Legal Troubles for Igor Runets
In a significant turn of events, a Moscow court has escalated the legal troubles of Igor Runets, the founder of BitRiver, by transitioning him from house arrest to pretrial detention amidst allegations of large-scale fraud. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court took this action on July 22, ordering him to remain behind bars for a period of two months while authorities delve into a case involving nearly ₽1 billion.
New Charges and Allegations
New charges against Runets were disclosed on July 29, originating from court documents and investigative sources. He is accused under Part 4 of Article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which pertains to fraud committed on a grand scale, although it is important to note that these allegations remain unproven and no verdict has been issued.
The allegations stem from Runets’s association with Fox Group, a company he controls. It’s claimed that Fox Group entered into a contract with Infrastructure of Siberia—part of the En+ energy group—to supply cryptocurrency mining equipment totaling over $8 million in value. Preliminary reports indicate that the buyer paid out more than $7.9 million upfront with the expectation of receiving the mining apparatus within a month. However, investigators assert that the machinery was never delivered and that the funds were not refunded.
According to Forbes Russia, citing sources including RBC, the machines in question are identified as Antminer S19k Pro units.
Following the non-delivery, the buyer reportedly requested either a delivery of the equipment or a refund prior to terminating the contract. Prosecutors allege that Runets had no intention of fulfilling the contract, claiming he utilized the funds at his own discretion—an assertion that remains unverified in a courtroom setting.
Background and Previous Collaborations
This issue appears to have roots in a prior business collaboration between BitRiver and En+. In November 2020, both entities announced the formation of Bit+, a venture aimed at leveraging hydropower to operate cryptocurrency mining facilities in Russia’s Irkutsk region. At the time, an official statement from En+ portrayed BitRiver as the biggest operator of data centers providing colocation services for Bitcoin miners, with En+ managing electricity supply while BitRiver handled the mining operations.
However, their partnership became contentious, culminating in various civil lawsuits, including an April 2025 ruling by the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk Region that demanded Fox Group to pay ₽954.4 million to Infrastructure of Siberia over the contested advance payment. Early reports indicated that in the course of this dispute, the court imposed restrictions on access to certain funds and equipment.
Runets has maintained that the equipment was indeed delivered, and as of May 2025, he announced plans to appeal the court’s decision that sided against Fox Group. This assertion stands in stark contrast to the ongoing investigation, which suggests that the equipment was never received.
Current Situation and Future Implications
The criminal inquiry unfolds during a tumultuous period for BitRiver and its affiliate companies, as they grapple with financial difficulties and insolvency challenges. In a notable development, BitRiver recently faced bankruptcy proceedings due to failure to meet debt obligations related to equipment and data center services, leading to limitations being placed on various accounts under a court-managed financial review.
Fox Group has been under bankruptcy monitoring since February 2026, and liquidation proceedings were initiated in late May following Infrastructure of Siberia’s claim for repayment associated with the disputed contract. Earlier this year, Runets had already been placed under house arrest due to separate allegations claiming BitRiver-related entities concealed funds due for tax obligations, which subsequently expanded to include multiple tax-related cases.
Currently, it remains to be seen if Runets’s pretrial detention will be altered through an appeal. Investigators are likely to utilize the upcoming weeks to scrutinize corporate records, equipment documents, financial transactions, and testimonies from those linked to Fox Group and En+.
Furthermore, Runets’s ownership stakes in Fox Group and various BitRiver-related entities were frozen following a June court ruling, restricting access to these assets during the investigation. As a privately held enterprise, BitRiver does not have a publicly traded token associated with its operations, meaning there’s no direct impact on the cryptocurrency market stemming from Runets’s predicament.
Notably, the U.S. government has also sanctioned BitRiver AG and its subsidiaries over concerns that cryptocurrency mining could facilitate the monetization of Russia’s substantial energy resources, further complicating the company’s status in the global market. In the past, BitRiver had projected that Russia could potentially outpace the U.S. in Bitcoin mining, a claim that lacks independent verification.
