Russian crypto thieves threw Ukrainian banker to death from 4th floor window after killing him

ROME - Police probing the brutal murder of a Ukrainian banker say presumed Russian mafia gangsters flung the businessman to his death from a fourth-floor window in Milan after torturing him to obtain codes to his crypto currency account. 

 

Oleksandr Adarich, 54, was found dead in the courtyard of a building on Via Nerino in central Milan, on January 23. Evidence suggests that he was dead before falling out of the window. Forensic pathologists are conducting an autopsy to determine Adarich’s cause of death. 

 

The former chairman of Ukrisbbank and owner of Fidobank had arrived in Milan that morning from Barcelona, where he lived with his second wife, expecting to return home the same evening. Instead, according to testimony given by his son Igor to Catalan police, he was attacked, restrained, and likely tortured before being killed. 

 

Igor Adarich, 30, told investigators that he and his father had travelled to Milan for what they believed was an investment meeting with a contact known only as “Kirill” who Oleksandr Adarich had communicated exclusively through the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Igor Adarich maintains that he and his father were kidnapped by Russians. 

 

Once inside the apartment, which had been booked under a false name, father and son were allegedly set upon by multiple hooded assailants and bound with rope. The father and son were held in separate rooms. Igor was released approximately two hours later with a warning not to speak to anyone. Still in possession of his wallet and passport he fled to Catalonia, where he later reported the incident. 

 

Investigators believe the elder Adarich was interrogated over access to his cryptocurrency wallets. Shortly before police arrived at the scene, systems recorded a final transaction from the victim’s digital accounts, though authorities have not disclosed which assets were involved. 

 

When police searched the apartment, they found three identity documents, all bearing Adarich’s photograph but issued under different names. No mobile phones, suitcases, or personal belongings were recovered. 

 

The building’s caretaker told investigators that immediately after the body fell, someone appeared at the window and came down to the courtyard, asking in English: “What happened?” CCTV footage showed at least two people leaving the building shortly after Adarich’s death. 

 

Adarich held dual Ukrainian and Romanian citizenship and was once ranked among Ukraine’s top 100 managers. His name had previously surfaced in connection with an alleged embezzlement involving bonds worth an estimated 8 million euros. After those events, he moved to Spain. 

 

The case highlights the growing phenomenon of what security experts call “physical crypto heists”, in which criminals use violence to force victims to surrender access to cryptocurrency holdings that can be transferred within minutes and cannot be reversed. 

 

Investigators are attempting to identify the individuals captured on surveillance cameras and to establish whether the killing was carried out by an organised criminal network. 

 jp-lo