At least 22,000 Ukrainians fell victim to the Vinex Trade financial pyramid scheme. Its organizers defrauded people of over 26 million hryvnias under the guise of investments. With this money, the head of Vinex Trade – 28-year-old Vitaliy Nemerenko from Odesa region – bought himself cars and land plots.

Vinex Trade appeared completely legitimate: it was officially registered as an LLC and had 93 different types of economic activity codes – from IT to fish farming and beauty salons. The pyramid scheme organizers conducted trainings and convinced investors of the "crazy profits" that could supposedly be obtained by making a contribution of 10 USDT (USDT is a cryptocurrency, or more precisely a stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio).

In February 2025, police arrested the organizer of the scheme, and recently the prosecutor's office transferred the case to court. But the main question remains for the victims: will they get their lost money back? How this company worked, why thousands of people trusted it, and how to protect yourself from similar schemes – we investigated LIGA.net. We spoke with the victims, prosecutors, and lawyers.

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financial pyramidVinex Trade