Reports from a Ukrainian news site strana.ua suggest that Pavel Lerner, who is the director of EXMO cryptocurrency exchange EXMO has been abducted by a person or persons unknown while in Kiev. Lerner was kidnapped on 26th December as he was leaving his city centre office and bungled into the back of a Mercedes-Benz.

Local authorities are currently carrying out an investigation to establish who kidnapped Lerner and what their motive may be. Pavel Lerner is a Russian national who is a resident of Poland but who is involved in several cryptocurrency startups in Ukraine. Lerner’s social media profiles say that he is originally from the Russian city of Kursk. EXMO is based in the UK.

Since the kidnapping, EXMO has released a ">statement to ForkLog suggesting that the incident will not negatively impact or compromise the functioning of the company, the safety of users’ information or their funds as Lerner does not have access to sensitive information. At the time of writing, the EXMO continues to operate as usual.

In early December, ForkLog reported that their offices and a CEO’s home in the city of Odessa, Ukraine have been raided by the Ukrainian security services. During the raid, electronic equipment was seized by the government.