Western Pennsylvania

---

A court in Pennsylvania This Week , took the proceedings against a 29-year-old Russian rapper, known as Plinofficial, accused of cyber crime. He once dreamed of becoming the biggest rap artist on The Planet . Where it went wrong?

"Married" cash "high as a Kite " - this is how Maksim Boiko, rapper, formulated originally From Siberia , his credo in 2015. His track is The Money , the fly came in A Collection called Killa Verse.

Plinofficial was never a well-known name. MTV-Russia -fans selected him 74th best Russian rapper and he is rarely shown in public.

But the redhead from The North -Russia wanted to stand out among his fellow rappers. Although he could not come from another world, Boiko identify with black hip-hop culture in the United States and tried to get him to style and writing on Social Media to emulate in his own life that he lived and knocked at the door as an African-American man.

Boiko learned about the life of American Rapper, during A Trip in the USA. He took to photographing their habit, even with a stack of cash next to his Ear to resemble the famous "money phone" meme, the "brick" - mobile of the 1980s.

Boiko posted a photo of the fat bricks of cash held together with elastic bands, on Instagram. Flooded with red bills presented, Chairman Mao, and he left them in the pyramids. Greenbacks with the US President looked good against the backdrop of the Luxury Handbags . Red and brown tones were just for "phone" in Russia .

Boiko drove a white Mercedes, wearing an expensive Hublot wrist watch, and Drank Moët champagne. He knocked, "I've seen play crazy games with cash/they will blow off The Roof with such a hiding place", and "We young people are the large transports/we make our 'Louis' bags to explode. ""Of course I'm sick, and addicted to money/ da 16, I am independent from my dad and my mom. "

"I live in Russia , I am having a great time, I am confident, calm, I Sleep Well and don't worry," The Rapper said on themost Russia Youtube channel in the year 2017. "It doesn't matter how much you earn; it is important to have a good sleep in the Night . "

Two and a half years later, still calm and confident, Boiko and his pregnant wife flew to the United States. He's expecting to be a father, and an album to publish it. In February 2020, the pair was the baby-girl is born.

a few weeks later, on 28 March, only a few days before his album launch, Boiko fell into The Hands of The Fbi , had the study of his work and Instagram photos.

At The Source of The Russian trap

Born in an oil-drilling city of Muravlenko, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous district in the far North of Siberia, near the Arctic Circle , Boiko has not been able to always afford his extravagant Lifestyle .

for a Russian music website, Boiko spoke about his parents as a normal working class people. The Bbc has learned that Boiko father was an electrician for a production manager at a subsidiary of Gazprom in The North of Russia .

Before he left the school, Boiko, which is a independent hip-hop label and his breakdancing friends began performing at festivals in Muravlenko and the neighboring town of Noyabrsk. The tickets costs 30 rubles ($0. 40), and sometimes the concerts were canceled because the weather is bad. The average temperature in winter in this part of Russia is -13F (-25C) Below Zero .

"The beer barrel would be cold, while she carried him into The Apartment entrance lock, where would Russia be hanging said out in the hallway with the boys," Boiko Themost.

at the age of 17, Boiko moved to Chelyabinsk, a much larger city in West Siberia, to study journalism. During his second year at the University, he wrote on VKontakte: "the study is light and non-study - loads of leisure time, alcohol, and Chicks. "

Boiko spent the summer of 2010 in New York on a tourist visa. After he found all his money in a week, a job as a porter, initially for US$ 12, then $17 per hour.

When he got home, he gave his course, and moved to St. Petersburg, Russia 's second-largest city, which he had visited several times, and now began to call home.

He joined the Swagga music-collective, and The Local Trap-scene. Trap is a genre of hip-hop began in the USA in the 1990s, but acquired a newer Sound with a deep echo and multi-layered synth in The First half of the 2010s.

Swagga music was one of The First to run the Trap in Russia - Long before it became popular. Boiko called Lev Twice (Levon Papyan) who founded The Group , the "Driving Force behind the movement".

But died in the summer of 2012 Papyan. The City 's rap scene was dead for several months. Many think that it is still not recovered from The Loss .

in the autumn, Boiko headed to Paris with a friend and After that his life completely changed.

A supplier of the Chinese Wall -plug

"Two strapping boys (21 & 22 years old) looking for work in the European Union . Currently, We Are in France, but We Are ready to go wherever there is a reasonable offer. No Bad Habits . We Are open to offers for any type of employment," on job-search websites.

A few months later, Boiko showed up in Guangzhou , China , light industry and Financial Services centre. It compositions with the Renminbi -the Chinese was here he began the publication of his still - life-the currency on Instagram.

"a Lot of people ask me what I'm doing in China and where all The Money came from," Boiko wrote on VKontakte. He said he had. a trading rep for Bizazia, a company that provided for a Commission of 10% on Chinese goods to Russia Boiko assured that his readers were these commissions, The Source of his unlimited and legal "Hustle " - Slang for a profit.

The Company was founded by a Russian Couple , Igor Tolokonnikov and Kristina Glukhovskaya - who had Boiko, met in Guangzhou . The Rapper asked their permission to use their company legal status of the negotiations. She's not against it, though officially it had no formal relationship with Boiko.

Guangzhou is the political, economic, and transport center of South China ,

"He worked with his own clients, but of our society," Igor explains. "He was good at buying and selling," says Kristina. "For example, someone in Russia , the dowels wanted. He would the Chinese factory, the production of them, agreed a price and sent The Order . "

The Couple had difficulties in answering just how profitable this business was for Boiko.

"He has not much to do, to work [the delivery], it was pretty minimal," recalls Igor . "But he sharpened his business acumen in China . "

Nevertheless , it was in China that Boiko started his Wealth to flaunt, After he had already "messed In Paris , messed up in New York , messed up in Russia , messed up in Siberia" (this is the lines of his track, From the Very Bottom).

That was, as he could afford, a nice gesture, called Boiko, his "first male act". He asked his father to make the stay in St. Petersburg a well-known and you will receive a package from him. In The Package was 1. 5m rubles (£30,000, $48,400 at The Time ). His parents were amazed.

"I just had some work moves, nothing criminal," Boiko themost Russia said. "I told my parents, they keep The Cash and clear their debts. "

Two years later, Boiko went Back To St. Petersburg and stopped trying to find customers for Chinese goods. But The Hustle and bustle more.

Bitcoins, and a solo album

On the 25. July 2017 Plinofficial announced the release of his debut album, Goldy. Until then, Boiko collections with other artists had recorded.

The Rapper made a Music Video with a Night race around St. Petersburg. In it, a hacker, a BMW from a garage steals by a few commands in his laptop.

According to The Fbi , shortly After his return to St. Petersburg Boiko computer and banking-increased fraud. They believe that The Rapper , who complained that on Social Media , to forget in which he always made up his accounts on other computers, was, in a significant Internet scammers.

A chain of events that lead up to. The July day, when Boiko announced his Long -awaited solo album, in Greece, The Police . American law enforcement authorities of him as one of the founders and the administrators of the crypto-currency exchange BTC-e. Vinnik, the "brain look" behind The Illegal operations of a gang, who is believed to have laundered some $4bn (£3bn) over several years.

on the same day, The Fbi and the Server with the information about BTC-e customers of a data Center in New Jersey to be removed. The Exchange went offline, and soon re-opened under a new name - Wex.

in addition to the United States, Russia and France, demanding Vinnik was the delivery. The Greeks handed him over to the French authorities. Vinnik claimed he was only a consultant, BTC-e, Nothing More .

russia, cyber-crime, long reads, united states, miami, hip-hop

Source of news: bbc.com