A resident of Lubenskyi district of Poltava region will stand trial for organizing a large-scale mining farm that operated on stolen electricity. According to the investigation, the 33-year-old man illegally connected the equipment to the network, causing losses to the local energy supplier in the amount of more than 1.6 million UAH.
A resident of Lubenskyi district of Poltava region will stand trial for organizing a large-scale mining farm that operated on stolen electricity. According to the investigation, the 33-year-old man illegally connected the equipment to the network, causing losses to the local energy supplier in the amount of more than 1.6 million UAH.
The Poltava Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported that the indictment had been submitted to the court. According to the case materials, the attacker set up a cryptocurrency mining farm in his own non-residential premises.
The investigation found that the miner took advantage of the proximity of a transformer substation. He arbitrarily connected his equipment to the electrical network, bypassing metering devices and without concluding any contracts with the supplier. This scheme allowed him to secretly consume significant amounts of energy over several months.
According to estimates by Poltavaoblenergo JSC, from the end of May to the beginning of October 2024, the farm managed to generate almost 156,000 kWh. The company has already filed a civil lawsuit against the defendant to recover the accrued UAH 1.6 million in damages.
The man will be tried under Part 2 of Article 188-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (theft of electricity through its unauthorized use without metering devices, which caused large-scale damage). The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for a term of up to three years.
Recall that at the beginning of the year, law enforcement officers in the Zhytomyr region uncovered a large-scale electricity theft scheme organized by a local resident. The man set up powerful crypto farms that consumed electricity bypassing meters, causing the state losses of almost UAH 9 million.
