Former Russian security officials accused of historic $50 million bribery
Two former Russian security officers have been accused of accepting what is alleged to be the largest bribe in Russia's history, amounting to $50 million, according to reports from the Russian Telegram channel CHTD on April 17.
The individuals implicated, Georgy Satyukov and Dmitry Sokolov, previously worked in the K Department of the Russian Interior Ministry, which deals with cybercrime. The Telegram channel detailed that the duo was involved in a criminal scheme protecting Alexei Ivanov (Bilyuchenko), a system administrator for the Wex cryptocurrency exchange.
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"According to the investigation, they shielded Ivanov from criminal charges in exchange for not paying a kickback, ultimately receiving bribes in cryptocurrency totaling $50 million from March 2019 to October 2021," CHTD reported.
"They threatened him with a criminal case for failing to pay a kickback. As a result, from March 2019 to October 2021, Satyukov and Sokolov received bribes in cryptocurrency in the amount equivalent to $50 million."
Following the scandal, both Satyukov and Sokolov have fled Russia.
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The previous record for a bribery case in Russia involved Interior Ministry Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, who was sentenced for taking a bribe worth $14.8 million. However, these cases merely scratch the surface, as there are potentially larger undisclosed cases of corruption. The extent of Russia's largest historical bribe remains unknown.
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