizer of an underground mining operation. The farm was set up in an industrial workshop rented by the accused's wife. Moreover, the landlord paid for the electricity, unaware of the hidden crypto farm on his premises. Power engineers estimated the damage at 8 million rubles.
The American investment company Mintvest Capital filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Puerto Rico against the mining company Energy & Compute, formerly known as Coinmint. The plaintiff alleges that Coinmint's CEO Ashton Soniat misappropriated 448.7193 bitcoins. When commissioning new equipment, Soniat provided investors with later start dates for bitcoin mining than actually occurred, Mintvest Capital insists.
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