Alexey Ivanov-Bilyuchenko: "I hope Wex fulfills its obligations and returns money to users"
The Moscow City Court refused to commute or overturn the sentence imposed on the co-founder of the Wex crypto exchange, Alexei Ivanov-Bilyuchenko. The decision means: the verdict came into force, according to which the businessman received 3.5 years in prison and half a million rubles in fine.
The Moscow City Court considered the appeal on Monday, March 18, at the fourth attempt – the meeting had been postponed three times before. Alexey Bilyuchenko (who changed his surname to Ivanov shortly before his detention in 2022) asked to cancel the verdict handed down in September 2023 by the Meshchansky district court, citing excessive severity and the voluntary compensation of about 3 billion rubles that had already taken place.
"I announced the damage solely for the purpose that Wex could fulfill its monetary obligations to the users of the site," the defendant assured in his last word. "I hope that the current management of the exchange will fulfill its obligations to users and return their funds."
Representatives of the current management of Wex expected to return 4 billion rubles, but the amount of 3.17 billion has already been established by expertise, Ivanov-Bilyuchenko recalled (moreover, it is known that the management of World Exchange Services would like to receive 16 billion rubles).
"My lawyer in court attached documents and a unanimous decision of the Wex board of directors, according to which the representative of the company Pravdin (an Armenian citizen Igor Pravdin is now listed as the sole owner of Wex. – Bits.media) is authorized not only to personally receive funds as compensation for damage, but also to personally return to users, since the damage was reimbursed by me for exactly this purpose."
The prosecutor asked for 4.5 years in a general regime colony and a fine of 1 million rubles under Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the co-founder of the largest Russian-speaking crypto exchange that collapsed in 2018 ("Theft of other people's property by appropriation or embezzlement as part of an organized group or on a particularly large scale"). And I would not mind changing the decision of the Petty-Bourgeois regional court in a tougher direction.
But in the last word, the accused asked for leniency and humanity, and the court of appeal upheld the decision of the district court. The parties still have a formal opportunity to appeal the verdict of the Moscow City Court to the Supreme Court.
However, in fact, by March 18, three of the 3.5 years awarded had expired (taking into account a year and a half in jail), and Alexey Ivanov will theoretically be able to be released in September. The defendant considers the damage to be compensated due to his frozen accounts in Alfa-Bank.
Sergey Mendeleev, the representative of Wex clients who lost money, the executive director of InDeFi Smart Bank, does not believe in anyone's desire to pay off defrauded depositors: "the tears that were arrested on Ivanov/Bilyuchenko's accounts will immediately disappear into thin air without a chance of compensation for the real victims."
"The owners of the exchange were Vinnik, Ivanov/Bilyuchenko and Klimenko himself (Alexander Vinnik and Alexander Klimenko, as involved in Wex's predecessor, the BTC-e exchange, are now awaiting trial in the United States. – Bits.media). How can you steal money from yourself?! All this nonsense was invented solely with the aim of making fools of the real victims – namely, the clients of the Wex exchange, to whom no one is going to pay a single cent."
