A convicted Russian cryptocurrency fraudster and his wife “watched each other being tortured to death” when their kidnappers failed to gain access to their £380 million (€430 million) fortune, according to Russian investigators.
Roman Novak and his wife Anna disappeared on October 2 in the United Arab Emirates after being driven to the Hatta resort, about 80 miles from Dubai, by criminals posing as investors.
Their mobile phones were last traced near the Hajar mountains on the border with Oman, where police later found the couple’s remains after extensive searches in a large sandy area.
The brutal torture for cryptocurrency access
Russian media revealed new details about what happened after their kidnapping, reporting that the couple was tortured in front of each other as the kidnappers tried to force them to give access to their cryptocurrency wallets.
According to this information, when they finally gave up the codes, the wallets were empty. The killers then placed the bodies in heavy polyethylene bags and used industrial solvents to accelerate decomposition and destroy DNA traces, according to the Daily Mail.
The investigation began when relatives informed Dubai police that the couple had disappeared and was suspected of being kidnapped.
Roman, who was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud in Russia in 2020, moved to the UAE after being released on parole.
There, he created a cryptocurrency app called Fintopio, which reportedly attracted investments worth £380 million before he was accused of defrauding investors.
This amount is believed to have been the kidnappers’ target.
Three Russian arrests in St. Petersburg – “The killers had accomplices”
Svetlana Petrenko from the Russian Investigative Committee stated: “The investigation has determined that the killers had accomplices who helped organize the kidnapping.
They rented cars and spaces where the two people were held by force. After the murder, the perpetrators disposed of the knives and victims’ personal items, leaving them in different emirates.”
Three Russian citizens have now been arrested in St. Petersburg after returning from the UAE.
These are former police officer Konstantin Sakht, Yuri Saripov, and Vladimir Dalekin.
Investigators say these men are suspects for direct involvement in the kidnapping and murder.
Saripov and Dalekin have confessed their guilt, while Sakht denies the charges. All three are being held until December 28, while the investigation continues in both Russia and the Emirates.
UAE police have not yet commented on the case.
Financial motive – How the mobile phone traces were lost
The motive is considered exclusively financial, connected to Novak’s activities in the cryptocurrency space and the enormous sums he allegedly had under his control.
Russian officials say there may be more arrests as they try to identify the full network behind one of the most shocking cases of Russian murders abroad in recent years.
The couple was reportedly driven to Hatta by their personal driver before boarding another vehicle to continue the journey.
Novak then sent messages to his contacts, saying he was “stuck in the mountains on the Oman border” and urgently needed £152,000. Investigators say communication was lost shortly after.
Their mobile phones were traced to Hatta, Oman, and Cape Town before the signal was lost in early October.
Detectives believe the phones were deliberately activated at these points to confuse the investigation.
