The Department of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) in Almaty is conducting an investigation into the establishment and management of the financial pyramid scheme ‘Amir Capital’.
According to the agency's press office, the organisation had been soliciting funds from citizens of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Kyrgyzstan for three years, promising returns of 5–10% from cryptocurrency trading, mining, and investments in various projects.
New participants were registered via referral links, and accounts were topped up through Amir Wallet cryptocurrency wallets. The funds received were redistributed among depositors on a pyramid basis: payments to earlier members were made using new investments.
At the end of 2021, depositors lost access to withdraw their funds. The management of ‘Amir Capital’ attributed this to technical glitches, but access was never restored.
More than 40 individuals were drawn into the scheme. The court has authorised the seizure of crypto assets worth over $10 million (5.4 billion tenge), as well as a plot of land in the Almaty region.
One of the suspects has been remanded in custody for two months. The AFM clarified that the investigation is ongoing.