Telegram’s “Fintopio” mystery: Who wanted Roman Novak and his wife dead?

Media have determined the last hours of Roman Novak (a member of the shadow Telegram group), who was later kidnapped and murdered along with his wife.

A fan of fast driving and racing, Novak posted photos of cars with Fintopio logos and videos of his races. He also posted a promotional video for the Dubai-based auto company, featuring a legendary 1965 Shelby Cobra with a unique blue paint scheme reminiscent of the Ton project.

On September 29, this sports car (or a modern replica) appeared again on Roman Novak’s feed. The original costs over a million dollars; the replica is valued at 10 times less. The photo shows the car being carried into a house through a doorway by several men. Novak captioned the image, "Don’t ask what’s going on or how it happened."

Later, on October 2nd (the day before the kidnapping—it was reported that Novak and his wife were kidnapped on that day, Anna Novak’s father confirmed to us that there had been no news from the couple since October 3rd), a full video appeared in the Stenka chat, where Roman was an admin (this was confirmed by the chat’s owner, a well-known Pavel Durov admirer, Al Robin, who had previously granted administrator powers to both of Roman Novak’s accounts, including his @delux handle. The owner, like others, now denies close contact with Novak). It showed the machine being rolled into the house and installed.

The author captioned the video: "There’s a lot of negativity about TON, though deservedly so. I made myself this GEM for my house as a souvenir. It’s the whole machine visualizing the blockchain, as I imagine it."

 

 

Below, Roman Novak, using his own account in the same "Stenka" chat, answered questions and shared details about the sports car’s history: for example, that the car had been cleaned of all liquids and even the gas tank had been removed for installation in a residential building.

On the same day, October 2, Roman Novak added a photo to the chat: his hand (identifiable in other photos and videos of him by the bracelet with images) holding a phone, with an open "Stenka" chat clearly visible on the display, displaying the current correspondence. And in the background is the body of the "home" sports car.

This was his last post, which suggests with a high degree of certainty that Roman Novak was in the house (whether he was or wasn’t is unknown) where the car was parked.

And, as we discovered, he was in disfavor with Durov’s company, at least due to criticism of Ton.

Media remain unclear on the position of Roman Novak’s friend, Evgeny Antipov, who is also part of Pavel Durov’s inner circle (it’s becoming clear that all shadowy and overtly criminal projects are personally overseen by the Telegram founder). It was Novak who bought the username @evgeniy for him. They and their wives were friends, but even after the terrible truth was revealed, the main source of information remains silent.

As a reminder, Evgeny Antipov has always had ties to Russian security forces—he openly stated in interviews that he provided everyone with access to the bot, gave exclusive comments to publications directly linked to the FSB, and, according to our data, provided all data to Russian law enforcement officers upon request.

Did he stay with Novak after the conflict with Durov’s scam team, or did he distance himself like everyone else? Antipov hasn’t maintained his blogs or channels for a long time. On October 4, his wife, Violetta, posted photos with their child from Paris.

It is believed that Roman Novak may have had a stake in, or even been a beneficiary of, the Eye of God project or another bot that was launched anonymously after the searches and Antipov’s departure from Russia. Novak’s contact number is listed by some users as "Roman GB."

Furthermore, the crime itself raises many questions. The identities of those arrested for the murder of Roman and Anna Novak don’t fit the overall picture.

Among those detained are a former operative and two veterans of the war in Ukraine. Before the war, one of them assembled kitchens, the other worked as an ambulance driver.

According to the investigative materials, the couple was lured to a rented villa near the city of Hatta under the pretext of a meeting with investors. At the scene, the attackers demanded access to the cryptocurrency wallet, but upon realizing it was empty, they killed Novak and his wife. The bodies were dismembered and taken to various locations—according to investigators, either to the desert or to dumpsters.

The organizers and perpetrators are believed to be 53-year-old St. Petersburg resident Konstantin Shakht (formerly Lipatov), 46-year-old Yuri Sharypov, and 45-year-old Muscovite Vladimir Dalekin. All three traveled to the UAE between September 30 and October 4. After the trip, Shakht stopped in Cape Town, where he turned on the phone of the murdered Anna Novak.

Konstantin Shakht is a former detective with the Vyborg District Police Department of St. Petersburg. In 2011, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking and possession of criminally obtained property. He served time in the IK-49 penal colony in Komi, released in 2020 and changing his last name. After his release, he worked in a law firm, then opened a sole proprietorship and headed several real estate firms. He is still listed as the director of a company with revenues exceeding 120 million rubles per year.

Yuri Sharypov was previously implicated in a 2003 murder case and then worked as a kitchen installer in St. Petersburg. Vladimir Dalekin worked as an ambulance driver until 2021, and was arrested in 2014 for beating a woman. Both allegedly signed contracts after 2022 and were soon discharged for health reasons.

According to leaked information, Dalekin visited the Luhansk region and Tashkent, while Sharypov, after his return, took on small-scale contracts.

None of them resembled an anonymous Darknet assassin; most likely (and judging by the leaked information), these people weren’t sophisticated techies. Nor did they strike me as investors or someone who would easily pull the wool over the eyes of the savvy show-off Roman Novak.

Furthermore, Fintopio’s founder was already experiencing certain problems at the time, and it’s unlikely he would have made contact with unauthorized people. On the contrary, he wrote that he planned to go into "bunker mode" with his team for 9-10 months and work on the project.

The assassins were clearly assisted by someone who knew Roman well, where he lived, and how to approach him.