Former Polish Police Officer Charged as Zondacrypto Probe Searches Fuel Depot

In brief

• Polish prosecutors have charged a former police officer with organized crime membership, fraud and money laundering linked to the case of collapsed exchange Zondacrypto.
• Police are searching the fuel depot where Zondacrypto founder Sylwester Suszek was last seen before vanishing in March 2022.
• At least five others have been charged since August in a case that has drawn several thousand complaints from clients of the exchange.

Polish prosecutors have charged a former police officer over the collapsed Zondacrypto exchange, as investigators search the fuel depot where its founder was last seen before he disappeared four years ago.

Officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime, Poland's specialist cybercrime force, detained Artur K. on Tuesday on the orders of the National Prosecutor's Office organized crime department, which said he faces two counts.

The first is membership of an organized criminal group. The second bundles together causing property damage on a great scale to BitBay, BB Trade Estonia and a third entity, aiding the misappropriation of entrusted property, aiding computer fraud, and money laundering.

Suspects are identified by their first name and an initial under Polish convention. Artur K. is a former police officer, Polish Radio reported, citing the state news agency PAP.