Poland charges former police officer as investigators return to site where missing Zondacrypto founder was last seen

Artur K., whose full name has not been released under Polish privacy rules, was detained on Sept. 22 by officers from Poland’s Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime. Prosecutors say he has been accused of participating in an organized criminal group and of helping cause major financial damage involving BitBay, BB Trade Estonia and another entity, as well as aiding the misappropriation of entrusted property, computer fraud and money laundering.

The allegations remain Zondacrypto fraud untested in court.

Former police officer faces multiple financial-crime allegations

According to Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation is examining both the operations of Zondacrypto and the alleged unlawful deprivation of Suszek’s liberty. Authorities searched Artur K.’s home and said they secured documents connected with the exchange’s activities. He was then questioned as a suspect, with prosecutors expected to decide whether to seek preventive measures after the interrogation.

Poland’s Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek confirmed the arrest publicly, saying: “Another person has been arrested, a former police officer. A search was also conducted, during which various documents relevant to the Zonda investigation were found.”

The case has expanded rapidly in recent weeks. Prosecutors detained three additional suspects on Sept. 2, according to the National Prosecutor’s Office, alleging offenses ranging from participation in an organized criminal group to the alleged diversion of company assets and money laundering. A fifth suspect was also charged in early September over allegations involving PLN 7.8 million in customer funds.

Earlier in August, prosecutors also charged Radosław P., the former president of the Polish Olympic Committee, in a separate part of the investigation. He has denied the allegations, and the charges have not been adjudicated by a court.

Search returns to the site where Suszek vanished

At the same time, investigators are examining a fuel depot in southern Poland where Suszek was last seen before he disappeared in March 2022. The National Prosecutor’s Office said the search involves Katowice police, prosecutors, expert witnesses and advanced forensic equipment.

The disappearance is being investigated as unlawful deprivation of liberty rather than simply as an unexplained missing-person case. That distinction is significant because investigators are examining whether Suszek was deliberately prevented from leaving the location.

The search also revisits evidence surrounding surveillance at the site. Prosecutors previously alleged that one suspect removed a hard drive from a petrol station’s CCTV recorder, potentially affecting investigators’ ability to reconstruct events around the time Suszek disappeared. In September, prosecutors charged a suspect identified as Anna P. with, among other allegations, obstructing the investigation through the removal of the surveillance drive and allegedly encouraging false testimony.

Prosecutor General Żurek has also said investigators possess recordings connected with the broader case, although he has not disclosed who appears in them. “Yes, we have tapes at the prosecutor’s office,” he said in comments reported by Rzeczpospolita, while declining to identify the people involved.

From BitBay to a failed exchange

Suszek founded BitBay in Katowice in 2014. The business later moved its registration to Estonia in 2020 under BB Trade Estonia and adopted the Zondacrypto brand. The exchange said it had about 1.3 million clients, predominantly in Poland.

The Zondacrypto collapse in 2026 transformed an old disappearance investigation into a much broader financial-crime case. Polish prosecutors began investigating allegations concerning the exchange after receiving several thousand complaints from clients. In August, that inquiry was formally combined with the separate investigation into Suszek’s disappearance.

Regulatory action has also added to the pressure. Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit partially suspended BB Trade Estonia’s virtual-currency licence on May 18, preventing it from accepting additional client assets or onboarding new customers while requiring the company to bring its operations into compliance. On June 29, the FIU revoked the licence after the company failed to comply with the supervisory order.

The Estonian authority stressed that its supervisory mandate did not include prudential assessment of whether customer assets were safely held or liquid, meaning the licence revocation itself does not establish what happened to clients’ funds.

Investigation widens as customer claims mount

The Zondacrypto case now spans alleged financial crimes, Zondacrypto’s corporate affairs and the unresolved fate of its founder. The breadth of the investigation has prompted prosecutors to assemble additional investigative resources, while authorities continue to process evidence from multiple suspects and locations.

For customers, the legal investigation is running alongside insolvency proceedings involving BB Trade Estonia. Polish Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Żurek has warned that reporting a suspected crime is not the same as filing a creditor claim, with an Oct. 27 deadline reported for affected parties to submit claims in the Estonian bankruptcy process.

For now, prosecutors have not announced a final conclusion about Suszek’s fate or established in court that any of the accused committed the offenses alleged against them. The latest arrest and fuel-depot search nevertheless show that investigators are pursuing the financial and disappearance strands together, more than four years after the founder vanished.