@Alyx said:
I'm kinda curious what they actually did in order to become a target of Russian law enforcement
From what I know, there have been visits to their office by FSB in the past (not long ago), and it was caused by them ignoring Emails from FSB. They operated in Russia without compliance with Kremlin.
Russian newspaper Mash claims it was over their affiliation with Russian drug marketplace BlackSprut. https://t.me/mash/62931 (archive)
Yuri Bozoyan, general director of St. Petersburg's Aeza Group, and the 21-year-old founder of the company were arrested for running the famous BlackSprut drug store. For more than two years they provided the technical base for the store's operation.
According to Mash, the men became friends six years ago, when 16-year-old Arseny offered 27-year-old Yuri to invest in the topic of renting servers - they agreed on 400k rubles. This is how Aeza Group LLC came into being.
In 2023, the men went to BlackSprut: they began to ensure the work of the store selling drugs. Plus protect against DDoS attacks. All expenses for office rent, machinery and equipment were taken care of. The money was received through cryptocurrency wallets and divided amongst themselves.
The drug businessmen were caught in February 2025. After a pawnbroker sold 4.19 grams of mephedrone to undercover Moscow police officers. Two days ago, the offices of the Aeza Group were searched. Yuri and Arseny were prosecuted under Articles 210 (organized crime group) and 228.1 (drug trafficking) - they face up to 20 years. Together with them were arrested executors Penzev A. A., Gast V. V., Lavrukhin G. A. and two businessmen: T.V. Zubov and M.A. Orlov
From other interesting news, Aeza has been banned today from Lolz for apparently scamming $23.5k. Its surprising as it was their primary market and they have been a large donors to the forum.
Our team has always adhered to the principles of full openness and transparency. In light of the situation with the two managers of the company, we would like to inform you as follows:
Our team and the office of the Russian company continue to work as before, with no change in staff or work schedule, no impact on the work and quality of services provided, and no impact on the infrastructure of both companies.
In the near future, Aeza Group LLC will finalize the appointment of a new CEO, which will be the only significant change that will not affect the work or services of our Russian company in any way.
🖥 What will happen to Aeza?
The team and companies of the Aeza brand will continue to operate as before, maintaining their pace of development, and will not be affected in any way by this situation.
Comments
Everything today is politics.
Sad evolution indeed.
“Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg
I'm kinda curious what they actually did in order to become a target of Russian law enforcement
From what I know, there have been visits to their office by FSB in the past (not long ago), and it was caused by them ignoring Emails from FSB. They operated in Russia without compliance with Kremlin.
Second founder, Arseniy Penzyev has also been arrested.
And Gast Vladimir, a known cybercriminal connected to both of Aeza founders.
Gast, Arseniy and Alexander Chertkov (head of marketing) on the same photo.
bonus
Aeza "team" page is now returning 404, you can view it at archive.today.
This seems soo odd to me tho.
Following their podcast it looked like where fully aware of the fact that Russia has it's own set of rules.
Russian newspaper Mash claims it was over their affiliation with Russian drug marketplace BlackSprut.
https://t.me/mash/62931 (archive)
Ohh.. well.. that would explain it.
Guess we won't seem them for a while.
From other interesting news, Aeza has been banned today from Lolz for apparently scamming $23.5k. Its surprising as it was their primary market and they have been a large donors to the forum.
Complaint thread: https://lolz.live/threads/8534351/ (archive)
Some photos of the detained in court
And a statement from Aeza https://t.me/aezahost_ru/817
hmmm
I was idling a SWE VPS. Should I renew it?
I have seen no downtime myself, but a dozen of their subs just got pulled. Not sure what is it caused by.
I would say renew it, but maybe not for a year period, until things stabilize. I've been paying them quarterly.
This might be a great moment to backup, if one still has access to their service.
Please stop the planet! I wish to get off!
Thinking I need to go for larger providers. Kinda had it with suppliers bailing/going sketchy after a year or three
Weak aura, not a true lowender
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