Polish prosecutors charged a former business partner of Sylwester Suszek, the missing founder of the crypto exchange BitBay which later rebranded to Zondacrypto, with two offenses including fraud.
This development unfolds as law enforcement expands its inquiry into the collapse of the trading platform. Zondacrypto originally launched as BitBay in 2014, maintaining over 1 million registered users by the time of its rebrand in 2021.
Roman Ż. stands as at least the fifth individual to face criminal charges since prosecutors merged the case into the investigation regarding Suszek’s disappearance.
The platform later became known as Zondacrypto and halted trading operations in April following user reports of frozen or delayed withdrawals. The marketplace disclosed payment bottlenecks for certain clients in late February and stopped bitcoin deposits on March 17, pointing to market volatility prior to the website going offline entirely. Estonia’s financial intelligence agency partially suspended the operating license of BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the corporate entity behind the brand, prohibiting it from acquiring new assets.
The collapse subjected clients to projected losses scaling at least 350 million zlotys ($94 million). Polish prosecutors initiated an inquiry into suspected widespread fraud alongside money laundering, accumulating more than 3,600 complaints by the month of June.
The investigation has subsequently been prolonged into the following year, while regional media outlets indicate that 4 million euros held within a single bank account remain frozen.
The legal matter additionally connects to the vanishing of Suszek, who established BitBay and functioned as its chief executive prior to his departure from the firm. He vanished in March 2022, several months subsequent to the corporate rebranding.
Prosecutors combined the Zondacrypto investigation with the inquiry into Suszek’s disappearance during August, stating that the circumstances surrounding the establishment and functioning of BitBay could assist in determining his whereabouts.
Roman Ż., identified by the Polish Press Agency as an ex-business associate of Suszek, was taken into custody on Saturday within Poland’s Silesian region. His legal counsel noted that he helped supervise BitBay prior to its transition into Zonda.
Ż. faces accusations spanning two offenses, one encompassing fraud, while prosecutors intend to pursue pretrial custody, attorney Błażej Gazda noted on Monday. The secondary allegation has not been publicly specified, and Gazda stated that Ż. refuted the claims while providing authorities with a detailed statement.
Law enforcement officials confiscated luxury timepieces along with paperwork linked to Zondacrypto during house searches. Prosecutors explained that they ordered the apprehension out of concern that Ż. might escape after learning of his planned journey to China.
Gazda clarified that the excursion served commercial purposes and that his client possessed a return passage booked for September 13. A judicial body will determine whether Ż. ought to stay incarcerated while the inquiry proceeds forward.
Ż. represents the latest addition to a sequence of detentions. Prosecutors previously indicted Radosław Piesiewicz, the head of the Polish Olympic Committee, on charges of paid protection and favoring a specific faction of Zondacrypto creditors over others as the platform moved toward bankruptcy. He has contested any accusations of wrongdoing.
Three additional individuals, consisting of stock market investor Rafał Z., Jaromira W., alongside Anna P., were taken into custody last week.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/07/polish-prosecutors-charge-fifth-suspect-in-a-massive-crypto-probe.
