Family of Late Russian Crypto Investor Address Rumors of 'Kremlin Ties'

The family of Russian businessman and blockchain industry entrepreneur Vyacheslav Taran have dismissed claims made by various outlets purporting her husband had "links" to the Kremlin or that his death is part of a conspiracy connected to those of several other cryptocurrency magnates.

Taran, who died at 53 on November 25, 2022, in a helicopter crash near his home in southeastern France, has been at the center of swirling speculation online surrounding the deaths of a number of wealthy investors who have died in the past two months.

French public broadcaster France Bleu wrote in a November 25 report that the crash occurred in "very mild" weather, with a pilot familiar with the area at the helm of an Airbus H130, a multimillion-dollar touring aircraft considered to be top-of-the-line around the world.

Co-founder of Libertex Group, creator of one of the largest online Forex, contract-for-difference (CFD) and cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Taran's death also comes amid a series of scandals in the cryptocurrency industry.

In a statement released to Newsweek, the Taran family has dismissed claims that there was anything "mysterious" about his death and asked to put the rumors to rest. Among those baseless or false claims were attempts to tie his death to those of Amber Group co-founder Tiantian Kullander and MakerDAO architect Nikolai Mushegian.

Kullander, whose company was valued at $3 billion, was said to have died "peacefully" in his sleep on November 23, 2022, at the age of 30.

Less than a month before, Mushegian's body was found on Condado beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, shortly after he released a conspiratorial screed about being targeted by an underground Kabal of detractors. He was 29.

Many on social media attempted to link the deaths of the three men, mostly through conspiracist narratives, despite absence of evidence beyond their superficial connection of them being part of the same industry.

Taran's family, as well as distancing the deceased from claims that he was a "crypto billionaire" (insisting that it was simply one of the markets he was invested in), expressed their frustration with these various unproven narratives.

"Following the tragic death of Vyacheslav Taran, a devoted husband and loving father of three, we have been greatly distressed by the publication of false and inaccurate information that has tarnished his name and we would like to set the record straight," they said.

"Vyacheslav Taran was a successful businessman and serial entrepreneur, who was also an investor in various fintech startups, including some that worked with cryptocurrencies.

"He was definitely not a 'crypto billionaire' and one might argue that he invested more in blockchain and crypto technology than he ever got out of it."

Libertex is described by its owners as "an online broker offering tradable CFDs with underlying assets being commodities, Forex, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and others."

A sponsor of Bayern Munich Football Club, the company in its 2021 statement reported that Libertex had about €42.5 million ($44.7 million) in total capital and a further €12.9 million (around $13.6 million) in consolidated capital.

Some reporting by Russian media—the likely target of the family's statement—suggested that Taran was also connected to the country's higher powers.

Pro-Kremlin news outlet Life.ru said that Taran "had enemies in Russia" related to his cryptocurrency business—a sector that has gained newfound importance in the country, the economy of which has been largely cut off from global markets by international sanctions that were introduced in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Life.ru, which is known to target dissidents and opposition figures in Russia and abroad with leaked, baseless or compromising materials, published an article about the death, saying without evidence that he had "ripped off customers."

Other Russian and English-language publications repeated some of those allegations, without substantiating them with evidence.

The family said these claims had "compounded our grief" and noted that their late relative had lived and worked overseas for 14 years.

"We categorically deny that he was involved in any way with the Russian Intelligence services or the Russian government in any capacity and we also categorically deny that he was involved in money laundering for Russian 'elites' or in any other illegal activity.

"These are completely unfounded fabrications and outright lies, which have compounded our grief at this very difficult time.

"Vyacheslav Taran was born in Russia but had lived and worked overseas since 2008, before settling in Monaco with his family more than a decade ago."

Taran's family has also explicitly denied the conspiratorial narratives, which emerged in the days following the accident, repeating that investigations into the crash were ongoing.

"The circumstances surrounding the accident are still being investigated, mainly because of the nature of the accident," they added.

"It is obviously a lengthy process, as is any investigation into accidents involving any type of aircraft.

"There is nothing 'mysterious' about it and everyone should wait until the investigation is fully completed before jumping to conclusions or speculating about crazy conspiracy theories.

"We fully support the authorities in their investigation and eagerly await their findings being made public in due course."

Newsweek has reached out to the local police department in Nice for comment.

A statement released by Libertex said Taran was a "fintech entrepreneur" who, as well as co-founding in 1997 what would become Libertex, also co-founded the charitable foundation Change One Life "helping children from orphanages and child-care institutions."

"Our beloved Vyacheslav was also a great philanthropist, having contributed to numerous charity organisations and was the co-founder of the Change One Life Foundation, which to this day has helped more than 30,000 orphaned children find families and live fulfilling lives," the family added.

"Above all, he was a loyal and supportive friend, husband and father and we would politely request that his memory is not dishonoured by false information or baseless speculation."

The cryptocurrency industry has been gripped by a recent series of scandals including Sam Bankman-Fried's mismanagement of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange as well as the collapse of TerraUSD and its sister cryptocurrency LUNA.

The roots of cryptocurrency as an alternative to centralized monetary institutions may have naturally invited the notion that powers beyond the market have helped engineer its collapse.

This, in turn, may have also played a part in popularizing the idea that Taran's death and those of other major figures were somehow linked.

However, as has been explored by Newsweek, there is simply no evidence yet, beyond armchair theorizing, that convincingly binds these stories together, least of all given the short amount of time that has passed since the most recent deaths.