Polish prosecutors have charged a former police officer with membership in an organized criminal group, fraud-related offenses and money laundering in an investigation into the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto. Investigators are also searching a fuel depot where the exchange’s founder, Sylwester Suszek, was last seen before vanishing in March 2022.

Officers from Poland’s Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime detained Artur K. on Tuesday at the direction of the National Prosecutor’s Office’s organized crime department. Prosecutors said he faces two counts. The office’s announcement is available here.

Dziś funkcjonariusze CBZC na polecenie Śląskiego Wydziału Zamiejscowego PK zatrzymali Artura K. Zarzuty dla Artura K. to udział w grupie przestępczej, pomoc w przywłaszczeniu pieniędzy użytkowników giełdy kryptowalutowej ZondaCrypto i pranie pieniędzy pochodzących z tego… — Waldemar Żurek (@w_zurek) September 22, 2026
https://x.com/w_zurek/status/2102384642594627701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The first count concerns membership in an organized criminal group. The second combines allegations of causing extensive property damage to BitBay, BB Trade Estonia and a third entity; aiding the misappropriation of entrusted property; aiding computer fraud; and money laundering. In his post, Żurek described the misappropriated property as money belonging to users of the exchange.

Under Polish convention, suspects are identified by their first name and an initial. Artur K. is a former police officer, Polish Radio reported, citing the state news agency PAP. A search of his home found documents relating to the exchange’s operations.

Artur K. was being questioned as a suspect. Prosecutors will then decide whether to seek his pre-trial detention, Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general, said. That decision will determine whether he remains in custody as the case proceeds. The prosecutor’s office did not say whether he had responded to the charges. Polish Radio’s report is available here.

Meanwhile, police from Katowice are searching and examining the fuel depot where Suszek was last seen. The operation is being conducted with a team of prosecutors, expert witnesses and what the prosecutor’s office described as advanced specialized forensic equipment.

The case file treats Suszek’s disappearance as an unlawful deprivation of liberty rather than a missing-person case. One of the earlier suspects is accused of removing a hard drive from the closed-circuit television recorder at a filling station.

Suszek founded the exchange in Katowice in 2014 under the name BitBay. In 2020, it moved its registration to Estonia under BB Trade Estonia, adopted the Zondacrypto name and claimed to have 1.3 million clients, most of them in Poland — the user base whose funds are at issue in the misappropriation and money-laundering allegations. The exchange froze withdrawals and went offline in April. Estonia’s financial intelligence unit revoked the operator’s license on June 29.

At least five other people have been charged since August, including Radosław P., the former head of the Polish Olympic Committee. Each person who has responded publicly has denied the allegations. None of the charges has been tested in court.

Original report: Decrypt