Sylwester Jan Suszek: BitBay chief and 2020–2021 owner

analysisPolish register publications reproduced by an aggregator record Suszek as commercial proxy (prokurent) of BitBay sp. z o.o. in Katowice from 28 May 2014 and as its chief executive from 21 September 2017 until the company was struck off on 17 February 2026. Dubai register printouts described by a law firm acting for claimants show him as partner (49%) and manager of Skybay Investment in Commercial Enterprises L.L.C., the largest of BitBay's three Dubai shareholders, but not of Arial; the firm calls the earlier press thesis that all three companies were his a simplification, and the printouts are not in the retained record. ^{1 2}

analysisMaltese register data list him, with Paweł Sobków, as a director of Pinewood Holdings Limited, whose shareholder they show as Luxbay S.A. The claimants' firm states that Pinewood never applied for a Maltese licence, relying on regulator lists that were not retained, and recalls that in 2018 Suszek announced BitBay's relocation to Malta, citing friendly regulation and a forward-looking licensing framework, and called the KNF's public warning on BitBay an act of repression rather than consumer protection; no reply by Pinewood, Suszek or BB Trade Estonia to the registry findings is in the retained record. ^{3 4 5}

analysisAccording to BB Trade Estonia OÜ's first annual report, Suszek became its ultimate beneficial owner when Paweł Sobków transferred all its shares to LUXBAY S.A. after 13 February 2020. He sat on the management board, chaired it from spring 2020 and signed the 2020 report on 24 September 2021. Luxembourg register publications reproduced by an aggregator list him as a director of Luxbay SA in July 2021 and of S&B Investment SA from 9 July 2021 to 14 November 2023, when Przemysław Kral became one of its directors; the company has had further directors who are not named here. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisThe claimants' law firm describes an 80-page statement of 18 June 2021, signed by Suszek as chairman, certifying the exchange's wallets at 31 December 2020: 4,513.93 BTC in the cold wallet, 308.48 BTC in the hot wallet and 51,646.73 ETH in the cold ether wallet, the bitcoin figures taken from the exchange's internal Funds Monitor system. The statement was not retained and, according to the firm, gives no bitcoin address, so it cannot be matched to the 4,503 BTC address cited in 2026. ⁵

analysisIn Tallinn he is sole shareholder and board member of Creative Invest Int OÜ, whose registered address and contact e-mail are those BB Trade Estonia OÜ used in 2019–2020; the register shows unpaid fines and no annual report filed for 2018 to 2025. Swiss register publications record him on the board of BB Trade Switzerland AG until 24 March 2022, and in 2018 he joined the supervisory board of ICO HOUSE S.A. in Warsaw with Paweł Sobków and Wojciech Sroka; the KRS data show no dealings of that company with BitBay or BB Trade Estonia. ^{6 1 7 8}

analysisReading the exchange's contracts and ledger, the claimants' firm says that in summer 2020 S.B. Bay FZE, a free-zone company in Umm Al Quwain owned and directed by Suszek, borrowed EUR 500,000, PLN 495,000 and PLN 200,000 from the exchange operator at 2% until 2030, with Suszek signing for both sides and crypto-assets on bitbay.net pledged, and that nothing had been repaid by the end of 2023. It also reports EUR 1,041,826.22 and PLN 1,323,493.15 received in June 2023 from a sender named "Sylwester Jan Suszek" with a Zug address, about fifteen months after his disappearance, which the company's lawyer explained to its accountant as repayments of four personal loans; the firm calls its reading of who controlled that account a hypothesis that only prosecutors can resolve. The documents are not in the retained record and no reply by the persons concerned is recorded. ¹

analysisThe same firm identifies a EUR 2,878,500 loan in the 2021 and 2022 annual reports, which do not name the borrower and describe the loan as secured by a mortgage, as a credit line of EUR 2,910,000 that Suszek signed for the company on 24 May 2021 with a private individual, Jaromira W., for the purchase of real estate. Relying on the agreement and the ledger, which are not in the retained record, the firm says it is not known whether the mortgage was created; no reply by the persons concerned is recorded. In September 2026 Polish prosecutors charged Jaromira W. with, among other things, obtaining a confirmation of repayment of a 2.9 million EUR loan that had in fact not been repaid; she did not plead guilty. ^{1 2 3}

analysisThe National Prosecutor's Office states that an investigation into the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Sylwester Suszek, founder of the BitBay exchange, was opened on 18 March 2022 by the District Prosecutor's Office in Sosnowiec and taken over by its Katowice branch for organised crime and corruption (case 1001-109.Ds.77.2022), and that the Katowice investigation into ZondaCrypto was merged into it because both examine the founding and activity of BitBay, later ZondaCrypto. The two official texts give different merger dates, 19 July and 30 July 2026. When the Katowice investigation was opened on 17 April 2026, prosecutors summarised a statement by the exchange's owner that the exchange had had no access to its cold wallet since 2022 and had concealed this from clients; that is a summary, not a finding, and the release does not say how or when access was lost. Przemysław Kral, who earlier in April had called the exchange stable, solvent and safe and rejected a press analysis of a 99% fall in its bitcoin reserves, said publicly on 16 April that the keys to the roughly 4,500-bitcoin wallet were held by Suszek, who has been missing since March 2022. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisCharges brought since then name Suszek as a target, not as a suspect. Prosecutors charged Anna P. in September 2026 with taking part in 2020–2026 in an organised group aimed at taking over his assets and with obstructing the deprivation-of-liberty proceedings, and Jaromira W. with membership of the same group; neither admitted the charges, and both were remanded in custody for three months on 4 September 2026; a legal news site reported that the regional court in Katowice upheld the custody decisions. These are charges, not findings of guilt. ^{5 6}

analysisA legal news site, citing a television report, stated that Marian W. faces charges of depriving Suszek of his liberty, first brought on 15 March 2022, of acting to the detriment of BB Trade Estonia OÜ, 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. These charges are reported second-hand, the prosecutors' retained releases do not list them, and no plea is recorded. ^{6 4}