The Shadows Behind Optioment
The investigation into the Optioment case continues, with authorities, media outlets, and FinTelegram digging deeper into the matter. The central question still revolves around the elusive individuals behind the operation. As of now, it’s believed that two figures, Lucas MAZUR and Alex POPOV, are the masterminds orchestrating this fraudulent crypto-MLM scheme. However, we are fairly certain that neither of these names represents real individuals. Lucas MAZUR appears to be the name of a French badminton player, while Alex POPOV was a well-known Russian swimmer.
Bitcoins Verdienen and Optioment’s Ties
Apart from these names, another figure comes into play: J. HEIMHILCHER, an Austrian citizen and the operator of the Austrian website Bitcoins Verdienen (www.bitcoins-verdienen.at). A deep dive into the Internet Archive reveals that Optioment was listed as one of Bitcoins Verdienen‘s partners. This website regularly hosted Optioment events to attract participants into the crypto-MLM scheme.
In fact, it was through Bitcoins Verdienen that the last major “OPTIOMENT SUPER SATURDAY” event was promoted in November 2017.
According to Austrian prosecutors, HEIMHILCHER claims to be a victim of Lucas MAZUR and Alex POPOV. In January 2018, he filed criminal charges against them, despite being unable to provide any credible identification or address for these shadowy figures. It’s almost inconceivable that millions of euros from investors would be sent to completely unknown individuals without any kind of proper KYC (Know Your Customer) verification—something that is standard practice in financial transactions. One must wonder whether this scenario is truly believable.
HEIMHILCHER has allegedly been one of the so-called “Optioment Musketeers,” a key figure within the Optioment operation (Source: Die Presse).
The Cointed Link
HEIMHILCHER himself has reportedly claimed that Christopher RIEDER, the founder of Cointed, was the mastermind behind the Optioment system he marketed to investors.
In reality, HEIMHILCHER has been closely associated with the Cointed network from the very beginning, having worked alongside RIEDER and his associates.
Cointed and Heimhilcher’s Early Involvement
From the start, HEIMHILCHER and his company were responsible for hosting Cointed’s website and providing sales support, even from the company’s early days in 2015. As shown in the screenshot of a Google search result, Cointed’s early website ran on a subdomain of HEIMHILCHER’s platform.
On Bitcoins Verdienen, Cointed was frequently praised as one of Austria’s top Bitcoin companies. But the connections go further. In 2017, Bitcoins Verdienen began promoting the cryptocurrency PutinCoin (read more about this here). On their site, the promoters of PutinCoin described it as the “cryptocurrency for Russians.” Optioment, in turn, marketed itself as an “arbitrage system” working with Russian banks, suggesting a strong connection to the Russian Bitcoin community. This makes sense given that Russians were early adopters of Bitcoin and pioneers in the Bitcoin business world.
Moreover, one must ask: what role does the Turkish venture, The Bosphorus (read this article), play in all of this?
Investigating the Web of Connections
Once again, we extend a “big thank you” to all the whistleblowers who have provided us with crucial background information. We are currently analyzing blockchain transactions and investigating the wallets associated with these connections. Any additional information or wallet addresses related to the Optioment payment transactions would be greatly appreciated as we continue our inquiry.