Ukrainian state-owned enterprise covered up a cryptocurrency mining «farm»

The management of the Lviv branch of the state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine has been suspected of creating an underground mining farm. This is stated on the website of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).

According to the report, the data center was located in the office premises of the Rava-Russke Forestry branch. The SBI noted that due to the overloading of utility networks, there were large-scale power outages in residential areas and critical infrastructure.

The agency noted: «During the investigative actions in the office premises of the Rava-Russke Forestry Branch, the SBI found and seized technological equipment that ensured the operation of the mining center, namely: flash drives, computers, laptops, mobile phones, video cards, power supplies, motherboards, processors, hard drives, processor coolers, adapters, servers and disks that store uninterrupted video surveillance, as well as documents confirming criminal activity.»

According to preliminary data, the losses exceeded UAH 1.5 million. The defendants — the former director, his deputy (current head), chief accountant and others — earned at least UAH 4 million.

Law enforcement officers seized equipment and computers worth over UAH 3 million. A criminal case has been initiated and the offenders face imprisonment for up to 8 years. Investigative actions are ongoing, the involvement of other persons in the criminal scheme is being established, and a number of examinations have been ordered. The Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office is providing procedural guidance.

As a reminder, in May, the Ukrainian police, together with the FBI, blocked nine cryptocurrency exchanges that were used to launder criminal funds.