Kidnapping, cryptocurrencies and Ukrainians: the multi-billion dollar scandal that appears to have defrauded hundreds in Spain and Gibraltar

A KIDNAPPING of two expats thwarted by Spanish police last year is linked to a huge cryptocurrency scandal that will rock Spain and Gibraltar. the olive press can reveal.

The incredible drama in which the couple was kidnapped and held for several hours took place after hundreds of investors feared they had lost up to €70 million in the “crypto scam.”

The kidnapping of Russian Pavel Sidirov and his wife in June was initially treated by police as a routine extortion case, as we reported at the time.

The couple had been kidnapped in front of their villa in El Campello, Alicante, by two fake policemen showing fake Civil Guard badges and a Russian woman acting as an interpreter.

Sidirov and his wife were put in a car, stripped naked, and the wife tied up and used as a hostage.

The gang then threatened the lives of both if they did not hand over the codes to a crypto wallet containing millions.

Tech guru Sidirov cleverly stalled for time by telling the gang that the codes were distributed to 12 separate houses that they would have to go to individually to search for them.

And in one of them, with his wife still bound and gagged in the trunk of the car, Sidirov was able to call his lawyer for help.

The lawyer alerted the police, who rushed to the scene to catch the kidnappers.

The police detained six people, including the interpreter, as well as a retired civil guard, while the alleged ringleader, Carlos Garrido Delgado, turned himself in to the police in the following days to deny his criminality.

Instead, he claimed that the scheme was a minor matter and that he simply represented a group of investors trying to recover the €2 million that Sidirov and the anonymous crypto company he worked for as CTO “owed” them.

While it seemed to be the end of the matter, the olive press may reveal today that the hijacking is just one small part of a much larger scandal that will engulf the already beleaguered cryptocurrency industry.

We have discovered that the hijacking is linked to a Gibraltar-connected crypto firm that has been plunged into a murky world of business failure.

According to well-placed sources, hundreds of desperate investors are now scrambling to get their funds back from the Globix trading platform, which at its peak had almost €150 million under management.

In recent months, investors, based in Gibraltar and Spain, have become increasingly clear that Globix has allegedly lost up to two-thirds of this huge sum.

And in a bizarre twist, we can reveal that the remaining €40 million is apparently in the hands of a shady Ukraine-based IT company.

It happened after Sidirov activated a mechanism during his kidnapping that sent the codes to Globix’s partners in kyiv.

An independent inquiry by a well-known Gibraltar finance company submitted by investors told them they had been fighting to get the money back from Ukraine.

It added that the kyiv-based firm’s CEO had “been uncommunicative” in his efforts to return the money and was “now under arrest.”

In the statement issued to investors in January, a letter seen by the olive pressIt says: “The police have been contacted, as have the (Finance) Ministry with responsibility, and collectively we are hopeful that they will ensure that the process is completed satisfactorily.”

He added: “We have the Ukrainian special police involved and they have arrested three people. They are looking for a fourth individual. These people have the data that is needed to facilitate the final transfer.”

While this has been difficult to independently verify, documents seen by this newspaper suggest that the Globix platform suffered massive losses in the first half of 2022 and investors using the platform told us they began experiencing problems withdrawing their funds. that spring.

“I had a very uncomfortable feeling in my stomach that something was not right in May,” said a Marbella-based British investor. the olive press this week.

He spoke to us anonymously for fear of retaliation, but claimed to have lost €30,000 with Globix.

“It was just one excuse after another. Looking back, it’s most likely a fraud. I am very furious, to be honest,” said the former financier.

“These guys seem to have disappeared into the sunset.”

When contacted by the olive press For comment, the alleged Globix boss dismissed all the allegations against him and his company as ‘lies’.

The Gibraltarian, who lists himself on LinkedIn as a ‘crypto mining broker’, said: “I’m not allowed to talk about it at the moment. I’m sorry.”

He added: “Basically, someone is rummaging around and if you have any evidence, send it to me. Above it continues’secret summaryin the court of Alicante [regarding the kidnapping of Sidirov] so you should talk to the court.”

According to his resume, he attended Tambov University in Russia before setting up “a crypto mining farm in Russia together with a Russian team.”