--- title: 'Did Durov''s Friend Steal $500M and Get Killed?' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=iAx3dyGQppE' video_id: 'iAx3dyGQppE' date: 2026-08-08 duration_sec: 719 --- # Did Durov's Friend Steal $500M and Get Killed? > Source: [Did Durov's Friend Steal $500M and Get Killed?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=iAx3dyGQppE) ## Summary The video investigates the reported death of Roman Novak, a businessman and alleged friend of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was found dead in the UAE. It critically examines media claims that Novak stole over $500 million from investors, and suggests a more plausible theory: that he was a classic financial fraudster who borrowed money from various people, failed to repay them, and was killed by those he owed. The video emphasizes that much of the sensationalized story lacks solid evidence. ### Key Points - **The Scandalous Headline** [00:07] — The video opens with the claim that Roman Novak, a friend of Pavel Durov and crypto expert, was found dead in the UAE after allegedly stealing over $500 million from investors. The narrator immediately questions the validity of these claims. - **Novak's Background and Criminal History** [01:06] — Novak had a history of failed projects and financial fraud. In 2020, he was found guilty of embezzling over 7 million rubles from investors and sentenced to 600 years in prison. He was released on parole in 2023 and moved to Dubai. - **New Ventures in Dubai** [01:45] — In Dubai, Novak launched a crypto wallet called Fintopi, raised investment funds, and brought in former Binance VP of Marketing, Stephen Milton, to join the project. - **Hidden Connections in Telegram** [02:12] — The narrator found that Novak was active in a private Telegram community of large influencers and businessmen, suggesting he was well-connected within the Telegram ecosystem, though not necessarily with Durov himself. - **Active on a Secondary Account** [04:11] — Novak was more active on a secondary account named 'Delux', where he held contests and wrote posts about obtaining legal status in the UAE, further indicating his integration into the Telegram admin community. - **The Disappearance** [05:05] — After October 2, Novak stopped communicating. Media reports claimed he promoted himself as a friend of Durov and offered investment opportunities with a $1 million entry threshold, but these claims are questioned. - **A Local Debt Incident** [06:10] — On October 19, a major investor named Uton Fuhau revealed that Novak had borrowed about $250,000, leaving expensive usernames as collateral, and failed to repay the debt or interest. - **The Reported Murder** [07:07] — On November 7, media reported that Novak and his wife were kidnapped, killed, and dismembered by suspects including a former detective and two military personnel, after the kidnappers found his crypto wallets empty. - **Market Reactions** [08:02] — The price of Toncoin fell by almost 25% after Novak's disappearance and jumped 15% when his murder was announced, leading some influencers to speculate he was involved in selling Ton off the books. - **A Pattern of Borrowing** [09:06] — A blogger revealed that Novak had borrowed money from him multiple times, using gifts as collateral, and had a pattern of borrowing from friends and repaying with interest, but eventually failed to repay. - **The Ponzi Scheme Theory** [10:10] — The narrator suggests Novak was running a classic financial pyramid scheme, borrowing from new victims to pay off previous ones, and his death may have been a consequence of failing to repay debts to ordinary people, not mysterious billionaires. ### Conclusion The video concludes that the sensational story of Novak stealing half a billion dollars and being killed by investors is likely a conspiracy theory. The more plausible explanation is that Novak was a fraudster who borrowed money from various people, failed to repay them, and was killed by those he owed. The narrator advises viewers not to believe everything they see on Telegram. ## Transcript scandalous piece of news. Pavel Durov's friend, businessman and cryptocurrency expert Roman Novak, was found dead in the United Arab Emirates. Roman, according to media reports, stole more than $500 million under the guise of raising investment for his projects. He constantly boasted about his connections with the top brass of Telegram. The criminals killed him and his wife, deserted area. And you've probably already heard all this about other all this is true or false. By the end of the video, you will understand why all the headlines and statements I made earlier are at least questionable. What could have Let's go in order. This video is created for informational purposes only. another conspiracy theory. The author may make mistakes and will be happy expressing your own opinion. Enjoy watching. in the early 2010s. Until 2020, he participated in various projects. , tried my hand at IT and consulting, and even launched a fitness project with my wife . The common thread running through all these enterprises was problems with the went bankrupt, and money was collected from them through the courts. Others, as the investigation later established, were used for financial fraud. In 2020, the Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg found Roman guilty of embezzling more than 7 million rubles. investors and sentenced to 600 years in prison. After serving part of his sentence, Novyk was presumably released on parole in 2023 and flew to Dubai to build a new career. Novak launched his own crypto wallet on Fintopi, actively developed it, raised investment funds, and even brought in former Binance VP of Marketing Stephen Milton to join the project. But now let's move away from the media context a little and talk about something more hidden, about what the media, for some reason, doesn't write about. Let me say right away that there are nuances here. people. There are no special statements, clues, or unique information in his official media . Just photos of a happy, rich life in Dubai and that's it. But I decided to go a little deeper and found a place where the novel occasionally appeared in the media. This is a public wall. Essentially, it's a community with a lot of admins, all of whom are part of a larger group of big influencers or businessmen within the Telegram ecosystem. Here are some wall posts from the same Rokhman or Rakhman or Roksman. This is the founder of MAOR. person who is really close to Telegram. He also worked for some time with the In short, there are quite a few big guys like that there . [music] And yes, they all write different posts, just like on the VK wall. This is where the concept of the public comes from. Surprisingly, community. Moreover, according to one of the admins, he was accessing the community official one and the admin account of that very Fintopia wallet, under the nickname Delux. So , as usual, to really find valuable things on Telegram, you need to public channels and find one that's , well, not accessible to everyone. And yes, useful community that few people know about. This is a new project from mentioned in one of our videos. And here is the news from him. Profits from odds continue to live on. Denis invited two practitioners and filmed an interview with them . Together they explained all the ins and outs of how one could try to reveal rare insights and allow you to try to generate income in areas that would seem irrelevant. For example, one of the banks gives a reward of 52,000 rubles. for opening a self-employed business. Therefore, you can confidently receive a large reward. The main thing is already in the channel. The material is presented in an easily accessible language. Even people without experience will understand. The his community to share experiences and join teams. All this is in the Telegram channel Novy Put. Subscribe using the link in the description. In fact, this community of large Telegram admins served as an interesting more interesting facts about our hero today. While the only made a few posts from his original account, he was much more active from his Delux account. He held a couple of contests for gifts on behalf of Roxman, Rakhman, or Rokhman, and even wrote lengthy posts about how to obtain legal status in the UAE. Moreover, Roman offered to provide as to Stibalton and Telegram Volet, questioning the legality of their Overall, all these posts create the impression that Novak may not be familiar with Durov, but he is well-connected with the Telegram group of big admins. And yes, some of the his main account were dedicated precisely to the tone. In one, he criticized the top management of Tonf Foundation itself, and in the very last, he showed You'll Take Me Home," next day after this mocking message that the novel disappeared. After October 2, Novak stopped communicating. And then, media outlets, Novyk [music] promoted himself as a friend of Durov and close to the top brass of Telegram. Allegedly, these connections could allow investors, through Roman, to recoup bonds from Pavel Valerievich's projects or purchase volumes at a 30-50% discount. But all this comes with a nuance. The entry threshold for such investments was at least $1 million . As it turned out a little later, the very same Wallet app from Novak users were advised to withdraw their funds by the end of October. Back in September, a series of searches were conducted at Moscow City crypto exchanges, which, according to Roman's activities. Allegedly, through them he could transfer funds taken then, incidentally, that rumors began circulating in the media that he had scammed numerous investors and disappeared with more than half a billion dollars. Moreover, none of the victims reported in October made any media appearances. Well, at invested in Roman’s projects. Instead, another, more local and alarming incident caused a stir. On October 19, one of the major investors in the ecosystem, Uton Fuhau, unexpectedly for many, spoke out on his channel about the missing novel. It turns out Novyk borrowed about $250,000 from an investor, leaving two expensive usernames, Hold and that same Fintopio, as collateral. Roman promised to pay interest on the debt in the amount of $10,000. On September 10, Novyk borrowed another 30,000, leaving the expensive Pepa as collateral. But as a result, no interest, no money of my own. Fuhao was no longer seen. Moreover, the latest news about Roman came out on October 30. Then, according to media reports, his phone was spotted that Roman had simply taken everything he had stolen and disappeared with the money. In general, the clouds began to gather. And just at the end of last week, on November 7, everyone learned the real reason for Novyk’s disappearance. Yes. We have real reason for Novyk’s disappearance. Yes. We have finally reached the climax of the story. On scandalous piece of news. Pavel Durov's friend, businessman and cryptocurrency expert Roman Novak, was found dead in the United Arab Emirates. But now let's take all the to look at it beyond the lens of tabloid headlines. Moreover, we know in which circles we should look for details of the novel’s life. According to the media, suspects, a former detective and two military personnel, potential investors and proposed headed to the meeting with his wife. On the spot, the kidnappers demanded access to Novak's crypto wallets, saw that the balance was empty, and then killed both Roman and his wife. Then they dismembered them and buried the evidence in the desert. But what about that half a billion dollars? And in general, was Novyk involved with Telegram projects? Well, a couple of major Selega influencers found one interesting connection. On October 9, literally a few days after a series of Novak, the price of tonkyn suddenly fell by almost 25%. Yes, one could cryptocurrency was quite volatile at the time, but on the very day Roman's murder was announced, the rate suddenly jumped up by 15% . According to influencers, this may indeed have been involved in selling the tone off the books. In this case, news of his disappearance could have triggered a token sale, since it wasn't just Novak who had vanished, but also someone else's large investments. And the explanation of the situation in the form of Roman's death could have caused that very price rebound. I agree, it still to more serious details. After all the news about Roman's death and his speculate that Novak might have simply absconded with the loot, and these thoughts weren't entirely unfounded. Moreover, the media doesn’t even write about it. For dedicated to the Ton blockchain posted an excerpt from a correspondence with Novokom from October 2, in which he planned to buy a rare Pepa and promised to return to fact, some other details have begun to emerge in the influencer community that Pavel Durov's murder immediately becomes wildly uninteresting. Anyway, see for yourself. In early September, Novak borrowed money not only from Fuhau, but also from Based on screenshots of the correspondence provided by the blogger himself, Roman borrowed pay Fintopio employees. In short, for noble reasons, it seems. Moreover, Novak again used gifts as collateral. Durov caps. A couple of weeks later, Roman returned the money, but a little later again asked for 200 kbucks against his salary. It already looks weird. The blogger lent money again, but this time there were delays and problems with repayment. Roban unsuccessfully attempted to Intopi's projects, and then, with great difficulty, returned the money. According to the influencer, Novyk reappeared about a week before his disappearance . He had a VLS and asked to lend him at least some amount, but this time he was refused. Moreover, that Novak was constantly asking their mutual friends for loans and then paying them back with interest. In general, the story is beginning to take on a more transparent color. Although none of the major media outlets have written much about this yet, I have one theory that seems much more realistic than Novak being kidnapped by potential investors for profit. In fact, the situation in which a scammer returns it with interest is not new. This is the principle of a classic financial when the fraudster cannot find a new victim and solicit a new previous one. If we are to believe the statements of Fuhau and Telegram bloggers, this. Novyk could truly be living on credit, creating the most colorful image of a rich, successful startup, and then simply not noticing that the trough not some huge tonnevsors or mysterious billionaires, but those people to whom he was unable to repay this debt. the consequences, well, I think you've already grasped them. But the this: don’t believe everything you are Telegram, from political public groups and communities either hating or supporting . Another crypto-cameraman, also a friend of Pogodurov, stole half a billion dollars and was punished for it . Yes, this story sounds far-fetched and cinematic, but, as you already understand, no real evidence has been understand, no real evidence has been we haven’t found anything impressive or interesting. The details of the story, although they point to a less grand and exciting story, are still quite interesting. Well, I hope you enjoy watching [music] too. Please treat this video as a conspiracy theory, which was compiled from the opinions of many If I made any mistakes, please forgive me. Below is a comment section open specifically for like that I released more than one video this month? Bye.