BANGKOK, November 28. /TASS corr./ The Thai Prosecutor's Office has decided to release from custody Russians Danil Aldunenkov and Roman Brik, detained earlier in the kingdom on suspicion of being part of a criminal syndicate involved in laundering money through the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, using false documents and providing their data to third parties, Sergey Aldunenkov, brother of the Russian under investigation, told a TASS correspondent.
"Danil and Roman have been released from custody, their procedural status will be reclassified to [the status of] witness. They are required to attend an interrogation on December 20 to testify in the case. They can move freely in Thailand with a certificate of a valid criminal case, which justifies their legal stay on the country’s territory without a valid visa," the source said.
Thai police detained Aldunenkov on the island of Ko Samui and Brik in Chiang Mai city on September 3 on suspicion of illegal cryptocurrency transactions. Thai law enforcement authorities are investigating a high-profile case involving the murder of a local man by his wife and two minor children. The incident occurred after scammers tricked the woman into transferring a large sum of money she borrowed to their account.
Aldunenkov's defense insisted that he had not participated in any money laundering during transactions with cryptocurrency on the Binance exchange and had never been associated with a gang of scammers. Also, according to the statements, he did not visit the territory of Cambodia, from where the attackers conducted their activities.
According to Thai law, the period of arrest cannot exceed 84 days. After this period, the prosecution must either present enough evidence to press charges, or the arrested person is cleared of all suspicion and released from custody.