Russian business tycoon Vyacheslav Taran, the creator of Forex Club and president of Libertex Group, was killed in a helicopter crash in France on November 25. He was en route from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Monaco. He was 53. The helicopter’s pilot was the only other person on board, and he perished as well.
Taran’s death has been confirmed by Libertex, who said:
We regret to inform you that on November 25, 2022, Vyacheslav Taran, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Libertex Group, died in a helicopter crash while travelling to Monaco.
Taran, an academically-trained radio engineer, established the Russian online Forex trading platform Forex Club in 1997. Before the Russian Central Bank shut it and many other exchanges down in December 2018 for irregularities in their registrations, Forex Club had become one of the three major exchanges in the country. More than a hundred additional nations now have access to the services offered by Forex Club Group.
In 2012, the Libertex trading platform was launched in Cyprus as a subsidiary of the Forex Club Group. It sponsors the Bayern Munich football team and provides a variety of financial services, including trading cryptocurrencies and “in-app crypto mining software.” YouHodler, the Wirex mobile app and card, and a number of other purportedly legitimate Russian investment and real estate enterprises have all been linked to one Taran, at least according to Russian media.
Taran has established the nonprofit Change One Life to aid orphans in Russia and connect them with adoptive homes.
Taran’s death is the third that of a prominent crypto executive in the past few weeks. Tiantian Kullander (TT), the co-founder of the Amber Group, passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 23. He was 30 years old. On October 28, Nikolai Mushegian, co-founder of MakerDAO, drowned in Puerto Rico. Taran’s death is also the most recent in a trend of untimely passings among Russian businessmen.
Press reports on Taran’s death have sparked significant conjecture. Taran’s death was the result of an accident involving a helicopter; the pilot was a seasoned professional, and the weather was ideal. France Bleu reports that a second passenger was supposed to fly but dropped out at the last minute.
According to press accounts, Taran was a staff specialist of Russian foreign intelligence and was responsible for laundering Russian Federation cash through a system of cryptocurrency operations, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency Unian. However, Unian did not provide access to those videos. His fortune was estimated to be $20.2 billion.
Olga and Taran’s three children (two biological and one adopted) will miss him dearly.
