Warsaw — Polish police on Thursday arrested Radosław Piesiewicz, the president of the Polish Olympic Committee, on suspicion of accepting bribes from a cryptocurrency trader in exchange for sponsorship agreements, according to officials.
Piesiewicz, a figure closely aligned with Poland's nationalist right, is suspected of receiving kickbacks from Zondacrypto, a crypto exchange that the government accuses of having links to nationalist opposition groups, organised crime, and Russian intelligence services.
Sports Minister Jakub Rudnicki confirmed the arrest on X, writing: "Radosław Piesiewicz has been arrested. Such a person should never have been president of the Polish Olympic Committee... Piesiewicz has discredited Polish Olympics."
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński went further, describing Piesiewicz as a "symbol of the extreme corruption plaguing the Olympic movement." He noted that Piesiewicz's election as committee head had been backed by the previous government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Sponsorship deal with Zondacrypto
The investigation, launched in April, prompted most of Poland's sports federations to call for Piesiewicz's resignation. At the centre of the case is a sponsorship agreement signed with Zondacrypto, which has since ceased trading. Under the deal, Polish medallists at the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina in February were promised prizes in cryptocurrency, but the payment of these bonuses was erratic at best.
The government estimates that Zondacrypto's collapse caused losses of 350 million zlotys (€80 million), affecting around 30,000 people. Kierwiński called the company "in reality a Ponzi scheme."
Media reports allege that Piesiewicz received a watch worth approximately €40,000 from Zondacrypto's chief, Przemysław Kral. Piesiewicz has insisted he paid for the watch himself. Kral is now reportedly cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence at trial.
Piesiewicz is one of several figures named in the Zondacrypto investigation. Former justice minister and attorney general Zbigniew Ziobro has fled to the United States, while his former deputy Marcin Romanowski is said to be in a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova. Prosecutors are also examining Zondacrypto's ties to the pro-nationalist Republika broadcaster.
President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist elected in 2025, has three times blocked draft legislation aimed at regulating Poland's crypto market. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political opponent of Nawrocki, told parliament that Zondacrypto's founder had "disappeared" and was "very probably" dead, adding that the scandal involved "Russian mafia" money.
Zondacrypto was founded in 2014 by Sylwester Suszek, who vanished in 2022. Kral then took over as head of the company.
The arrest has cast a shadow over Polish sports administration, raising questions about governance and oversight within the Olympic committee. As the investigation unfolds, many in Poland are watching to see whether further arrests follow and whether the government will push through stricter crypto regulations despite presidential opposition.
