Radosław Piesiewicz, president of the Polish Olympic Committee, has been arrested in an investigation into crypto exchange Zondacrypto, as prosecutors examine whether he received a financial benefit from the crypto boss.
Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek confirmed the arrest and said further information would follow after Piesiewicz was questioned. Prosecutors have not disclosed any charges at the time of writing, though media outlets suggest Piesiewicz received bribes from the exchange.
A joint investigation by Wirtualna Polska and TVN24 alleged that Zondacrypto chief Przemysław Kral gave Piesiewicz a Patek Philippe watch worth about 40,000 euros ($46,600) and other gifts in return for help with the exchange’s problems with Poland’s competition regulator.
Piesiewicz denied receiving the watch as a gift, saying he paid for it in cash and Kral only helped arrange the purchase. Polish Justice Minister Żurek said the watch was one of the elements prosecutors would examine.
Zondacrypto became the Olympic committee’s general sponsor in October under an agreement covering 2026 through 2028. Prosecutors said this week they were investigating a possible financial benefit given to Piesiewicz alongside several other payments and financing relationships involving the exchange.
The broader investigation opened in April over suspected fraud and money laundering at Zondacrypto. Prosecutors said the exchange’s owner acknowledged it had, for years, lacked access to a cold wallet holding about 4,500 bitcoin, while estimated customer losses stood at no less than 350 million zlotys ($94 million).
Authorities had received more than 3,600 complaints by June and have since secured more than 100 million zlotys for potential compensation. The investigation was merged last month with a probe into the 2022 disappearance of Sylwester Suszek, who founded Zondacrypto’s predecessor BitBay.
Neither the Polish Olympic Committee nor Zondacrypto returned CoinDesk’s request for comment by the time of publication.