Fedyakina's lawyers insisted that she "supported Russia's attack on Ukraine", despite the accusations against her.

Valeria Fedyakina is accused of making her millions in a few months through a pyramid scheme by four wealthy people, before she was caught and imprisoned.

The "crypto-currency expert" was reportedly pregnant but has been sent to penal colonies in Siberia after being accused of defrauding the Ukrainian military of around $20 million.

Police said they had been investigating Fedyakina for a year - after the Kremlin accused him of a pyramid scheme in which he embezzled millions.

The woman has been in custody since last year when one of her victims said she lost about $60 million from Fedyakina's fraud.

But investigators later said they could only confirm about $17 million was stolen from her by fraud.

All the money had come from four of her clients in a two-month period at the end of 2023.

Fedyakina – known online by the nickname 'Bitmama' – portrayed herself as a cryptocurrency expert, attracting wealthy individuals to supplement their earnings with cryptocurrency investments.

Her fake profile on social networks says that she "runs the company's global offices" in Moscow, Dubai, Monaco, Serbia, and Turkey.

After gaining the trust of individuals, Fedyakina asked investors to send money to her "to avoid banking restrictions" and then to receive a percentage of their profit.

Prosecutors said that the money disappeared shortly after the communication with the "cryptocurrency queen" ended.

Following the investigation of Fedyakina, officials saw that the money went beyond the armed forces of Ukraine, writes the British network The Sun.

Fedyakina was tracked down and arrested last year as she tried to leave Russia for the United Arab Emirates while six months pregnant.

Her lawyers deny the charges and say that Fedyakina "supported the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine", reports Tch.

She now faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty in the pending trial.