Roman Novak presented a life of luxury on the Internet. At the same time, the convicted fraudster attracted envy and greed. Now he and his wife were murdered in Dubai.
November 12, 2025, 02:53November 12, 2025, 02:53
Matti Hartmann / t-online
Russian investigators have initiated criminal proceedings against three alleged murderers of a colorful millionaire. The men are said to have kidnapped, murdered and dismembered the 38-year-old and his wife in the United Arab Emirates at the beginning of October. The perpetrators are said to have then dumped the body parts in various locations within a radius of several dozen kilometers.
Roman Novak and his wife Anna: In May, the convicted fraudster posted this photo on social media.Image: threads.com/@t0r
Roman Novak was a controversial figure. He was born in 1987 in Soviet Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg. He claimed to have become rich trading cryptocurrencies. It is not clear whether this is true. The fact is, however, that in 2020 he was sentenced to six years in a penal colony for fraud.
In 2023 he was released early, went to Dubai, founded the crypto app Fintopio there and reportedly collected $500 million from donors – while allegations of fraud arose again. He is said to have put the money in his own pocket. At the same time, he presented himself on social media as a successful crypto entrepreneur.
His Instagram posts show expensive cars, luxury real estate, yacht trips and private happiness. One of Novak’s last posts was from this May. He wrote about a photo of himself and his wife Anna in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome:
«17 years together. She still looks at me like I’m the main character. And I still look at her like she’s the plot twist I never deserved.”
On Friday, Russian authorities announced that a gang of several perpetrators had ripped this happiness out of the world. Accordingly, Novak wanted to meet an alleged investor on October 2nd. His personal driver took him and Anna to a parking lot by a lake. There the couple changed to another car, the destination was the town of Hatta in the Hajar Mountains on the border with Oman.
When Novak and his wife stopped contacting them, relatives became suspicious and filed a complaint. According to their own information, the investigators are now certain: the kidnappers were after Novak’s money. The perpetrators tried to get hold of the millionaire’s crypto holdings.
Conspiracy theory: Novak supposedly just wanted to go underground
According to the Saint Petersburg news portal “Fontanka”, they are said to have held Novak and his wife in a villa in Hatta. Novak is said to have willingly revealed the password for his crypto wallet – but when the wallet was empty, the kidnappers killed and dismembered the couple.
The authorities in Dubai have now reported several arrests. According to “Fontanka”, three men were taken into custody as the heads of the kidnapper gang, two soldiers and a former inspector. They deny the allegations.
According to Fontanka, crypto investors are stunned – and suspect that the murder was staged and was just intended to give Novak an opportunity to escape from his creditors. But it could also be a wild conspiracy theory: According to the report, Roman Novak and his wife Anna leave behind several underage children. These had already been taken in by relatives of the murdered couple.
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