MMA Fighter ‘Received $151k in Crypto’ Before Moscow Park ‘Terrorist Attack’

The MMA fighter Lamberd Akhiadov received cryptoassets and US dollars worth $151,000 before “carrying out a terrorist attack” on December 31, 2022, Russian police say.

Akhiadov was arrested on January 2, 2023, on suspicion of murdering a traffic control officer near Moscow’s Zaryadye Park.

MMA Fighter Sent Crypto to Relatives Before Attack, Say Police

Lenta reported that officers think Akhiadov sent the coins and fiat to his “relatives’ crypto wallets and bank accounts” while he was in Turkey.

The MMA fighter Lamberd Akhiadov in action in the ACA in 2017. (Source: ACA MMA/YouTube/Screenshot)

Police think that the fighter then “returned to Russia from Turkey” to carry out the attack.

A spokesperson said Akhiadov had “moved all his relatives from his native Grozny, Chechnya, to Istanbul “in advance.”

Akhiadov, police say, sent “his wife, two younger brothers, sister, and mother” to Turkey “at different times over the five months before committing the crime.”

This was part of an attempt to ensure that law enforcement officers did not become “suspicious” about his movements, police claim.

Officers did not say who they think sent the coins. But investigators have previously claimed that Akhiadov “swore an oath to the Islamic State [ISIS]” prior to his attack.

However, they believe the fighter botched the attack, which was originally intended as a “mass shooting.”

Moscow’s Zaryadye Park. (Source: Mos.ru [CC BY 4.0])

Mass Shooting Planned?

Officers think that Akhiadov had intended to steal a police officer’s gun and start shooting civilians, possibly in the park.

Instead, he attacked a Moscow Administrative Road Inspectorate (MADI) officer, mistaking the man for a police officer due to the latter’s “similar-looking uniform.”

During the alleged attack, the fighter inflicted “at least 16 wounds” to the latter’s “vital organs,” police said. The MADI official died shortly after.

Police officers say Akhiadov resisted arrest and attacked an officer with pepper spray.

Akhiadov was born on August 11, 1994. He was part of the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA), a Grozny, Chechnya-based mixed martial arts promotion that launched in 2014.

Akhiadov debuted in the ACA in November 2014 and last fought in December 2019. He has claimed he is innocent. If he is found guilty, Akhiadov could be jailed for life.

He has been included on the Russian government’s official list “of terrorists and extremists” over his alleged Islamic State links.