Polish prosecutors have charged Roman Ż., a former business partner of BitBay founder Sylwester Suszek, with two offenses including fraud, marking the fifth person charged after Suszek’s disappearance case was folded into the broader Zondacrypto investigation.

According to the case details disclosed by prosecutors, Roman Ż. was arrested in Poland last Saturday. Prosecutors plan to seek his pre-trial detention, while he denies the charges. The allegations against him include fraud, though the full factual basis for the two counts was not detailed in the available information.

The case centers on Zondacrypto, previously associated with BitBay, and has widened since authorities combined it with the investigation into Suszek’s disappearance. Suszek disappeared in March 2022, and prosecutors are now handling that matter alongside a broader probe into suspected large-scale fraud and money laundering linked to the exchange.

Authorities say trading on Zondacrypto was halted in April this year after customer withdrawals were frozen. The reported client losses were estimated at at least $94 million. Prosecutors had received more than 3,600 complaints as of June, underscoring the scale of the alleged damage being examined.

The investigation has also reached beyond former business associates. Radosław Piesiewicz, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, has been charged with accepting protection money and favoring certain creditors when the exchange was nearing bankruptcy, while three other people were detained last week.

Why It Matters

This case is significant because it goes beyond a single criminal charge and touches core risks in crypto market structure: custody, withdrawal access, creditor treatment, and the handling of customer assets when an exchange comes under stress. For users and industry operators, the case is a reminder that legal and operational failures at centralized platforms can become systemic trust events.

It also highlights how European enforcement pressure can intensify after an exchange disruption, especially when fraud, money laundering, and governance questions converge. That makes the Zondacrypto investigation relevant not just as a criminal case, but as a signal for how authorities may approach future exchange collapses or asset-freeze disputes.