Malov Ilya

Biography

2025: Sentence - 6 years in prison for NFT project investment fraud

The Moscow City Court sentenced Ilya Malov to six years in a general regime colony for fraud with investments in an NFT project. The decision was made on March 11, 2025, taking into account the position of the prosecutor's office of the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky administrative districts of Moscow. According to the case file, Maslov attracted investor funds, promising high returns, but did not fulfill his obligations.

According to CNews, the damage from the actions of the convict amounted to more than ₽70 million, and five people became victims of his illegal actions. Malov had accomplices, whose cases were separated into separate proceedings, but law enforcement agencies did not disclose their names.

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Фото: Moscow Prosecutor's Office

The deception scheme, which the convict began to implement in November 2022, was that he appeared to be a successful investor cryptocurrency in and introduced potential victims to a business project to sell NFT paintings. Malov convinced people whom he met at various business meetings that his familiar artist creates digital NFT paintings, places them on specialized sites, after which their cost increases significantly, which makes it possible to make a significant profit.

The fraudster added interested persons to a specially created group in the messenger, which allegedly posted information about investing in an NFT business project. After gaining access to the digital currency of the victims, Malov stopped communicating, and transferred the funds received to pre-prepared digital wallets. During the investigation, it was found that more than 670 thousand were stolen from one of the victims in this way. USDT.

To legalize the funds obtained by criminal means, Malov acquired real estate worth ₽30 million and a Lamborghini car for ₽27 million. These costly acquisitions became key material evidence in the fraud case.^[1]

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