LONDON – A London court has handed down guilty convictions to two foreign nationals in connection with a coordinated arson conspiracy targeting properties linked to United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a plot organized by an unidentified Russian-speaking figure who remains untraced and uncharged, authorities confirmed Monday.
The series of deliberate fires were carried out in May 2025, targeting three sites connected to Starmer: the residential home he vacated after taking office as prime minister, a co-owned apartment building, and his former Toyota sport utility vehicle, which was completely destroyed in the blaze. Remarkably, no people were injured in the overnight attacks, though multiple residents experienced life-threatening fear and property damage. Starmer’s sister-in-law, who was residing in his former home at the time of the attack, recalled waking to a loud explosion and thick smoke that choked the stairwell, leaving her 9-year-old daughter panicked. Another occupant of the targeted apartment building was forced to flee to the building’s roof to escape toxic smoke that filled all interior hallways.
According to trial evidence, the conspiracy was masterminded by an individual operating under the alias “El Money,” who recruited participants via the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. The ringleader offered 22-year-old Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych payment in cryptocurrency to carry out the arson attacks and capture video footage of the damage to be posted online, ensuring the attack received widespread public attention. El Money’s true identity has never been uncovered, and he has not been named in any charges connected to the plot.
Commander Helen Flanagan, lead of the Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism unit, told reporters that investigators have not uncovered concrete evidence linking the plot to a hostile state actor, as authorities have not been able to establish El Money’s underlying motive or confirm who he may be working for. Even so, Flanagan noted that the clear intent of the attack was transparent: “Clearly the tasking was to intimidate and create fear for the prime minister and to attack the U.K.”
Alongside Lavrynovych, 27-year-old Romanian citizen Stanislav Carpiuc was also found guilty of conspiracy to damage property by fire at London’s Central Criminal Court. Carpiuc served as a middleman coordinating between El Money and the arsonist, while 35-year-old Ukrainian national Petro Pochynok, who was accused of being recruited to film the attacks for payment, was acquitted of all charges by the jury.
Lavrynovych received additional convictions on two counts of arson that recklessly endangered human life. During his trial, the defendant admitted to carrying out the fires, telling the court he took the job to earn £3,000 ($4,000) to cover urgent medical costs for his ill father. He claimed he only followed through on the plot after direct threats from El Money, and testified that he had no knowledge the properties were linked to Starmer until after the blazes were set. He also told investigators he had never even heard of the UK prime minister before his arrest, and insisted he never intended to harm any residents.
Court records show El Money provided step-by-step instructions for the attack, including exact details of each target, guidance on mixing flammable materials, and tactics to avoid detection by law enforcement. Recovered messages from Lavrynovych’s phone also revealed he had carried out other paid vandalism for El Money previously, including blacking out car windshields and placing anti-Islam posters in majority-Muslim neighborhoods of London.
As part of the pre-arranged plan, El Money instructed Lavrynovych to send a secret message using the code word “geranium” if he was taken into police custody. Unusually, Lavrynovych was arrested shortly after sending the code, and he never received the promised payment for carrying out the three fires.
The two convicted men are scheduled to receive their official sentencing this Friday, as the Metropolitan Police continues its investigation to track down the elusive ringleader El Money.