Igors Kuļagevs appears before court Wednesday to testify in extortion case

Moscow's Meshchansky court hears testimony from Igors Kuļagevs in the extortion case agains five defendants

MOSCOW, Russia - Latvian national Igors Kuļagevs took the stand Wednesday in Moscow's Meshchansky court to give testimony in the extortion case against five defendants. Kuļagevs, a businessman and former member of the Latvian parliament, is alleged to have been the victim of a $5 billion extortion attempt in 2019.

Kuļagevs claims he paid extortionists $10,000 in bitcoin after he received threats of violence

During his testimony, Kuļagevs told the court that he was first contacted by the defendants in 2019. He said that the defendants threatened to harm him and his family if he did not pay them $5 billion.

Kuļagevs said that he initially refused to pay the extortionists, but he eventually agreed to pay them $10,000 in bitcoin after they threatened to release compromising information about him.

Expert testimony suggests Kuļagevs may have paid extortionists more than $1 million

However, an expert witness called by the prosecution testified that Kuļagevs may have actually paid the extortionists more than $1 million. The expert witness said that he had analyzed Kuļagevs's bitcoin transactions and found that he had sent large sums of money to the defendants' bitcoin addresses.

The trial is ongoing, and it is not clear when a verdict will be reached.

Additional information

• The five defendants in the case are all Russian citizens.
• The defendants have denied the charges against them.
• The trial is being closely watched by the Russian media.