Minerva's Victims Are Being Funneled Into Another Scam

Victims of the collapsed Minerva Trading Bot are being herded into Finiko, a Russian Ponzi scheme that has already imploded twice.

The scheme works like this: Minerva Trading Bot, which collapsed in 2019, is telling investors they can recover their losses by pouring money into Finiko. The pitch promises to double deposits in four months with no upper limit. A $250 investment becomes $500. Sounds simple. It's also a lie.

Finiko has already crashed twice. The first time, Russian victims got dumped into an international version. The second time, the scheme stopped paying out in real money altogether, forcing victims to accept only its worthless FNK tokens instead of bitcoin or cash withdrawals.

Minerva Trading Bot doesn't care. The operation is recruiting victims into a Finiko group account, claiming anyone without a Finiko account can join theirs. The pitch includes commissions—money that allegedly goes toward building up capital. Lots of capital.

Here's the plan, according to Minerva's roadmap: accumulate $3 million. Once that target is hit, move the money to Finiko's CTI 1 trading program, which supposedly generates 20% monthly returns. That profit gets paid out monthly to anyone still owed money from the original Minerva collapse. Once everyone gets their cut, the remaining $3 million gets divvied up proportionally among those who helped build it.

The original target was $200,000. Now they're claiming $3 million is achievable. Minerva calls this a "win-win situation."

It's not. The math ignores one glaring problem: Finiko could vanish tomorrow with the money. And it nearly did. In mid-July 2021, Finiko collapsed while Minerva was still collecting funds from its desperate victims.

Minerva Trading Bot was launched in May 2019 as a Telegram bot and operated as a straightforward Ponzi scheme. It was run by Gregor Maihart, believed to be based in Austria. After the collapse, Maihart scrubbed his social media. The victims were mostly from Austria and Germany.

The scheme worked by funneling Minerva money into Finiko just as the Russian operation was approaching its end. How much additional money Maihart's victims lost in that second collapse remains unknown.

Austrian authorities eventually caught up. In January 2023, police arrested a 58-year-old man believed to be Maihart and his 81-year-old father. The younger suspect was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

By then, the damage was done. Thousands of victims had lost money twice.

🤖 Quick Answer

What is the connection between Minerva Trading Bot and Finiko?
Minerva Trading Bot, which collapsed in 2019, is directing its victims toward Finiko, a Russian Ponzi scheme. This scheme promises to recover losses through investments in Finiko, which guarantees to double deposits within four months without upper limits, representing a coordinated effort to redirect defrauded investors into another fraudulent operation.

How many times has Finiko collapsed?
Finiko has experienced two significant collapses. During the first crash, Russian victims were transferred to an international version of the scheme. The second collapse involved the cessation of real money payouts, forcing victims to accept only FNK tokens instead of cryptocurrency or cash withdrawals.

What are the promised returns in the Finiko scheme?
Finiko promises to double investor deposits within a four-month period with no upper investment limit. For example

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