Trial begins in Bamberg: mastermind of the million-dollar fraud in court!

Trial begins in Bamberg: mastermind of the million-dollar fraud in court!

On January 15, 2026, a trial began at the regional court in Bamberg that put the extent of an international fraud network in the spotlight. Mikheil B., a 50-year-old citizen with Israeli and Georgian roots, is accused of being the suspected mastermind of the so-called “Milton Group”. The public prosecutor's office accuses him of gang and commercial fraud, which is said to have harmed more than 1,000 people in German-speaking countries between 2014 and 2019. The investor capital of these injured parties has generally been completely lost.

The charges relate to massive deceptions. Call center employees promised high profits to victims via digital platforms. This involved the use of manipulated charts that gave investors a false sense of security. Mikheil B. is said to have played a key role within the strict hierarchy of the criminal network. Over 400 fraudulent platforms were operated, in which he had a significant share in the sales. According to the public prosecutor's office, the total damage amounts to a shocking 52 million euros in German-speaking countries alone, while the global damage is estimated at a whopping 178 million euros. The number of unreported cases of fraud could even be many times higher, as the investigators note. BR reports.

Investigations and backgrounds

The remarkable investigations, which are coordinated by the Bavarian Cybercrime Central Office and the Upper Franconia Criminal Police Inspectorate, have been running for six years. As part of this, a “Joint Investigation Team” (JIT) was even founded with the authorities in Albania and Georgia. Mikheil B. was arrested in Armenia in August 2023 and extradited to Germany in May 2024 - he has been in custody since then. He previously ran a call center in Albania for five years before moving to Georgia, where the fraudulent software was developed and sold Justice Bavaria reports.

A particularly sensational case from Austria makes the dimensions of the fraud clear: a victim lost over 11 million euros on the fake investment site “CryptoKartal”. In addition, the Milton Group was responsible for over 540 people in German-speaking countries being defrauded, which resulted in damage of around 44 million euros for this group of affected people. The advertising strategies were also not to be neglected; prominent people were used to lure unsuspecting investors into a trap Justice Bavaria reports.

The court and the punishments

There was high security on the first day of the trial. Mikheil B. denied all allegations and did not provide any information about his accomplices. The prosecution is demanding a prison sentence of up to ten years, while the defense is calling for less than eight years. The network's hierarchy was tightly organized, with different roles, including dealing assistants and compliance managers, all part of the perfidious plan. Several other people involved in the crime are currently in custody Tagesschau reports.

The scale of the fraud, together with the international cooperation in the investigation, shows that this case has far-reaching implications for the fight against online fraud. Nowhere does the distinction between perpetrators and victims seem clearer than in these shocking cases that will have a lasting impact on the digital space.