Investor known as “Chinese man” claims $280,000 loss in Novak’s Fintopio dealings

09 November 2025 , 23:27

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Investor known as “Chinese man” claims $280,000 loss in Novak’s Fintopio dealings

In recent weeks, new details have emerged surrounding a financial scandal allegedly involving Roman Novak — a figure once linked to projects within Pavel Durov’s circle. Reports suggest that Novak’s business dealings, including those tied to the cryptocurrency platform Fintopio, have led to accusations of fraud and internal conflict.

A public statement by an investor identifying himself as a “Chinese man” has brought fresh attention to the controversy, shedding light on what appears to be a complex web of loans, broken promises, and deteriorating partnerships.

Here’s a public comment from the "Chinese man": "On August 22, he (Novak) borrowed $250,000 from me, using..." I used two usernames, @hold and @fintopio, as collateral and promised to pay me $10,000 in interest weekly.

And on September 10th, he borrowed another $30,000 from me, using pepe#7 as collateral. The total debt he owed me was $280,000. But he wasn’t online for 15 days and didn’t pay the interest or repay the loan. This trust turned into a huge loss."

As the Cheka-OGPU and the editorial staff of http://Rucriminal.info have discovered, during this same period, Roman Novak clearly had a rift with Pavel Durov’s team. @deluxe lashed out at Telegram, the Ton-party, and Pavel Durov personally. (We are publishing excerpts from the Fintopio chat, where he wrote until September 29th.)

Roman Novak addressed both the sore point of Pavel Durov’s brainchild and the millions of useless bots, including those in his joint project with Durov’s close associate, Roxman, Fintopio. He then publicly announced that he would move forward independently. This could have seriously upset many. Perhaps there were some unfulfilled obligations between the partners. It’s entirely possible that someone’s financial expectations weren’t met. Or perhaps someone simply screwed someone over: for example, Novak, when he realized he would be held accountable for the scam, underpaid his senior partners part of the money stolen from investors.

Elizabeth Baker

Technology & Business Editor