A Russian couple, convicted of a massive cryptocurrency fraud, were subjected to a horrific ordeal in the United Arab Emirates, ultimately being tortured to death after kidnappers failed to seize a fortune reportedly worth £380 million.
A Fatal Lure to the Desert
Roman Novak and his wife, Anna, vanished on October 2 after being enticed to the mountain resort of Hatta, approximately 80 miles from Dubai. The pair had been deceived by criminals posing as potential investors in their crypto venture.
Their disappearance triggered a major search operation. More than a month later, Dubai police excavated a vast 500-by-500-metre area of desert in the Hajar mountains, close to the Omani border, where the couple's mobile signals were last traced. It was there that their remains were finally discovered.
A Brutal End for Empty Wallets
Subsequent reports from Russian media have painted a grim picture of the couple's final hours. Investigators believe that before their murders, Roman and Anna Novak were brutally tortured. The assailants aimed to force them to hand over the access codes to their cryptocurrency wallets.
In a cruel twist, the kidnappers' efforts were in vain. The digital wallets they sought to plunder were completely empty. The specific methods of torture were described as so gruesome that details have been withheld from publication.
In an attempt to cover their tracks, the killers then placed the bodies in thick polyethylene bags. They doused them with powerful chemical solvents, a tactic intended to accelerate decomposition and destroy any potential DNA evidence.
International Investigation and Arrests
The investigation began after the Novak family alerted authorities in Dubai, fearing the couple had been kidnapped. The case has since crossed international borders.
Roman Novak was no stranger to the law. In 2020, he was sentenced in Russia to six years in prison for large-scale fraud. After being paroled, he relocated to the UAE, where he launched a cryptocurrency application named Fintopio. It is alleged he raised investments totalling £380 million through this platform before defrauding those investors.
Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, stated that the killers had accomplices who assisted in the abduction. "They rented cars and premises where the two victims were held by force," Petrenko said. "After the murder, the perpetrators disposed of the knives and the victims’ personal belongings, leaving them in different emirates."
Three Russian men have been arrested in St Petersburg in connection with the crime after returning from the UAE. They are named as Konstantin Shakht, a former police officer, Yury Sharypov, and Vladimir Dalekin. While Sharypov and Dalekin have entered guilty pleas, Shakht denies the charges. All three defendants remain in custody awaiting further legal proceedings.
