Sergei Kosenko—better known to his 49 million Instagram followers as @mr.thank.you—is now the subject of a multi-jurisdictional hunt. A new criminal complaint from a Dubai-based victim, plus corroborating testimony from other investors, allege that Kosenko cloned the Web3 fitness model of STEPN and used his own AMAZY token to siphon millions before dumping 99% of the supply. Russian authorities have already frozen ₽206 million (~US $2.1 million) in his domestic bank accounts and placed him on their federal “Most Wanted” list. Regulators worldwide are being urged to act before more retail investors are burned.
A Moscow court has imposed interim measures on the accounts in Russian banks of blogger Sergei Kosenko, who threw his two-month-old son into a snowdrift and posted a video of these shots on a social network. As law enforcement agencies told TASS, the total amount of frozen funds in the blogger’s accounts exceeds 206 million rubles.
TASS report, October 2024 (link to report)
KEY POINTS
- Victim filings: A 7-page criminal complaint sent to Dubai Police and seen by FinTelegram details crypto-fraud, distribution of counterfeit cash, and child-endangerment charges tied to Kosenko.
- Asset freeze in Russia: Moscow courts froze 43 accounts holding ₽206 M after TASS linked them to illicit crypto proceeds (Source: TACC)
- Most-Wanted notice: Russia’s Interior Ministry issued a nationwide warrant for Kosenko on 13 Oct 2024 (Source: РБК).
- AMAZY token collapse: $AZY peaked at $0.4468 on 4 Aug 2022 and has crashed -99.93 %, erasing almost all investor value (Source: CoinMarketCap).
- Copy-of-STEPN model: CoinsPaid Media confirms AMAZY replicated STEPN’s “NFT sneaker” mechanics without external VC backing (Source: CoinsPaid Media).
- Social-media reach weaponised: Kosenko leverages nearly 50 M Instagram followers to promote giveaway videos and “fake-money” stunts that drive token hype (Source: РБК)
SHORT NARRATIVE
Kosenko is a Dubai resident. In mid-2022, influencer Sergey Kosenko launched AMAZY, marketing it as the next STEPN-style “move-to-earn” phenomenon. Early adopters bought pricey NFT sneakers to farm $AZY rewards.
Within weeks, on-chain data showed trading volumes topping several million dollars a day, as later echoed by whistle-blower victims. Then liquidity vanished. Blockchain explorers recorded a mass offloading of roughly 99 % of the circulating supply into exchange pairs, tanking the price. Investors were left with nearly worthless tokens while Kosenko relocated to Dubai, brandishing cash giveaway videos filmed with counterfeit bills.
Parallel investigations in Russia led courts to freeze his assets, and in October 2024, the Interior Ministry listed him as wanted for both child abuse and financial crimes.
EXTENDED ANALYSIS
| Dimension | Findings | Implications |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | Russian charges include fraud (crypto Ponzi) and child-endangerment. UAE and U.S. victims have filed complaints; cross-border MLAT requests now plausible. | Risk of extradition grows as complaints pile up; assets outside Russia remain vulnerable to civil-asset-forfeiture. |
| Regulatory | AMAZY skirted securities laws—no white-paper disclosures, no VC due-diligence, influencer-driven public offering. | SEC-style enforcement feasible if U.S. investors can prove solicitation; ESMA and Dubai’s VARA may also assert jurisdiction. |
| Operational | Pump-and-dump executed via concentrated insider wallets dumping into thin liquidity pools. CoinMarketCap data show 433 % vol/market-cap ratio—classic red flag (Source: CoinMarketCap) | Exchanges that listed $AZY face de-listing pressure; compliance teams should review KYT alerts for wash-trading and insider flows. |
| Reputational | YouTube exposés (“Почему AMAZY криптовалютная пирамида”) accumulate hundreds of thousands of views (Source: YouTube) | Influencer-marketing platforms risk brand contamination; brands partnering with Kosenko could face ESG backlash. |
ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
Trace the exit paths. Preliminary blockchain heuristics suggest the dumped $AZY tokens travelled from Binance Smart Chain to multiple CEX deposit wallets in September 2022, then onward to Dubai-based OTC desks. Investigators should subpoena exchange KYC for addresses beginning 0x7b66…Bd8F86 (the AMAZY contract) and correlate with UAE bank-transfer records to map the fiat off-ramps.
CALL FOR INFORMATION
Have you lost funds in AMAZY or any other Kosenko-linked scheme (e.g., Copybara)? Share wallet addresses, transaction hashes, or screenshots with FinTelegram via our whistleblower platform, Whistle42.
