Russian crypto scammer in $500M scheme and his wife dismembered as part of gruesome extortion plot

MOSCOW — A scammer who raised $500 million through a fraudulent crypto app before fleeing with his investors’ money was murdered and dismembered along with his wife when furious kidnappers discovered his crypto wallet empty, authorities say.

Russian nationals Roman Novak and his wife Anna were last seen alive Oct. 2 after being lured to a mountain resort outside Dubai by criminals posing as potential investors, the Russian outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda reported last week.

**The dismembered remains of Roman and Anna Novak have yet to be recovered, authorities said.**

The couple — who frequently flaunted their luxurious lifestyle in Dubai with online photos of themselves enjoying fast cars and private jets — were being “extorted” for their cryptocurrency stash, the newspaper said, citing UAE law enforcement.

The pair apparently won no friends as they also frequently posted pictures of a posh Rolls-Royce and vintage British Cobra car, worth a staggering $1.9 million combined, as well as photos of trips to Disneyland and other foreign vacations.

**Roman scammed crypto investors out of millions of dollars, then disappeared.**

After the couple was lured to a villa in the town of Hatta, they were held while their kidnappers demanded the password to Novak’s crypto wallet, authorities said.

But when they discovered the wallet was empty, the criminals allegedly killed the couple, dismembered their bodies and scattered the body parts, leaving some of them in trash cans at a shopping mall, the Russian outlet Fontanka said.

**The pair frequently shared pictures** **of lavish vacations and luxury cars.**

It’s not clear what, if any of the pair’s remains, have been recovered.

“According to preliminary information, Novak and his wife were kidnapped for ransom. When the criminals realized they wouldn’t get the money, they killed both of them,” a source told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

**The pair frequently took foreign vacations, including to Disneyland.**

Three are alleged to have carried out the murder, while four are accused of plotting it through purchasing the knives thought to have been used in the killings.

The role of the eighth suspect has not yet been revealed, and police have not said what the kidnappers expected to do with the knives if they didn’t originally plan on killing the couple.