A former head of Binance's Russian operations, Vladimir Smerkis, has been taken into custody in connection with a large-scale fraud case, according to a report by local news agency TASS on Sunday. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow approved the detention request from an investigator, as disclosed by a law enforcement source, although specific details of the case were not provided.
Attempts by CoinDesk to obtain more information from the court were unsuccessful. Smerkis, who co-founded the trading app Blum in December 2023, has stepped down as chief marketing officer and is no longer involved with the project, as announced by the company on X. His LinkedIn profile also lists him as the managing partner of several other ventures, including Tokenbox.io and The Token Fund.
Before his involvement with Blum, Smerkis worked at the Binance cryptocurrency exchange from 2022 for almost two years, initially as the head of the Russian division and later overseeing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) business. The CIS comprises 11 nations that collaborate on key decisions such as trade and legislation, with Russia being one of the member nations. Binance has not responded to requests for comment on the matter.