In the investigation into the murder in Vienna of 21-year-old Danilo Kuzmin, son of the deputy mayor of Kharkiv, a new suspect has appeared - 19-year-old Bogdan Rinzhuk, son of the famous businessman from Chernivtsi Ivan Rinzhuk, writes antikor.ua
According to media information, Bogdan Rinzhuk was arrested in Odessa after returning to Ukraine via Hungary. Since 2022, the young man has lived in Austria, where he studied with the deceased Danilo Kuzmin. The investigation considers him a possible informant and accomplice in the crime.
The suspect's father, Ivan Rinzhuk, is known in Chernivtsi as the "market king". His business empire includes numerous companies in the trade sector. In 2011, law enforcement agencies accused him of bribery (in the amount of 250,000 US dollars), illegal enrichment for billions of hryvnias and seized jewelry worth 24 million hryvnias from the company "Dzhema".
Bogdan's stepmother, Olesya Ilashchuk, is the current ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria. From 2010 to 2015, she headed the aforementioned company "Dzhema". Her appointment to a diplomatic position was accompanied by a scandal over her ties to Rinzuk's business.
Amidst stories of diamonds, cryptocurrencies, high positions and a luxurious lifestyle, the case of the murder of the student in Austria resembles the plot of a gripping thriller.
Cryptocurrency investor Danilo Kuzmin was tortured and killed after being lured into a trap for his wealth, The Sun reports.
His body was found burned in the back seat of a Mercedes in the Donaustadt district of Vienna.
It is alleged that he was tortured before being burned in his family car. The 21-year-old is the son of Sergei Kuzmin, deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Danilo lived and studied in Vienna.
His family and a close acquaintance reported him missing after he suddenly stopped answering his phone.
Police say the case has largely been solved after investigators identified two Ukrainian suspects, aged 19 and 45.
The two were arrested in Ukraine on November 29 on international arrest warrants, three days after Danilo's body was found.
Police are working with Ukrainian authorities and Europol to find the perpetrators.
Austrian and Ukrainian media reported that the younger suspect studied at the same university as Danilo.
Security camera footage from the underground car park of the luxury Sofitel hotel on 25 November show several men surrounding the victim, with witnesses later reporting a large bloodstain on the staircase.
According to forensic experts, Danilo's body was around 80% burned.
He had massive blunt force trauma to his body, including head injuries and broken teeth.
Investigators believe he died of suffocation or heatstroke.
Police say Danilo was pushed into the back seat of his family's Mercedes and driven to a garden in Donaustadt.
The vehicle was set on fire with petrol.
Emergency services only discovered his body after firefighters had extinguished the flames, with experts ruling out a technical fault as the diesel car was flooded with gasoline.
Officers removed a melted can of fuel from the back seat, purchased from a gas station in Vienna.
Video surveillance footage from the station shows one of the suspects buying two cans of gasoline before the murder.
Austrian police say significant amounts of money disappeared from Danilo's cryptocurrency wallets around the time of the attack, while one of the detainees was found with a large sum of US dollars.
The head of Vienna's state criminal service, Colonel Gerhard Winkler, said investigators were assuming a financial motive and had ruled out any political context.
Ukrainian media reported that Danilo was held in the vehicle for several hours and tortured until he revealed the access codes to his crypto accounts.
Police believe the car was set on fire with him after the confession
The suspects were arrested in the port city of Odessa the day after they returned to the country.
The special unit KORD assisted in their detention.
A court ordered both men to be detained for 40 days.
The men will be prosecuted in Ukraine after Austrian authorities agreed to transfer the case.
Danilo's murder comes after the bodies of Russian crypto millionaire Novak and his wife were found in concrete after they were kidnapped and forced to watch as they were tortured.
The pair disappeared in October and were found abandoned in the Dubai desert after the alleged killers – all Russian nationals – tried to gain access to their £380m fortune.
Novak was convicted of fraud in 2020 and served six years in a general-security prison.
He is alleged to have defrauded investors from China, the Middle East and elsewhere, raising around $500m (£380m) with promises of major technology partnerships.