Polish Olympic Committee chief charged in Zondacrypto investigation
Polish Olympic Committee president Radosław Piesiewicz has been charged in a prosecutorial investigation tied to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto. Poland’s Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said Thursday on X that authorities had detained Piesiewicz as part of the case. Żurek later said prosecutors brought charges under two provisions of Poland’s Penal Code, alleging influence peddling and the preferential treatment of certain creditors while facing insolvency. According to local outlet TVP World, one allegation is that Piesiewicz recovered all of the money he had invested through Zondacrypto while thousands of other customers were unable to withdraw their funds. TVP World also reported that the exchange became a general sponsor of the Polish Olympic Committee in October 2025. Piesiewicz’s detention is described as one of the first arrests in the broader Zondacrypto probe. The exchange halted trading in April during a liquidity crisis, around the same time former CEO Przemysław Kral said the company could not access a wallet holding about 4,500 Bitcoin because it lacked the private keys. Reports say Kral has been charged with participating in large-scale fraud and is cooperating with investigators in hopes of a reduced sentence.
