Underground Miners Sentenced for Electricity Theft in Krasnoyarsk
A court in Boguchansky District has convicted a cryptocurrency mining ring led by an energy company employee.
In Boguchansky District, a verdict was handed down to four men who had been mining cryptocurrency on stolen electricity for six months. Among the convicted is an employee of the energy company who was supposed to detect such thefts but instead participated in the scheme.
As established by the court, in October 2023, three residents of the district decided to engage in mining, but paying for electricity was not part of their plans. They found an «insider» — a worker at KrasEKo JSC (a local energy company) who agreed to participate in the operation.
The scheme was well-thought-out. First, the trio agreed with local residents on rentals — they rented not only houses but also outbuildings, sheds, any premises where they could drag equipment. Contracts were made sometimes in writing, sometimes verbally.
Then, from power line supports, they ran cables directly to the rented points — bypassing meters and without any contracts with the energy company. They connected mining equipment and launched cryptocurrency mining. Essentially, they created a network of underground farms throughout the district.
The role of the KrasEKo employee was key: he was supposed to identify precisely such illegal connections, but instead turned a blind eye to what was happening — and received his share from the mining.
The farm operated from November 2023 to May 2024. During this time, they «mined» electricity worth more than 5.2 million rubles (approximately $58,000 at current rates).
The Boguchansky District Court found all four guilty. The energy company employee was convicted under two articles: for abuse of official authority and for causing property damage by fraud on a particularly large scale. The other three were charged only under the second article.
The punishment for all was suspended. The main defendant received a suspended sentence of four years with a fine of 70,000 rubles (about $778) and a ban on working in the energy sector for two years. His accomplices were given suspended sentences ranging from two and a half to three years, also with fines of 70,000 rubles each.
In addition, the court ordered the convicted to jointly compensate KrasEKo for the damage — 5,237,359 rubles (approximately $58,200). Part of the seized mining equipment was confiscated to pay off the debt.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
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