FutureNet Co-Founder Arrested in Montenegro Over Alleged $21 Million Fraud

Roman Zimian, the co-founder of crypto trading platform FutureNet, has been arrested in Montenegro, according to reports in local media.

The arrest of Zimian in Podgorica was carried out by Montenegrin police together with Interpol's National Central Bureau (NCB), and resulted in the seizure of "technical devices" related to his alleged criminal activities.

Zimian, a Polish citizen, was the subject of two international arrest warrants from Poland and South Korea. A police statement published in local media outlet Vijesti noted that Zimian was suspected of having "damaged a large number of people from the territories of Poland and South Korea," through fraud amounting to $21 million.

Zimian founded FutureNet in 2014 with business partner Stefan Morgenstern. The company launched digital ad packages, along with a cryptocurrency, FutureCoin, before being exposed as a "large-scale international pyramid scheme," according to an 2022 Interpol press release announcing the arrest of its founders in Greece and Italy.

Both Morgenstern and Zimian subsequently escaped from house arrest in Greece and Italy respectively; Morgenstern was subsequently arrested in Albania in 2023.

According to local outlet Radio Slobodna Evropa, Zimian will be brought before the investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica to determine where he will be extradited to.

This isn't the only crypto extradition battle playing out in Montenegro's courts. Terra co-founder Do Kwon is currently the focus of a jurisdictional tug-of-war between the U.S. and his native South Korea after he served a jail sentence in Montenegro for attempting to travel on forged documents.

Both countries seek his extradition to face criminal charges relating to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022. In the latest "final" decision from the court, the Montenegro Appellate Court upheld its decision to extradite Kwon to South Korea earlier this month—but the decision was postponed as the court examined procedural issues.

Edited by Andrew Hayward