BitRiver CEO reportedly under house arrest on tax evasion charges

Igor Runets, the founder and CEO of Russian Bitcoin mining company BitRiver, has reportedly been detained and indicted on multiple charges of tax evasion.

According to Sunday reports in local media such as RBK and Kommersant, Lunetz was detained on January 30 and faces three charges for allegedly concealing assets for tax evasion.

The outlet cited court documents from Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky court, which show that Lunets was indicted on January 31 and ordered to house arrest on the same day.

Lunetz’s legal team now has a small grace period to appeal his house arrest before it goes into full effect on February 4th. If the appeal is unsuccessful or not filed, Runets will remain confined to his home throughout the litigation.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Runets for comment.

Founded in 2017, BitRiver has become one of Russia’s largest Bitcoin miners, operating large data centers across Siberia and also providing crypto mining services to other companies.

In late 2024, Bloomberg reported that Runets’ net worth was approximately $230 million due to his involvement in cryptocurrency mining.

Problems piling up at BitRiver

The company has faced several challenges since it was first hit with U.S. Treasury Department sanctions in mid-2022 in response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In May 2023, one of its major customers, Japanese banking giant SBI, stopped using its infrastructure for Bitcoin mining after withdrawing from Russia due to the ongoing conflict.

Related: Russia-linked A7A5 stablecoin processes $100 billion before sanctions: Ellipse

The Kommersant report said BitRiver began cutting costs across the company, scaling back operations toward the end of 2024 and then delaying employee salaries.