Nov 7, 2025 07:32 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 7, 2025 07:34 PM by NULLTRACE.)
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Crypto investor Roman Novak, known as “a friend of Pavel Durov,” swindled investors out of nearly 500 million dollars - and has already fled to South Africa.
In his project Fintopio, the crypto enthusiast promised connections with Durov, Arab princes, and major IT companies.
Among the victims are businessmen from China and Ukraine, as well as a member of the Russian State Duma.
Novak had previously served time for embezzling $4 million before relocating to Dubai, where he launched a new project - and another massive scam.
Crypto investors refuse to believe it happened - many think the “murder” is a staged disappearance to escape enormous debts.
But the facts don’t support the conspiracy theories. There’s a case, and there are bodies - or rather, body parts.
Who Is Mr. Novak?
Roman Novak was born in Leningrad in 1987.
There he met his wife, Anna, with whom he shared what appeared to be an extraordinarily strong and tender relationship - at least according to social media.
He earned the money; she devoted herself to raising their children and exploring spiritual practices.
Novak is called a crypto scammer - and for good reason. In 2020, the Moscow District Court sentenced him to six years in a general-regime penal colony for fraud.
The victims were several investors who put millions into his project and were left with nothing - Novak took all the money.
The case materials mentioned software called Transcrypt, used for cryptocurrency exchange.
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After serving time in the Kresty prison, Novak was released in 2023 and immediately crossed the Russian border.
His first post after release came from the Indonesian island of Bali:
Quote:Office with a view, where inspiration flows as freely as the ocean breeze
From his posts, the couple’s life looked idyllic - family gatherings on the beach, yoga, surfing, travel, happy faces. But Roman Novak hadn’t changed his ways.
He launched a token project on Telegram, called himself a friend of Pavel Durov, and later allegedly commissioned Ukrainian developers to create Fintopio, an app for crypto transfers.
Then he began attracting investors again, boasting of connections to Durov and “Arab princes.”
The exact number of victims is unknown; clients came from various countries, and total damages were estimated at half a billion dollars.
Telegram channels later claimed Novak had fled with the money to South Africa.
A month before those reports, Novak posted a video showing workers carefully installing a British vintage sports car an AC Cobra - in his home.
Quote:Step by step, boys’ dreams come true
A day later, he was dead.
The Crime Scene - The Villa
Novak’s affairs seemed to be going well - at least well enough to afford a personal driver.
But the showy lifestyle and rumors of stolen millions drew people who wanted a piece of it.
That’s how two men from St. Petersburg and one from Moscow hatched a plan.
Their goal: get access to Novak’s crypto wallet and take the money.
They needed a performance - complete with actors and props. So, five “drops” were recruited - hired through Telegram to rent a villa, a car, and do a few “dirty jobs.”
The young men received cash in dead drops and were told to fly to the UAE. The promised payout was huge, but the ending was tragic for everyone.
On October 2, Novak’s personal driver took him and Anna to meet a potential investor. They drove from Dubai to the small town of Hatta. Roman brought Anna along to “soften” the negotiations - she was charming and easily won people over.
The man arranging the meeting, 38-year-old Dmitry, was known to Novak as a local “fixer.”
Dmitry said the investors were waiting at a villa and offered to drive the couple there himself. The Novaks transferred into a Range Rover, unaware it was taking them to their final destination.
At the villa, all pretenses fell away. The strangers immediately revealed they weren’t investors and demanded the password to Novak’s crypto wallet. Novak didn’t resist - but the wallet was empty. There was no crypto left.
Roman and Anna were killed and then dismembered. The next day, bags containing body parts were dumped in Fujairah.
Emirati police used surveillance footage to track how people driving a Range Rover and a Ford transported and disposed of black plastic bags in garbage bins.
The suspects later switched to a silver Nissan, drove to the airport, and left the UAE.
After their departure, local street cleaners found the grisly remains and alerted the police - who quickly uncovered a Russian connection.
The Hateful Eight
So far, eight suspects have been identified. According to the investigation, three of them organized and carried out the murder - and even disposed of the remains themselves, as confirmed by surveillance footage.
The first suspect is 53-year-old Konstantin Shakht from St. Petersburg. Formerly known as Lipatov, he once served as a homicide detective in the Vyborg District Police Department.
In 2007, officer Lipatov was caught with a large batch of drugs and sentenced to 15 years in prison; he served 12.
Business records show that after his release, he unsuccessfully tried his hand at real estate rentals. He arrived in the UAE on October 1 and left on October 3.
Later, he was traced to Cape Town, where he activated Anna Novak’s phone - apparently to help spread the rumor that the couple had fled to South Africa.
The second is 46-year-old Yury Sharipov, also from Leningrad. He, too, had business ventures that failed.
Investigators believe he took part in both the killings and the disposal of the bodies. He arrived in the UAE on September 30 and left on October 4.
The third suspect is 45-year-old Muscovite Vladimir Dalekin, who was in the UAE from October 1 to 4.
Both Sharipov and Dalekin had participated in Russia’s war in Ukraine but were discharged for medical reasons.
Of the five “drops,” four have already returned to Russia, and one fled to Georgia - the same one who helped arrange the Novaks’ meeting with the “investors.”
Authorities don’t plan to arrest the drops; after the standard 48-hour hold, they’ll be released, as investigators believe they had no criminal intent.
The young men - all under 25 - reportedly thought they were organizing a lavish party.
They believed that’s why they were renting a villa, a car, and buying knives. It didn’t strike them as odd that their “party supplies” also included quicklime.
Conspiracy theories crumble under hard evidence: Emirati police found Anna Novak’s blood inside the villa, blood traces in the rented car, a stash of knives near the crime scene, and one of the organizers’ T-shirts - left behind in haste.
