Which criminal investigations concern the Zondacrypto exchange?

analysisOn 17 April 2026 the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice opened an investigation concerning Zondacrypto into the misleading of many people as to the possibility of buying and storing fiat currencies and crypto-currencies on the exchange, causing them to dispose of their property disadvantageously (fraud of large value under Article 286 §1 with Articles 294 §1 and 12 §1 of the Polish Penal Code), and into handling funds in ways that could conceal their criminal origin (money laundering under Article 299 §1 and §5). It covers conduct across Poland since 2022, was opened on victims' complaints and media reports about withdrawal problems, put the damage at no less than PLN 350 million and was entrusted to the Wrocław office of the Central Cybercrime Bureau (CBZC). The release names the Zondacrypto brand, not the company operating it, which later releases of the National Prosecutor's Office identify as BB Trade Estonia OÜ; an investigation opened "in the case" does not itself name suspects or establish an offence. ¹

analysisThe prosecutors' updates describe the scale of the inquiry. On 12 May 2026 they reported 104 electronic devices and more than 13 TB of files from the exchange's production servers secured, requests to more than 100 crypto exchanges to secure funds and data, almost 2,000 complaints received and a European Investigation Order sent to the Czech Republic. On 22 June they reported that a joint investigation team with Estonia had been set up on 28 May, that they had coordinated with Monaco's judicial authorities, and that more than 3,600 complaints had been registered, 162 devices and more than 250 TB of server files secured and 63 search and production orders executed, with requests sent to Italy and Switzerland. Both updates name the brand; the National Prosecutor's Office later identified BB Trade Estonia OÜ as the operator. According to a Polish news-agency report, the Katowice spokesman said on 27 July that the investigation had been extended to 17 January 2027 and that a freeze had been ordered on a French bank account that received EUR 4 million from the sale of a Monaco-registered company whose shareholders are suspects, which a judge of the Paris Court of Appeal ordered seized; the French decision is not retained and the suspects were not named. ^{2 3 4 5}

analysisThe National Prosecutor's Office has stated that the Katowice investigation (2003-2.Ds.14.2026) was merged into its own case 1001-109.Ds.77.2022, opened on 18 March 2022 into the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Sylwester Suszek, founder of the BitBay exchange, because both examine the founding and activity of BitBay, later ZondaCrypto. The two official texts give different dates for the merger: 19 July 2026 in the release of 28 August and a decision of 30 July 2026 in the Prosecutor General's statement of 25 August. ^{6 7}

analysisAn earlier investigation had ended. According to a law firm acting for claimants, when the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice discontinued an investigation into blocked withdrawals on the exchange in April 2024, its reasoning noted among other things that the exchange was still operating and sponsoring Juventus; the decision is not in the retained record and no official release on that investigation was retained. ⁸

analysisThe first charges in the merged case were announced on 28 August 2026. Radosław P., detained the day before, was charged with invoking influence in the consumer-protection office UOKiK in 2025 and undertaking, in return for a watch worth PLN 169,476, to settle UOKiK proceedings against ZondaCrypto and its operator BB Trade Estonia OU, and with inducing a member of the company's management board in April 2026, when it faced insolvency, to pay out PLN 194,420.15 and EUR 100,000 to the detriment of its other creditors, the exchange's users. These are charges, not findings: he did not admit them and gave explanations, and the prosecutor applied for three months' detention; the court's decision is not recorded in the retained releases. ¹

analysisOn 2 September 2026 prosecutors detained three more people. Anna P. was charged with taking part in 2020–2026 in an organised group aimed at taking over Sylwester Suszek's assets, with causing large-scale damage to the operator of ZondaCrypto (BB Trade Estonia OU), including through the transfer to her of a Katowice property worth PLN 700,000 without payment, and with obstructing the proceedings on Suszek's deprivation of liberty. Jaromira W. was charged with taking part in the same group, with damaging the operator by receiving almost EUR 8 million from its account on 9 October 2025 to buy real estate in France, obtaining a confirmation that a EUR 2.9 million loan had been repaid when it had not and accepting a Katowice property worth PLN 800,000, and with laundering PLN 7.5 million. Rafał Z. was charged with misappropriating PLN 1.7 million of the operator's money entrusted to him. All three did not admit the charges and gave explanations, and on 4 September the court remanded each in custody for three months; a legal news site reported that the regional court upheld the custody decisions. These are charges, not findings of guilt. ^{2 3}

analysisA legal news site reported that on 7 September 2026 the Prosecutor General's spokesperson announced charges against Roman Ż. of taking part in an organised group aimed at computer fraud against the exchange's users and of misappropriating, with others, PLN 7.8 million of users' funds by altering IT data; the prosecutors' own release is not retained, Roman Ż. did not admit the charges according to the report, and a court ordered his detention, upheld on 18 September. On 23 September prosecutors announced that Artur K., detained on 22 September, had been charged with taking part in a group that interfered with the exchange's IT data, created fictitious receivables and misappropriated at least PLN 7.8 million of users' funds and 3,900 bitcoins handed to a third party as collateral for a loan, with laundering the proceeds, and with failing in his duties as security director of BitBay, later ZondaCrypto. He did not admit the charges and gave explanations; the court's decision on the requested detention is not recorded in the retained release, which names the exchange rather than its operator. These are charges, not findings of guilt. ^{3 4}

analysisFurther charges are known only second-hand. A legal news site, citing a television report, stated that Marian W. faces charges of unlawfully depriving Suszek of his liberty, of acting to the detriment of BB Trade Estonia OÜ, including by instructing the transfer of nearly EUR 8 million for real estate in France, of leading an organised group intended to take over the assets of Suszek and companies he controlled, including Luxbay S.A., S&B Investment S.A. and BB Trade Estonia OÜ, and of money laundering. The retained official releases do not list these charges, no plea is recorded, and they are charges, not findings. ^{3 5}

analysisProsecutors have not officially disclosed the procedural status of Przemysław Kral, the exchange's chief executive: the Prosecutor General's spokesperson, Anna Adamiak, said she could not disclose it. Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor serving as general counsel at the Ministry of Justice, said in a radio interview that Kral had begun cooperating and was giving explanations as a suspect and, in her view, had been charged with fraud against the exchange's clients among other things, while Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said he "is not a crown witness and is not a witness". In late July 2026 a Polish daily had reported that Kral was then not a suspect or subject to an arrest warrant. None of these accounts is an official record of charges. Kral's defence counsel, Roman Giertych, said on 25 August 2026 that his client had placed "huge assets" at the prosecutors' disposal, enough in his view to satisfy all injured persons who had come forward; two days later the minister said prosecutors had secured more than PLN 100 million for future compensation, and it is not known whether both statements concern the same assets. ^{1 2 3}

analysisIn a statement of 25 August 2026, Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said prosecutors could not disclose the suspects or the charges but were verifying information on possible offences connected with ZondaCrypto's funding of the foundation of former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the foundation of Przemysław Wipler and others in connection with legislation on the crypto market, Telewizja Republika and its president Tomasz Sakiewicz, the CPAC conference, a possible financial benefit to Radosław Piesiewicz, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, and actions of persons helping former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski. He said the priority was to secure as much potentially criminal money as possible for the injured parties. The statement describes lines of inquiry, not findings, and does not say which legal entity made any payment. ¹

analysisA Polish news report of April 2026 stated, from what it described as publicly available data, that Zondacrypto was the main sponsor of the CPAC Polska conference in May 2025, that Przemysław Kral paid PLN 450,000 to the Instytut Polski Suwerennej foundation of Zbigniew Ziobro at the turn of October and November 2025, and that EXPOFÉR SERVIS HOUSE s.r.o., described as a company from Kral's network, transferred EUR 70,000 to Przemysław Wipler's Fundacja Dobry Rząd. The payment records are not in the retained material, and the Prosecutor General's later statement records verification of such funding, not a finding. ²

analysisEstonian proceedings are known only from business-press headlines and captions retained on a business-information card for the company. On 11 May 2026 an Estonian business daily reported that victims were trying to have the firm declared bankrupt in Estonia and that the Prosecutor's Office was considering opening criminal proceedings; on 19 May it reported that criminal proceedings had been opened and that the state prosecutor's office was investigating possible money laundering in connection with the platform, which operated through an Estonian company. No act or statement of the Estonian Prosecutor's Office is in the retained record, and the scope and status of the proceedings are not known. ^{1 2}