Crypto Scandal Sinks Russian Elites’ $8.5M Polar Party Cruise

A multi-million dollar luxury cruise to the North Pole was cancelled following the arrest of a Russian crypto entrepreneur in the U.S. His Delaware-registered company had been acting as a payments broker between Ponant, the French owner of the luxury icebreaker, and TRVL, a Russian-owned travel company based in Dubai that had chartered the vessel. 

 According to the Financial Times, TRVL has sued Ponant following the arrest of Russian crypto entrepreneur Iurii Gugnin, also known as George Goognin. TRVL’s court petition says that Iurii is the Founder of Evita Investments, which handled the North Pole cruise transaction. The FBI arrested him in New York in June, and U.S. prosecutors charged him with violating sanctions and money laundering. The accusations claimed that Iurri helped Russia get vital U.S. technology and laundered more than $500 million.

“Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money-laundering operation under the guise of a cryptocurrency start-up, which he then used to evade sanctions and export controls and defraud US financial institutions,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement. 

The Multi-million Dollar Cruise Trip

On this luxury cruise from the Norwegian Island of Svalbard, more than 150 elite Russians were to embark. It had all the glamorous facilities, from Swarovski-studded telescopes to Michelin-starred meals. But instead of sailing to the icy northern pole, the cruise has sunk under the weight of a lawsuit. 

TRVL’s legal documents say that on July 2, Ponant ended the contract and wouldn’t give back the $5.5 million it had already received for the trip. Ponant stated in a section of its termination letter, which TRVL included in its legal filing, that the criminal charges against Gugnin  represented a “grave compliance failure that undermines the legality and integrity of our business relationship.” They also called Evita “your appointed broker.”

Crypto-related high-profile arrests on the rise 

In August, Czech police arrested darknet marketplace founder Tomas Jirikovsky over a $45 million Bitcoin scandal. Jirikovsky, a Czech programmer, is infamous for having created the Sheep Marketplace in 2013. The illegal darknet platform traded drugs, weapons, and counterfeit goods.

Also, in July, a 30-year-old software engineer working at CoinDCX was arrested in connection with the massive $44 million cryptocurrency theft that shocked India’s crypto industry. 

Also Read: Ray Dalio Flags Cryptocurrencies as Dollar Hedge Amid Rising Debt

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