Russian Couple Watched Each Other Tortured to Death

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

Convicted Russian cryptocurrency fraudster Roman Novak and his wife Anna watched each other being tortured to death in the UAE desert after their kidnappers failed to extract 380 million UK pounds from their accounts.

Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 02:30 AM | 12 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

Roman Novak and his wife Anna were last seen on 2 Oct after being lured to the resort of Hatta, 80 miles outside of Dubai, by criminals posing as potential investors. Police dug up a stretch of desert in the Hajar mountains, near the border with Oman, where their mobile phones were last detected, to recover their remains. Before their murders, Roman and Anna were tortured to force them to give up the access codes to their cryptocurrency wallets, but they were empty. Three men have since been arrested in St Petersburg and charged after they made the journey back from the UAE: Konstantin Shakht, a former police officer, Yury Sharypov, and Vladimir Dalekin. Sharypov and Dalekin have both pleaded guilty, while Shakht denies the charges. All defendants have been remanded in custody until 28 Dec.

These two ex-fraudsters are among many victims who have angered organized crime or other gullible wealthy investors by duping them with nebulous crypto-currency schemes. In France, several Bitcoin flim-flammers were abducted and had their fingers obtruncated to force them to re-pay their lost investments. I wrote about this on drudge.com 5 May 2025: https://drudge.com/news/283639/cryptocurrency-ceos-being-kidnapped

#1 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-09 02:43 AM

OK, another gruesome crime enabled by those trying to get the trgets t ive up the access codes to their crypto fortune.

Not the first and, likely, not the last.

What we know about the NYC crypto kidnapping and torture case (June 2025)
abcnews.go.com

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-09 03:03 AM

@#2

trying to get the trgets t ive

-- should be ---

trying to get the targets to give

One of these decades, I'll learn how to use a keyboard ....

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-09 03:06 AM

the human race is accumulating blad karma.

#4 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-09 06:14 AM

#4 Humans have always been savage greed fueled animals. It is inbred into our genetic makeup from the days of struggling against other tribes to survive on scarce resources. Now the worst of the worst will commit the worst atrocities in the accumulation of wealth rather than just survival.

#5 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-12-09 08:37 AM

No one is ever an "ex-fraudster".

Period.

I went one time to listen to an "ex-fraudster" talk about how he scammed millions off his employer and fooled the external auditors with flattery and tied up their time with impromptu texas hold em games during work hours and long lunches that he paid for. He had set up a company to teach other companies how to prevent fraud and toured the country giving lectures. Six months after he spoke to our group he was arrested again for stealing from his customers.

The high these criminals get perpetrating their crimes is similar to drug or alcohol use. They are never reformed.

#6 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-12-09 08:55 AM

The high these criminals get perpetrating their crimes is similar to drug or alcohol use. They are never reformed.

#6 | Posted by Nixon

Drug addicts and alcoholics who want to do so have found years of "reformation" and substance-free lives in 12-step programs.

But your point is taken.

#7 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2025-12-09 09:11 AM

When you ask them, they will tell you that they are not "recovered" but are recovering or in recovery.

It's a high.

Just like gambling.

I watched a close friend burn through $250,000 of money in a year, then burn through friendships one after the other begging for money to fuel his addiction. I told him I would help him by buying him and HIS FAMILY groceries or paying their utilities if he entered rehab but not a dollar of cash would grace his pockets from me... he told me he didn't have a problem.

#8 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-12-10 08:08 AM

Surprised this doesn't happen more with the stock market.

The crypto nuts went after a kid for playing the game of buy and dump.

Definitely not the last time we'll hear about it.

#9 | Posted by Petrous at 2025-12-10 11:20 AM

I watched a close friend burn through $250,000 of money in a year.

Wow.

#8 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-12-10 08:08 AM |

Hi Nixon:

Years ago, I knew a woman of modest means who burned through $100 in less than ten minutes at a casino. The vein in her husband's temple was visibly throbbing. We don't know how much she lost in total that night, but afterwards she giggled and said she had a "great time." Her husband was silently grinding his teeth.

BTW: "Ex-fraudsters" was meant to convey "dead fraudsters," as in a dead parrot or an "ex-parrot."

Experts say there are no ex-addicts, whether it's from alcohol, pederasty, drugs, gambling, or fleecing people like those two ex-Russians.

#10 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-10 11:54 AM

Now THIS is the feel-good story we've been waiting for.

#11 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-10 03:05 PM

Now THIS is the feel-good story we've been waiting for.

#11 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-10 03:05 PM | Reply | Flag: Just for you, LegallyYourDead