Russian cryptocurrency entrepreneurs Roman Novak and his wife Anna were found dead in the United Arab Emirates a month after vanishing in Dubai, according to reports from the Moscow Times, the New York Post, and other outlets.
The couple disappeared early last month after arranging a meeting with an unidentified investor. They were last seen on the 2nd of the month near a lake close to Dubai’s Hatta Mountain Resort, reportedly heading to meet the investor. Their driver later reported seeing them transfer to another vehicle, raising suspicions of a kidnapping.
Local Russian media Fontanka reported that the couple was taken to a villa in Hatta village, where the kidnappers demanded the password to Novak’s cryptocurrency wallet. When the wallet was found empty, the couple was allegedly killed, their bodies mutilated, with some remains discarded in a shopping mall trash bin and the rest buried in the desert.
Investigators said the couple’s phone signals were traced over several days in the mountains near Hatta and Oman before briefly appearing in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 4, a move believed to be a deliberate attempt to mislead authorities.
Eight Russian nationals have been arrested in connection with the case, including a former investor defrauded by Novak and a former employee of Russia’s Interior Ministry. Three are charged with murder, while the others face allegations of planning the killings and supplying weapons used in the crime.
Novak, founder of the cryptocurrency transfer platform Fintopio, had raised funds from investors across Russia, China, and the Middle East. He and his wife were known for flaunting a lavish lifestyle online, sharing images of luxury cars, private jets, and vacations. Novak had previously served a prison sentence in Russia for extorting roughly $100,000 from investors but was released early.
