A former Russian investigator has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for accepting a $73 million Bitcoin bribe, the largest bribery case in Russian history. Marat Tambiyev took the bribe from organized criminals he was investigating, moving more than half of the Bitcoin into his own wallets. He claimed his actions helped the state recover some of the crime group's proceeds. Tambiyev plans to appeal his conviction, with more than a third of the funds recovered. His alleged accomplice received a nine-year sentence. This incident reflects a trend of criminals using Bitcoin to bribe officials, as seen in a 2022 case where Chinese intelligence officers paid Bitcoin bribes to a double agent working with the FBI. The whereabouts of the remaining Bitcoin from Tambiyev's case are still unknown. Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news