Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl) president Radosław Piesiewicz was detained on August 27 as part of the ongoing investigation into the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto, Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said.
The detention is the most visible development since prosecutors announced a “significant breakthrough” two days earlier, citing new evidence
Investigators are examining whether Piesiewicz received a material benefit from Zondacrypto chief Przemysław Kral.
Kral bought a €40,000 Patek Philippe watch later received by Piesiewicz, while their messages discussed Piesiewicz’s possible help with the exchange’s problems at Poland’s competition authority, TVN24 and Wirtualna Polska reported. Piesiewicz said he paid Kral cash for the watch.
Kral appears to have reached a cooperation arrangement with prosecutors and is seeking a reduced sentence in return for evidence, Onet reported. Prosecutors have not confirmed Kral’s status.
Kral is now represented by Roman Giertych, a lawyer and a prominent MP for the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) party, and also a fierce opponent of the radical right Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled Poland between 2015 and 2023.
Polish media have speculated that the inquiry will now center on Zondacrypto's financing of entities linked to PiS, such as a foundation close to the fugitive former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro (whose extraditon from the US Poland is seeking), the pro-PiS broadcaster TV Republika, and the CPAC conservative conference held in Poland last year that was effectively a campaign event for then-candidate Karol Nawrocki.
Nawrocki went on to win the presidency in June 2025 and has since vetoed the government-proposed bill to regulate the cryptoassets market three times, prompting Prime Minister Donald Tusk to hint that the president was too close to Zondacrypto.
The political strand of the Zondacrypto probe exists alongside the broader case, centred around the exchange's clients losing an estimated PLN2.4bn (€557mn).
The Polish government has also hinted that Russian organised-crime and intelligence money financed BitBay, Zondacrypto’s predecessor, but the supporting evidence remains undisclosed.
The fraud investigation has been merged with a probe into the 2022 disappearance of BitBay founder Sylwester Suszek, who is feared dead by his family.
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