OP 05 November, 2024 - 07:07 AM
For the first time in Russia, a St. Petersburg court has sentenced fraudulent brokers who stole over 55 million rubles
In St. Petersburg, a court found coaches from the Escada Asset Management Business School guilty of fraud, having stolen tens of millions of rubles from citizens who had turned to them in the hope of improving their financial literacy. Three defendants, Robert Aloyan, Revaz Burduli, and Akob Tovmasyan, received real prison terms. Another, Nikolai Volokitin, got off with a suspended sentence. The investigation counted more than 40 victims, whom the financiers persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency, promising a solid percentage of transactions. If the clients did not have enough money, they were sent to affiliated microcredit organizations. All defendants admitted their guilt. To date, this is the first such sentence in Russia against fake brokers.
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False broker Robert Aloyan
Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
The case materials state that since January 2020, Aloyan was the CEO of Escada Business School LLC, while 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 to teach the victims strategies and the operation of services for trading on the stock exchange. To attract clients, they rented offices in the city center, hired dozens of call center managers, and launched aggressive advertising, promising everyone a huge and, as usual, easy and quick income on stocks and cryptocurrency. Potential clients were found through the databases of job search sites.
“Between January 2019 and April 2020, the defendants stole over 55 million rubles from 45 citizens under the pretext of profitable investment of funds in company shares, cryptocurrency, as well as promises of high interest payments from alleged investments of funds in brokerage platforms,” the press service of the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The case materials state that the victims were convinced that the investments were safe and profitable, and if they did not have enough money, they were offered assistance in obtaining loans from controlled microfinance organizations.
Judging by the reviews that have survived on specialized resources for combating fraudsters, deceived investors were also forced to take paid courses and were offered to make large deposits on their own brokerage platform Vizavi.
“The accomplices posted false information about the victims’ non-existent electronic accounts and trading operations on the financial market,” follows from the indictment.
On Friday, November 1, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Robert Aloyan and Revaz Burduli, 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 penal colony, Akob Tovmasyan received a month less for his 34 episodes, and Nikolai Volokitin received three years probation. All four admitted their guilt.
As the city prosecutor’s office clarified to Kommersant-SPb, this is the first verdict in the country against false brokers.
Escada's activities were terminated in the spring of 2020, Irina Volk, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported at the time. "During a search of the company's office, forty computers with software that created the appearance of successful projects, ten mobile phones, and electronic databases containing information on ten and a half thousand citizens were seized," Ms. Volk noted.
At the same time, the swindlers themselves were arrested. It is noteworthy that in the operational video, one of the detainees, answering a police officer's question about his education, said: "I have nine grades."
In St. Petersburg, a court found coaches from the Escada Asset Management Business School guilty of fraud, having stolen tens of millions of rubles from citizens who had turned to them in the hope of improving their financial literacy. Three defendants, Robert Aloyan, Revaz Burduli, and Akob Tovmasyan, received real prison terms. Another, Nikolai Volokitin, got off with a suspended sentence. The investigation counted more than 40 victims, whom the financiers persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency, promising a solid percentage of transactions. If the clients did not have enough money, they were sent to affiliated microcredit organizations. All defendants admitted their guilt. To date, this is the first such sentence in Russia against fake brokers.
False broker Robert Aloyan
Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
The case materials state that since January 2020, Aloyan was the CEO of Escada Business School LLC, while 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 to teach the victims strategies and the operation of services for trading on the stock exchange. To attract clients, they rented offices in the city center, hired dozens of call center managers, and launched aggressive advertising, promising everyone a huge and, as usual, easy and quick income on stocks and cryptocurrency. Potential clients were found through the databases of job search sites.
“Between January 2019 and April 2020, the defendants stole over 55 million rubles from 45 citizens under the pretext of profitable investment of funds in company shares, cryptocurrency, as well as promises of high interest payments from alleged investments of funds in brokerage platforms,” the press service of the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The case materials state that the victims were convinced that the investments were safe and profitable, and if they did not have enough money, they were offered assistance in obtaining loans from controlled microfinance organizations.
Judging by the reviews that have survived on specialized resources for combating fraudsters, deceived investors were also forced to take paid courses and were offered to make large deposits on their own brokerage platform Vizavi.
“The accomplices posted false information about the victims’ non-existent electronic accounts and trading operations on the financial market,” follows from the indictment.
On Friday, November 1, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Robert Aloyan and Revaz Burduli, 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 penal colony, Akob Tovmasyan received a month less for his 34 episodes, and Nikolai Volokitin received three years probation. All four admitted their guilt.
As the city prosecutor’s office clarified to Kommersant-SPb, this is the first verdict in the country against false brokers.
Escada's activities were terminated in the spring of 2020, Irina Volk, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported at the time. "During a search of the company's office, forty computers with software that created the appearance of successful projects, ten mobile phones, and electronic databases containing information on ten and a half thousand citizens were seized," Ms. Volk noted.
At the same time, the swindlers themselves were arrested. It is noteworthy that in the operational video, one of the detainees, answering a police officer's question about his education, said: "I have nine grades."
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