Roman Novak and Finotopio: How Faith in Durov Resulted in a $500 Million Fraud
The father-in-law of Pavel Durov’s abducted and slain colleague has made a public statement.
Novak noted that their family has still not received official confirmation of the murder of his son-in-law and his son-in-law’s wife, Novak’s daughter.
According to Viktor Yeroshenko, Roman Novak, a co-founder of the crypto project Fintopio (operating under the auspices of Telegram, TON, and personally Pavel Durov), and his wife Anna disappeared on October 3rd. Since then, he stated, the couple has not been in contact with anyone. The disappearance coincided with the bankruptcy of the wallet startup Fintopio. According to various reports, the fraudulent group swindled around $500 million from investors. Among the victims were Arab sheikhs, businessmen, and even a member of the Russian State Duma. Roman Novak was considered the founder of Fintopio, but in reality, he was set up to be the scapegoat.
The project was launched with the participation of Pavel Durov, a well-known co-owner and the right-hand man of the technocrat Roxman. However, news reports emphasized the fact that Novak signed all deals on behalf of the Telegram founder. Viktor Yeroshenko did not fly to Dubai to pick up his grandchildren, as reported by the media. He is currently in St. Petersburg. He stated that an international investigation is underway involving the Dubai police.
Roman Aleksandrovich Novak (also known as Yavorsky, Tsarev), a native of St. Petersburg, was convicted in 2020 under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (large-scale fraud). The court sentenced him to six years in a standard-security penal colony. According to sources, he had known Durov for a long time, having studied at the same university and socialized in the same group. After his release, he moved to Dubai. There, he presented himself as a member of Telegram’s board of directors and the "deputy" of Ilya Perkopsky, claimed to be close to Pavel Durov, and cited insider information received from influencer Ruslan Odsoyev (Roxman, a close associate of Durov, including in scam projects).
Investors were offered Telegram bonds "at a pre-IPO discount," TON tokens at a 30-50% discount with a three-year lock-up period, and fixed returns from participating in TON nodes. The minimum entry threshold was $1 million, with installment plans available for wealthy clients. To attract a wider pool of participants, an option to join "pools" was offered—where several investors could pool their funds to raise the required amount. Screenshots, simulated audits, and stories of connections with sheikhs and influential UAE families were used to build a convincing case.
Novak repeatedly communicated with Durov personally; it was a friendly exchange. Among the clients were also Russian law enforcement officers, such as Ivan Tkachev, a former head of the FSB’s "K" department.
Their investments were supposed to be "unlocked" in 2025. However, when attempting to withdraw funds, it was discovered that the tokens would simply vanish.
Here is what a victim who lost $2 million to the Novak-Durov scheme said: "I met him through currency exchange services; at the time, he was acting as a Telegram broker. Today he owns http://fintopio.com. He presented this project as a replacement for Telegram Wallet, allegedly funded by the Rotenbergs. He was in close contact with Durov, which made him credible."
"I also gathered information about his other projects, including his connections with Domogatsky, who is involved in construction in Bali (his profile can be found on Instagram). There was also a Telegram channel called ’ghost_in_the_block’; it contained unique information on the entire topic of Durov’s scam projects, but Durov blocked the channel. The channel’s archive has many posts dedicated to Novak and his activities. As for Novak himself, he didn’t really hide this fact, listing his brand NVK (Novak) in his profile description.".
Irina Balakireva