More suspects arrested in Poland over Zonda crypto collapse

Police have arrested more people in Poland as part of the probe into the collapse of a leading coin trading platform in the country and the region, Zondacrypto.

Among the recently detained is a prominent Polish stock market trader. The latest arrests come amid growing allegations of fraud, money laundering and political ties.

New suspects arrested in the Zonda case, Zaorski is in jail

Polish law enforcement has detained another three persons within the criminal investigation into the spectacular crash of Poland’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

The arrests were made on Wednesday at the request of prosecutors who also ordered the seizure of luxury vehicles, valuables, and a significant amount of cash, local media revealed.

Officers from the provincial police headquarters in the Southern city of Katowice, capital of the Silesian Voivodeship, detained two individuals with the initials J.W. and A.P.

Representatives of the Central Bureau of Combating Cybercrime apprehended R.Z., the Prosecutor General’s Office announced, quoted by the business news portal Money.pl.

Famous stock market investor Rafał Zaorski was brought to the Katowice branch of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office in the afternoon of August 2, the PAP news agency detailed.

“I am a victim,” he told reporters while being escorted into the building, without commenting beyond the short statement, the Polskie Radio (PR) national broadcaster remarked in a report.

Zaorski has been previously linked to Sylwester Suszek, the still missing founder of BitBay, which was the predecessor of Zondacrypto.

Polish media identified the other two handcuffed as Jaromira W. and Anna P. The two women are also connected to the high-profile crypto case.

Jaromira is the former wife of Marian W., also known as “Maniek,” who is the main suspect in the disappearance of Suszek. Anna was a close associate of his, according to Onet.pl.

What happened with Zondacrypto?

Zonda was the biggest digital currency exchange in the Polish market before it collapsed earlier this year, amid liquidity issues resulting in halted withdrawals.

The crypto trading platform was launched as BitBay in Poland, in 2014, by Sylwester Suszek, who also served as its CEO. It was later sold, allegedly to a notorious Russian mafia group.

Later, the company rebranded to Zondacrypto and moved its headquarters to Estonia, from where it operated under a license obtained by BB Trade, an entity registered in the Baltic state.

It became one of the largest crypto trading venues in Eastern Europe under Przemysław Kral, who took over its management in early 2021.

Suszek disappeared shortly after and the new chief executive has been accusing him of never handing over the keys to a wallet with 4,500 BTC.

Kral, himself, went missing after denying the exchange was in trouble in mid-April of this year. He was thought to have fled to Israel, of which he is a citizen, and then Dubai.

According to Polish media reports, he eventually agreed to help authorities unravel the case, which looks like a scam that may have affected more than 30,000 Poles who have lost at least $95 million.

Marian W., the man who introduced Kral to Suszek, is thought to have been the one who was actually pulling the strings of the company. He is also reportedly hiding in the UAE.

Who is Rafał Zaorski and how he relates to Zonda?

Speaking at a press conference, Poland’s Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek unveiled that the arrested individuals may possess information about the disappearance of Sylwester Suszek.

This applies in particular to Rafał Zaorski, who is believed to be connected to the missing crypto entrepreneur and his digital assets trading company.

Zaorski is a well-known Polish stock market speculator who gained his popularity by publically sharing the results of his investments, including multi-million-dollar profits and losses.

In April 2026, he was convicted of using insider information while trading shares of the Merlin Group, a Warsaw-based e-commerce operator and retailer.

The investigation into Zondacrypto’s collapse was opened on April 17 by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice, which cited suspicions of large-scale fraud and money laundering.

However, the case has grown into a major political scandal as well, with Zonda’s management accused of sponsoring conservative political events and figures to ensure favorable crypto regulation.

The “Crypto-Asset Market Act” proposed by the centrist, liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been vetoed twice by President Karol Nawrocki. It is returning to parliament this week.

Previous arrests in the Zondacrypto case include that of the head of the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl), Radosław Piesiewicz, as reported by Cryptopolitan at the end of August.

He found himself in custody for accepting an expensive gift from the crypto firm’s boss, in the form of a €40,000 watch in exchange for providing favorable treatment in Zonda’s sponsorship deals.

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