An American man charged by US authorities in a major cryptocurrency fraud scheme has moved to Moscow, and has been embroiled in a bitter, complicated legal fight with some of his former partners.
The findings by Systema, RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit, confirm past unconfirmed reports that Kyle Nagy had moved to Russia shortly before his November 2023 indictment in the United States.
Nagy was one of several people charged by the US Justice Department in a Utah-based scheme called SafeMoon.
US authorities say Nagy and others misappropriated so-called digital tokens from investors worth more than $200 million. Financial regulators said the group used the funds to buy luxury cars and homes.
Nagy fled the United States before the charges were released. This past February, one of his co-conspirators, Braden Karony, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
In early 2025, a Telegram channel published information from a Russian court that said Nagy was in Moscow, and that he had been threatened by two men who reportedly had linked to Russian intelligence.
Villas In Dubai And Moscow
In the months before the indictment was unsealed, Nagy and his wife and three children had moved to Dubai, Systema found, having purchased a luxury beachfront villa, estimated around $1.7 million.
In Dubai, Nagy befriended a Russian businessman named Aleksandr Kopenkin who later helped Nagy moved to Moscow in April 2024.
According to a person close to Kopenkin and documents seen by Systema, Nagy ended up renting a 1,200-square-meter (13,000-square foot) villa in a western district of the Russian capital, with a monthly rent of 900,000 rubles ($12,000 in today’s dollars).
Nagy and Kopenkin later became embroiled in a fight over investments that Kopenkin and another man were supposed to make in a new crypto venture, according to people Systema spoke to.
Among other things, Nagy complained that he had paid Kopenkin $1 million for help in obtaining legal residency in Russia, and eventually citizenship.
The fight spilled into courts in Moscow, where Nagy filed a criminal complaint of theft with Moscow regional police, as well as in Dubai, where Kopenkin was briefly detained -- according to people close to him -- as a result of Nagy’s lawsuit.
Nagy’s current exact whereabouts are unclear, though he is believed to still be in Russia.
In July 2025, according to a database of leaked personal information, which is commonplace in Russia, Nagy and his wife consulted with a Moscow medical laboratory for unspecified testing.
A few months later, a person utilizing the same mobile phone number registered for a client card at a Moscow men’s clothing store.
The FBI and the US Justice Department declined to comment when contacted by RFE/RL.
