Mysterious circumstances accompany the last hours of the life of a swindler from the field of cryptocurrencies and his wife found concreted and buried in the desert after being forced to watch each other’s torture.
The bodies of Roman Novak († 38) and his wife Anna († 37) were discovered in thick plastic bags in a remote desert area in the United Arab Emirates. According to investigators, chemical solvents were used to destroy traces of DNA, the portal informs about it.
The family reported them missing in October. The remains should have been found earlier, but the authorities were deciding whether to transport them to Russia for forensic analysis and subsequent burial. Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a source close to the investigation as saying they were encased in concrete. The couple are believed to have been lured to a rented villa in Hatta under the pretense of meeting potential investors. Upon arrival, they were to be tortured into revealing access to their cryptocurrency wallets and then murdered.
In terrifying final messages sent to friends, they claimed they were stranded in the mountains on the border with Oman and urgently needed £152,000 (around €178,000). They were originally driven to Hatta by their driver, but during the journey they switched to another vehicle. A few hours later the last news came and then all contact was cut off. St. Petersburg-based Roman was the founder of a cryptocurrency transfer system that attracted around $500 million (about €467 million) in investment after its launch in 2023.
However, the platform abruptly shut down in October and users lost access to their finances. The company had a strong user base abroad, especially in the Middle East. Before his disappearance, Roman presented himself as a successful investor and claimed to be the founder of a payment platform enabling fast crypto transactions. He persuaded investors from China, the Middle East and other countries to back the project, promising partnerships with big tech firms and claiming personal connections with industry figures.
Three persons were detained in St. Petersburg in connection with the double murder. Among them is former policeman Konstantin Šacht (53), whose investigators consider him the organizer of the murder. Two suspects confessed to the crimewhile Schacht denies all the accusations. According to the investigators, Roman and his wife should have been stabbed and then laid in such a way that they had to look at each other until they died. Anna’s father and stepmother were to travel to Dubai to take care of their two young children after their parents disappeared.
