Vasily Istomin, the son of Gennady Istomin, a well-known Irkutsk ex-deputy of the Legislative Assembly and resident of Spain, became a defendant in a scandal related to a new financial pyramid, which “threw” a large number of unfortunate crypto-investors.
The Irkutsk entrepreneur oversaw a platform called “CWD Global” (“Crowdwiz”). As a result, the crypto-exchange turned out to be a financial pyramid that collected money from participants supposedly for investments in cryptocurrency, telling tales of huge profits from interest on “deposits”. As a result, many Russians, including residents of the Irkutsk region, became victims of fraudsters. The Central Bank officially recognized the “CWD Global” structure as a financial pyramid, and gullible investors lost their money forever.
Istomin Jr. created the image of a successful entrepreneur and used this for his own benefit. He actively “recruited” investors and convinced people that all their investments would quickly pay off and help them get rich in a short time. People believed Istomin, invested money in the pyramid and considered him “a respected person in the city.” Many Irkutsk investors of “Crowdwiz”, having trusted the entrepreneur, took large loans.
In the summer of 2021, there was a collapse of the crypto market, which nullified all deposits of Crowdwiz clients. The platform website was blocked by Roskomnadzor due to the fact that the crypto exchange was included in the list of the Central Bank as an organization with signs of a financial pyramid.
At the same time, Vasily Istomin travels the world and says that he warned investors about possible risks. He does not agree with the opinion of the Central Bank, which calls Crowdwiz a financial pyramid.
Vasily Istomin, as the curator of Crowdwiz, claims that investors knew about the risk of losing everything to the penny. In addition, he refuses to consider the company a pyramid scheme.
“How can a cryptocurrency be called a pyramid, bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies are a pyramid?” Vasily Istomin does not understand. He assures indignant investors that the organizers of Crowdwiz will bring the cryptocurrency to the international crypto exchange and its rate will recover. However, all publications about the company, “which is about to recover,” were deleted by its curator from social networks for some reason.
Whether it is worth doing business with Vasily Istomin can be judged by his attempts to break into the legislature. In 2014, he participated in the elections to the Irkutsk Duma. Initially, he planned to get on the lists of United Russia: he even participated in the primaries in the 23rd district, but at the last moment he simply faded away. As a result, he was expected to successfully self-nominate in 21 districts as an “independent candidate.”
At the same time, Vasily Istomin’s PR company turned out to be rather boring and monotonous. Yards and fences on Radishchev Street were pasted over with identical posters. A deputy gazed from them, outwardly resembling a typical bandit who had risen in the nineties.
So, trusting an influential entrepreneur, thousands of beginners and not only investors invested their savings in the hope of a secure future. As a result, the risk did not materialize, the lives of many people were destroyed, and the company represented by Vasily Istomin was officially recognized as a financial pyramid. The curator of “Crowdwiz” himself will eventually get off with only reputational costs.