Bitmama: Crypto con queen who swindled £17m to fund Ukraine's fight against Russia has been jailed for seven years

Prosecutors said influencer Valeria Fedyakina, known as 'Bitmama', posed as a crypto currency expert with worldwide offices promising to make millions for punters.

Instead, judges heard, she plundered her clients' accounts in a ruthless pyramid fraud. Police, the trial was told, found losses of 2.2bn roubles, or £17m, from four swindled victims.

Prosecutors told how Fedyakina told her investors she would swap their cash for Dubai crypto to avoid banking sanctions on Russia.

Clients claimed she had promised them a one per cent bonus on the cash they sent her once it had been changed into crypto. But prosecutors say the cash disappeared and believe Fedyakina funnelled it to Ukraine's armed forces to help their fight against Russia's invasion.

Fedyakina was arrested in September 2023 and denied bail as she tried to leave Russia aboard a flight to the UAE.

At the time, she was six months pregnant but judges refused to soften her detention to house arrest.

Instead she gave birth to a daughter in a special prison maternity hospital before being sent back to jail.

Her defence denied any fraud and told local media she supports the Russian invasion and is ready to donate funds to help the Moscow military. They claimed Fedyakina was a victim of a conspiracy and had used her own money to pay the clients.

But judges at Moscow's Presnensky District Court found her guilty and sentenced her to seven years jail in a harsh penal colony, local media reported on June 24.

She was also ordered to pay 2.2bn roubles - now worth £20m - compensation to her four victims. It is currently unclear if she will be allowed to raise her baby daughter behind bars.

Story: NewsX