A convicted Russian cryptocurrency fraudster, Roman Novak, and his wife, Anna Novak, disappeared in the United Arab Emirates and are now believed to have been murdered.
Roman Novak had become notorious in St. Petersburg for defrauding investors out of millions via various crypto ventures. After being sentenced in 2020 to six years in prison for large-scale fraud, he relocated to Dubai and allegedly continued deceiving investors of more than $300 million through his fintech platform, Fintopio.
In early October, the Novaks travelled to meet potential investors near Hatta, close to the UAE–Oman border. At the meeting, they changed vehicles—leaving their driver behind—and vanished without further contact. Authorities in Russia and the UAE believe that what appeared to be a legitimate business meeting was in fact a trap: the couple were taken to a rented villa under false pretences, then kidnapped with the aim of forcing Novak to surrender access to sizable cryptocurrency holdings linked to his app and earlier fraud schemes. When the kidnappers failed to obtain the ransom or crypto access, both Roman and Anna were reportedly killed and dismembered.
The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case into the murder following the couple’s unexplained disappearance. Investigators allegedly identified eight suspects—three accused of organising the kidnapping and murder, and five intermediaries used (perhaps unknowingly) to orchestrate what seemed like a normal business meeting. Of the suspects, seven have been detained in Russia.
Initial findings trace the suspects’ movements via phone and surveillance; their signals appeared in Oman and later South Africa before disappearing after 4 October.
