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For the first time in Russia, a St. Petersburg court sentenced false brokers who stole over 55 million rubles
In St. Petersburg, a court found guilty of fraud coaches from the Escada Asset Management Business School, who stole tens of millions of rubles from citizens who turned to them in the hope of improving their financial literacy. Three defendants, Robert Aloyan, Revaz Burduli and Hakob Tovmasyan, received prison sentences. Another one, Nikolai Volokitin, got off with a suspended sentence. The investigation counted more than 40 victims, whom financiers persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency, promising a solid percentage of transactions. If customers did not have enough money, then they were sent to affiliated microcredit organizations. All the defendants pleaded guilty. To date, this is the first such sentence in Russia against false brokers.
False broker Robert Aloyan
The case materials say that since January 2020, Aloyan has been the general director of Escada Business School LLC, and Burduli, Tovmasyan and Volokitin acted as financial analysts. Having created a limited liability company, the defendants, under the guise of providing consulting and information services, promised the victims to train them in the strategies and operation of services for trading on the stock exchange. To attract customers, they rented offices in the city center, hired dozens of call center managers and launched aggressive advertising, which promised everyone a huge and, as usual, easy and quick earnings on stocks and cryptocurrency. Potential customers were found in the databases of job search sites.
"In the period from January 2019 to April 2020, the defendants, under the pretext of profitable investment in company shares, cryptocurrency, as well as promises of high interest payments from the alleged investment of funds in brokerage platforms, stole over 55 million rubles from 45 citizens", the press service of the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office said.
The case materials say that the victims were convinced of the safety and profitability of investments, and if there was not enough money, then they were offered to use assistance in obtaining loans from controlled microfinance organizations.
Judging by the surviving reviews on specialized anti-fraud resources, deceived depositors were also forced to pay rates and offered to make large deposits on their own brokerage platform Vizavi.
"The accomplices posted false information about non-existent electronic accounts of the victims and trading operations in the financial market", follows from the indictment.
On Friday, November 1, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Robert Aloyan and Revaz Burduli, who were found guilty of committing 45 episodes of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), to seven years in a general regime colony, Hakob Tovmasyan received a month less for his 34 episodes, and Nikolai Volokitin received three years of probation. All four pleaded guilty.
As the city prosecutor's office clarified to Kommersant, this is the first verdict in the country against false brokers.
The activities of Escada were terminated in the spring of 2020, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said at the time. "During the search in the company's office, forty computers with software that creates the appearance of successful projects, ten mobile phones, electronic databases containing information about ten and a half thousand citizens were seized," said Ms. Volk.
At the same time, the swindlers themselves were arrested. It is noteworthy that in the operational video, one of the detainees, answering a question from a police officer about his education, said: "I have nine grades".
Source
In St. Petersburg, a court found guilty of fraud coaches from the Escada Asset Management Business School, who stole tens of millions of rubles from citizens who turned to them in the hope of improving their financial literacy. Three defendants, Robert Aloyan, Revaz Burduli and Hakob Tovmasyan, received prison sentences. Another one, Nikolai Volokitin, got off with a suspended sentence. The investigation counted more than 40 victims, whom financiers persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency, promising a solid percentage of transactions. If customers did not have enough money, then they were sent to affiliated microcredit organizations. All the defendants pleaded guilty. To date, this is the first such sentence in Russia against false brokers.
False broker Robert Aloyan
The case materials say that since January 2020, Aloyan has been the general director of Escada Business School LLC, and Burduli, Tovmasyan and Volokitin acted as financial analysts. Having created a limited liability company, the defendants, under the guise of providing consulting and information services, promised the victims to train them in the strategies and operation of services for trading on the stock exchange. To attract customers, they rented offices in the city center, hired dozens of call center managers and launched aggressive advertising, which promised everyone a huge and, as usual, easy and quick earnings on stocks and cryptocurrency. Potential customers were found in the databases of job search sites.
"In the period from January 2019 to April 2020, the defendants, under the pretext of profitable investment in company shares, cryptocurrency, as well as promises of high interest payments from the alleged investment of funds in brokerage platforms, stole over 55 million rubles from 45 citizens", the press service of the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office said.
The case materials say that the victims were convinced of the safety and profitability of investments, and if there was not enough money, then they were offered to use assistance in obtaining loans from controlled microfinance organizations.
Judging by the surviving reviews on specialized anti-fraud resources, deceived depositors were also forced to pay rates and offered to make large deposits on their own brokerage platform Vizavi.
"The accomplices posted false information about non-existent electronic accounts of the victims and trading operations in the financial market", follows from the indictment.
On Friday, November 1, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Robert Aloyan and Revaz Burduli, who were found guilty of committing 45 episodes of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), to seven years in a general regime colony, Hakob Tovmasyan received a month less for his 34 episodes, and Nikolai Volokitin received three years of probation. All four pleaded guilty.
As the city prosecutor's office clarified to Kommersant, this is the first verdict in the country against false brokers.
The activities of Escada were terminated in the spring of 2020, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said at the time. "During the search in the company's office, forty computers with software that creates the appearance of successful projects, ten mobile phones, electronic databases containing information about ten and a half thousand citizens were seized," said Ms. Volk.
At the same time, the swindlers themselves were arrested. It is noteworthy that in the operational video, one of the detainees, answering a question from a police officer about his education, said: "I have nine grades".
Source
