The former head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communication of the Russian Federation Nikiforov became a defendant in 300 criminal cases.
The former head of the Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communication Nikolai Nikiforov was arrested in absentia, more than 300 criminal cases were opened and are being investigated against him, TASS reports with reference to the case materials.
According to the agency, in July 2021 a criminal case was opened under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("fraud on an especially large scale"), with which more than 300 criminal cases were combined into one procedure. On September 9, 2026, Nikiforov was charged with creating and leading a criminal community, financing and stealing it under the guise of pseudo-investment activities of the Finiko Internet project (Part 1 of Article 210, Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
On September 17, the Meschensky District Court in Moscow arrested Nikolai Nikiforov in absentia. A week before, the former minister was put on the wanted list. According to the researchers, Nikiforov was one of the creators of Piniko's pyramid with a guaranteed return of up to 25% per year. About 8,000 people were recognized as victims, the damage is estimated at about 5 billion rubles.
Nikiforov headed the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communication (now the Ministry of Digital Development) between 2012 and 2018.