"Status as of 08/11/2024. Possible changes or updates can be found in the original article here."

Greed, contract killings and the Russian secret service: Behind the scenes of the biggest cannabis scam of all time

Hundreds of thousands of investors fell for Juicy Fields' promise: anyone can get rich from medical cannabis. Now, CORRECTIV, together with seven media partners in four countries, has traced the networks of those responsible. The investigation reveals how a group of alleged serial fraudsters from Russia embarked on a campaign of plunder in Europe.

He is said to have pocketed millions. From people who believed his promises.

He is now in a prison in Spain and sends an email full of sarcasm, winking emoticons and cold threats.

Sergei Berezin is considered the mastermind behind the biggest cannabis fraud of all time. Hundreds of thousands of people invested money in Juicy Fields and lost it. But Berezin blames others: "I myself have accusations against numerous people involved in the project," he writes, "and I know that punishment for their betrayal is inevitable.

In Berlin-Moabit, chief prosecutor Ina Kinder sits in her office, surrounded on three sides by shelves full of floor-to-ceiling red folders, each containing a report on the Juicy Fields case. "We know who is behind it, and that the top level is probably linked to the Russian mafia," she says. "But in Russia we can't go any further."

Nearby, a man who calls himself Neo walks through the lobby of a four-star hotel. He is there to deliver a message: don't believe stories about criminal Russians. "When you say: Russian mafia, it's serious. It's not to be taken lightly," he says, then shouts into the silence of the room: "There is no mafia".

Juicy Fields was the name of the online platform that promised the following: anyone can get rich with medical cannabis. It's very easy, just a few clicks, then the plants grow without risk, and after about three months you can start harvesting.

Now, the name Juicy Fields represents a fraud case of enormous proportions. It connects 186,000 defrauded investors to a small group of alleged serial fraudsters in Russia.

The prisoner in the Spanish jail, the prosecutor and the man with the false name "Neo".

Berlin and St Petersburg.

Organised crime and crowdfunding.

For the Berlin Criminal Investigation Office, Juicy Fields is the biggest case they have ever investigated. It has made international headlines; in Germany, Finanztest magazine was the first to report on it. There is a Deutsche Welle podcast and a ZDF documentary.

A thriller with Russian counts and gangsters.

Now, CORRECTIV, in cooperation with DR (Danish Broadcasting), Spiegel, Paper Trail Media, ZDF, Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA, Der Standard in Austria and Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden, has been investigating for about a year. The team of reporters spoke to witnesses, defectors, former managers, investigators and experts, analysed company networks, payment flows and evaluated secret documents.

The investigations offer a new perspective behind the scenes of organised crime made in Russia: they show how a gang of international gangsters established a base in Berlin to set up a sophisticated machinery of deception, and after its collapse, continued to try to deceive victims.

It's a case like a thriller, a whodunit with contract killings, fake counts, golden Lamborghinis, Liechtenstein funds, parcel bombs and connections to the Russian underworld.

Russian cybercrime: attacks on Europe

The area of cybercrime has been growing rapidly for years. In April, an international team of researchers published the first "Global Cybercrime Index". The result is very worrying. Most of the threat comes from a small number of countries, with Russia at the top of the list. Researchers and experts see the cyberfraud also as an attack by the Kremlin on democratic states in Europe. "One tactic of Russia's war-making is the use of organised crime as a tool of state policy abroad," writes senior Russia expert Mark Galeotti in a report.

For those who fell into the system, Juicy Fields represents above all a personal blow. Some have lost their savings. Lives have been ruined, plans have been destroyed.

"For me, this means disappointment with myself. That I let myself be fooled by them," says a 45-year-old social worker from Lübeck. The man is chronically ill and does not have much savings, 7,500 euros. So he asked a friend for advice: "Do you have any ideas on how to improve the pension? The friend recommended Juicy Fields, now the money is gone: "I fell into a real depression", says the social worker, "and it still affects me to this day".

A pyramid scheme with hundreds of thousands of victims

The Juicy Fields system featured a fantasy with cannabis farms around the world and staggering returns: investors could put their money into a virtual greenhouse to invest in medical cannabis. For every digital plant, a real plant was supposed to grow, and when it was harvested and sold, investors made huge profits.

But apparently there was no product, hardly any cannabis, and the plantations were just for show. Police speak of a pyramid scheme: apparently, earlier investors were paid with money from later investors. This worked for a while. But in July 2022, users could no longer access their accounts. By then, the operators had already absconded with the money.

However, new promises soon began to circulate on the internet and on Telegram. The story is not over yet.

Chapter 1: Berlin: A corporate front, a fake director and a contract killing

The beginning of the end is on a Berlin road in the Schöneberg district, at 147 Potsdamer Straße. Traffic roars past dirty facades, surrounded by cheap beauty studios, kiosks and betting shops. This is where Juicy Grow GmbH was based. On 6 November 2019 the company is registered with Victor Bitner as managing director, a German of Russian origin, born in 1969 in Nowodolinka, Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union.

Not much is known about him: according to the British business register, he founded a portable sausage grill company which apparently only accumulated debts and was liquidated. Currently, the prosecution is investigating two men, and Bitner is one of them. The second carries a noble title, lives in a protected villa in Berlin-Grunewald and had several capital and investment firms at an elegant address on Kurfürstendamm.

The Juicy Grow GmbH arranged a shop in Potsdamer Straße with an awning and a cannabis logo. Today, there is a hairdressing salon in its place. The Juicy Fields case shows how the scammers initially connected with structures in the Russian community. The premises was previously a slot machine café owned by a man named Wladimir M. Rent was usually paid in cash until Juicy Grow came along. In February 2022, the premises were vacated. By then, Juicy Fields had already left Berlin.

Looking for fools and figureheads

The company appears to have been only a front, and Bitner probably acted only as a figurehead. He did not respond to requests from CORRECTIV and its media partners. An anonymous witness stated: "Even then I felt they were looking for fools, people who would lend their name".

Experts believe that it is virtually impossible for a fraud of this magnitude to be organised in Russia without the knowledge or support of the intelligence services. Although there is no direct evidence of cooperation, there are several links.

Shady connections with Russian intelligence services

Bitner reportedly had contacts with Russian intelligence services. In 2018, the New York Times reported on a failed Russian secret service operation in Berlin, where an anonymous Russian offered the US compromising material on Trump. According to CORRECTIV, this was Bitner, who later appeared as the director of Juicy Grow. In March 2020, the Juicy Fields website went live, taking advantage of the debate on cannabis legalisation in Germany.

The man for the dirty jobs

In spring 2021, Igor Kekshin, Juicyfields' head of security, travelled to Berlin to solve problems. Russian bosses suspected that Bitner had stolen 1.5 million euros and disappeared. Kekshin claims his mission was to find and control him. He earned 50,000 euros a month and expected a bonus at the end of the project. However, according to him, he received orders to assassinate Bitner, an order he refused to carry out.

Kekshin explained that he had commitments to his contacts in the Russian mafia not to hurt Bitner and could not betray that promise.

Chapter 2: The Russian connection

Kekshin, a former policeman in St. Petersburg specialising in economic crime, turned criminal and was imprisoned for kidnapping, extortion and deprivation of liberty. After his release, he was hired by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organisation. Kekshin said he knew from the beginning that Juicy Fields was a fraudulent scheme designed to steal money from investors.

Markevich, another implicated person, owned several companies in Russia, including a drone factory with the emblem of the Russian Ministry of Defence. Experts point out that such criminal operations in Russia require political protection, known as a 'kryscha' (roof).

Cybercrime as hybrid warfare

Experts such as CEPA's Olga Lautman argue that large-scale fraud like Juicy Fields could hardly happen without state approval in Russia. It is seen as part of a hybrid warfare strategy to cause chaos and distrust in Western systems.

Chapter 3: Finance men and nobles: The managers behind the scenes

In 2021, Juicy Fields began to showcase itself on social media, with images of golden Lamborghinis and big events. Investors shared screenshots of their supposed profits. In autumn 2021, Juicy Grow GmbH bought 20% from a Swiss company later renamed Juicyfields AG. The company surrounded itself with people with noble titles.

Friedrich Ulrich Graf von Luxburg, one of those allegedly involved, denied his involvement with Juicy Fields, claiming that he only sold a company. However, witnesses claim that he presented himself as the platform's lead lawyer. Documents reveal that the fraud was organised through complex structures in several countries.

The collapse of Juicy Fields

In July 2022, investors were unable to access their accounts, and documents leaked on Telegram revealed connections to the Russian mafia. Stieger, a Swiss financier, admitted that he himself leaked the documents to expose the truth.

Chapter 4: Money laundering networks

Following the collapse of Juicy Fields, the investigation revealed an international network of more than 50 companies in 20 countries involved in money laundering. The iSX-Bank in Cyprus was one of the entities used to transfer funds across jurisdictions. When the accounts were frozen, only a few million euros remained.

The Garantex crypto-brokerage in Moscow was identified as a key destination for the funds, linked to terrorist activities and the Russian government.

Chapter 5: The hunt for masterminds

After the collapse of Juicy Fields, the leaders disappeared. Berezin was in the Caribbean, while others were in Russia and Europe. Prosecutor Ina Kinder handled thousands of complaints, dealing with a complex system of organised crime.

In 2024, a joint operation involving 400 agents in 11 countries succeeded in arresting 13 suspects, including Berezin and Victor Bitner. In Berlin, Friedrich von Luxburg was arrested at his villa, although Markevich managed to escape.

The investigation continues

Prosecutors face difficulties due to Russia's lack of cooperation, which makes it difficult to trace the money and arrest the criminals involved.

Chapter 6: Replications and the great farce continues

In the midst of the investigations, the scammers launched new promises to investors to return the lost money. Using websites and Telegram channels, they tried to distract and misinform the public.

A key witness, Igor Kekshin, withdrew his statements in a masked video, claiming to have been forced to lie. However, he later claimed that his original statements were true and that Berezin had offered him a job again.

The criminals behind Juicy Fields appear to remain active, employing disinformation tactics and threats. Prosecutors, led by Ina Kinder, continue to prepare indictments against the key players, although they still face a complex international money laundering network.

CORRECTIV

This is an investigation by the non-profit research centre CORRECTIV, which is funded by donations from citizens and foundations. The editorial team is dedicated to investigative journalism and examines structural problems in society. More information at correctiv.org.