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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
The president of the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl), Radosław Piesiewicz, has been detained as part of a criminal investigation into Zondacrypto, a cryptocurrency firm that collapsed earlier this year and was a major sponsor of Poland’s Olympic team.
The development comes a day after Waldemar Żurek, Poland’s justice minister and prosecutor general, revealed that prosecutors are investigating possible crimes relating to Zondacrypto’s financing of various individuals and organisations, including PKOl, Piesiewicz, and figures from Poland’s right-wing opposition.
Dziś w ramach śledztwa w sprawie ZondaCrypto zatrzymany został Radosław P.
Prokuratura będzie przekazywała dalsze informacje po zakończeniu czynności z jego udziałem, prowadzonych w Śląskim Wydziale PZ PK.
— Waldemar Żurek (@w_zurek) August 27, 2026
On Thursday afternoon, Żurek announced that Piesiewicz had been detained and would be charged. He said he was unable to reveal what the charges would be, but confirmed that prosecutors are investigating a €40,000 watch reportedly given to Piesiewicz by the former head of Zondacrypto, Przemysław Kral.
Under Piesiewicz’s leadership, PKOl signed an agreement in 2025 with Zondacrypto that made the crypto firm the main sponsor of the Polish team at this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
However, in April, Zondacrypto began to come under scrutiny after customers began reporting being unable to access their funds. The firm subsequently collapsed and Kral went into hiding abroad. Prosecutors estimate losses to its clients of at least 350 million zloty (€81.4 million).
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At a press conference today, Żurek confirmed that Piesiewicz had been detained in connection with the investigation into Zondacrypto, which concerns suspected large-scale fraud and other criminal activity.
The development comes days after two leading media outlets, Wirtualna Polska and TVN, published a joint investigation in which they alleged that Piesiewicz received a watch worth €40,000 and other gifts from Kral.
The gifts were allegedly given in exchange for Piesiewicz intervening on behalf of Zondacrypto with Poland’s consumer protection authority, UOKiK. Piesiewicz denies the allegations and says he bought the watch with his own money, with Kral simply helping facilitate the purchase.
🔴Szef Zondacrypto, prezes PKOl i złoty zegarek za 40 tysięcy euro
Prezes Polskiego Komitetu Olimpijskiego Radosław Piesiewicz dostał od szefa Zondacrypto Przemysława Krala zegarek Patek Philippe wart 40 tysięcy euro oraz inne prezenty – wynika z ustaleń wspólnego śledztwa…
— Wirtualna Polska (@wirtualnapolska) August 24, 2026
Piesiewicz, who became head of PKOl in 2023 under Poland’s former national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, has long been a controversial figure.
In 2024, after PiS had lost power, he publicly clashed with Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s new government following Poland’s poor performance at the Paris Olympics, where the Polish team finished with its lowest medal haul since 1956.
This year, as Zondocrypto fell into crisis, it emerged that the company had failed to provide promised bonuses to Polish athletes following the Winter Olympics.
In May, 82 of the 106 members of the Polish Olympic Committee supported a motion calling for an extraordinary meeting at which the sole item on the agenda was the dismissal of Piesiewicz from his position. He has so far refused to convene the meeting.
Poland has finished @Paris2024 with just one gold and 10 medals in total – its worst result since 1956.
The prime minister has suggested there are failings in how Polish sport is managed. But the head of the Olympic committee has blamed the government https://t.co/iS9OqF1RuB
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 11, 2024
On Wednesday, Piesiewicz and PKOl were among a list of individuals and organisations Żurek announced were being investigated by prosecutors over potential crimes relating to financing they had received from Zondacrypo. Most of them are linked to Poland’s right-wing opposition.
They included the foundations of Zbigniew Ziobro , a deputy leader of PiS, and Przemysław Wipler, a former PiS politician now associated with the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja); conservative broadcaster Republika and its head, Tomasz Sakiewicz; and the Polish version of the American CPAC conference .
Earlier this year, Tusk claimed that Zondacrypto’s financial success was “rooted not only in Russian money linked to…one of Russia’s most powerful mafia groups, but also to the Russian security services”.
His ruling coalition has three times passed a bill to introduce tougher regulation of the crypto market. However, each time, it has been vetoed by opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki , who argues that the measures are too restrictive.
Prosecutors are investigating possible criminal offences relating to financing by Zondacrypto, a collapsed crypto firm, of organisations and individuals linked to the right-wing opposition, including the Polish version of US conservative conference CPAC https://t.co/swceV864nA
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 26, 2026
On Wednesday, Tusk wrote on social media that “we now know why Nawrocki and PiS have blocked the cryptocurrency bill like maniacs”.
“Cash for watches worth €40,000 euros, [financing] for media, election parties, foundations of right-wing politicians,” he continued. “And the ‘Zonda’ show is just getting started.”
PiS figures have, however, denied any wrongdoing in relation to Zondacrypto. “I’m outraged by the suggestion that PiS was involved in anything illegal,” one of the party’s MPs, Piotr Kaleta, told news website Interia.
He noted that no evidence had been presented and no indictments made against PiS politicians. “Instead, we have ministers threatening to hold others accountable, and nothing has happened. This is simply meant to cover up the incompetence of the current government.”
Teraz już wiemy, dlaczego z uporem maniaka @NawrockiKn i PiS blokowali ustawę o kryptowalutach. Kasa na zegarki za 40 tysięcy euro, na media, wyborcze imprezy, fundacje prawicowych polityków. A przecież serial „Zonda” dopiero się rozkręca…
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) August 26, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Kuba Atys / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
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