Zondacrypto founder offers testimony on right-wing politicians in bid for lighter sentence in Poland

Polish prosecutors have charged Przemysław Kral, head of the bankrupt Polish crypto exchange Zondacrypto, with fraud. According to local outlet Onet, he is now trying to cut a deal: testimony about alleged ties between the exchange and unnamed right-wing politicians in exchange for leniency.

1. Talks between Kral and the prosecutor’s office reportedly lasted about six months and were informal. Journalists said the conversations took place in Poland, Sicily, and Gulf countries, while Polish media also reported that Kral left Poland months ago for Israel.
2. Authorities say Zondacrypto customers lost at least 2.4 billion Polish zlotys, or about $650 million. Investigators allege that the exchange used only part of customer funds to buy crypto, while the rest was moved to private accounts controlled by Zondacrypto management.
3. Prosecutors also suspect that companies owned by Kral transferred funds to foundations linked to several unnamed Polish politicians. No names were disclosed in the source.
4. Kral last spoke to customers in April, when he wrote on X that Zondacrypto could not access a cold wallet holding about 4500 bitcoin. He denied embezzlement and said the private keys should have been handed over by Sylwester Suszek, the exchange’s founder and former CEO, who has been missing since 2022.
5. Earlier, Gazeta Wyborcza, citing Polish security services, reported that people from the Tambov branch of Russian organized crime were behind control of Zondacrypto. The paper said they bought a controlling stake in 2018, when the platform was still called BitBay, paying in two installments of several tens of millions of euros each.