The founder of online currency exchange Cinkciarz.pl is now wanted in Poland for defrauding clients in what has been described as one of the biggest fintech scandals in Polish history.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the entrepreneur who is believed to be hiding abroad. After receiving thousands of complaints from users of his platform, officials estimated their losses at well over a hundred million złoty ($30 million).

Polish prosecutors issue arrest warrant for Cinkciarz CEO

Law enforcement authorities in Poland are searching for the founder and chief executive of the online currency exchange service Cinkciarz.pl. Identified as Marcin P., the man who chairs the fintech firm’s board of directors, is currently outside the country.

The Prosecutor’s Office in Poznań announced this week it has issued an arrest warrant for the businessman shortly after a district court in the city ordered him held in pre-trial detention for 30 days, according to Polish media.

The decision comes after charges were brought against Marcin in March, including fraud, the PAP news agency noted. Current estimates suggest that Cinkciarz customers have lost more than 112 million Polish złoty ($30 million), allegedly funneled into other ventures.

Prosecutors have been working to decipher the suspected fraud scheme since October 2024, after police investigators, partnered with cybercrime experts, raided the company’s headquarters in Zielona Góra.

The operation followed more than 7,000 reports from clients who lost access to their deposits on the exchange. In December, authorities blocked 328 bank accounts associated with the trading platform.

Marcin P. founded Cinkciarz (“money changer”) in 2006, at a time when exchange offices were becoming popular during a foreign currency lending boom in Poland. The company later expanded to witness annual revenue of 35 billion złoty, as noted by Fakt.pl in an article highlighting “one of the biggest scandals in Polish fintech.”

While the platform did not engage with cryptocurrencies, the crypto news outlet Bitcoin.pl stated that its story serves as “another reminder that in the world of finance (both traditional and digital), trust takes years to build and can be lost in seconds,” urging:

> “Maybe it’s time to finally take the ‘don’t trust, verify’ idea seriously, not just in the context of the cryptocurrency world, but across all financial services?”

“112 million and thousands of hurt customers are the price paid for overly easy trust and a lack of proper oversight,” commented the portal, which has recently published critical posts about Poland’s upcoming crypto regulations.

Fugitive fintech exec yet to be found and arrested

The Polish court has accepted the prosecutors’ conclusion that the gathered evidence is sufficient for a conviction. It also acknowledged the potential for a harsh penalty, with the crimes he is accused of potentially leading to a 25-year prison sentence.

However, Marcin P. has not yet been captured and questioned, as he is currently outside Poland, and the court recognizes a significant risk of him evading justice.

Reports suggest that the CEO has traveled to the United States. This has been corroborated by Cinkciarz customers who analyzed pictures posted by him and his wife on social media about six months ago.

Previously, the Polish entrepreneur referred to the developments surrounding his company as a “media spectacle.” He commented on a LinkedIn post in June, dismissively labeling Cinkciarz a pyramid scheme, asserting:

> “I’ve already beaten the giant Mastercard 12 times, so I can easily deal with the pathology of the Polish system … And I advise everyone else to refrain from making hasty judgments.”

Poland likely to seek red notice from Interpol for Marcin

Adam Szewc, a lawyer from the Chmielniak Adwokaci law firm, told Bankier he anticipates Polish officials to request Interpol to issue a “red notice” alert for Marcin’s arrest, which would enable U.S. counterparts to detain him pending an extradition request.

In March, Polish police arrested Robert G., a member of Cinkciarz’s management board, charging him with complicity in fraud. Subsequently, in May, the company’s chief accountant, Monika J., was also detained.

Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) has revoked the payment services license of Conotoxia, an entity connected to Cinkciarz, whose bank accounts have also been blocked.