Unsuccessful people: how Blinovskaya found zits-chairmen for her business
Three witnesses in the case of Elena Blinovskaia, questioned by the court on November 28, revealed the financial schemes by which the blogger's business operated. Two women confessed that, in fact, they performed the functions of "zits-chairman of Pound", that is, they were only nominal heads of firms, through the accounts of which the money from the sale of "marathons of wishes" passed. It follows from the testimony that they gave all the data of their digital signatures to the accountants of the Blinovsky couple. They also sent them SMS codes that came from banks to confirm money transfers and payments. The popular blogger, who is accused of tax evasion, money laundering and illegal circulation of payment means, could face up to ten and a half years in prison, lawyers believe.
"Nowhere to accept money."
The financial schemes of the business of blogger Elena Blinovskaya were built on the opening of many legal entities and the appointment of front directors for these organizations. This was stated by three witnesses at the meeting of the Savelovsky district court of Moscow in the case of the "queen of marathons".
According to the prosecution, this is a sign of business fragmentation, which Blinovskaya used for tax evasion - she is accused of non-payment of more than 733 million rubles (and including penalties at the moment she owes the state more than 1 billion). In addition, she is charged with money laundering and illegal turnover of means of payment.
November 28, during the interrogation in court, witnesses said that they had agreed to formalize legal entities under threat of dismissal. Those who spoke at the hearing said that they gave all the data of their digital signatures to Blinovskaya's assistants.
Tatyana Ostapishina, the head of one of the IEs affiliated with the Blinovski family, was the first to stand trial. She admitted to the court that she did not actually manage the legal entity. Lilia Orlenko, Blinovskaia's "right-hand woman", demanded that she register a sole proprietorship in her name in 2017.
Before obtaining the status of a sole proprietorship, Ostapishina worked at Blinovskaya's wish marathons - she checked the homework of the participants, as well as supervised the administrators of these events. This job was offered to her by the blogger's husband Alexei Blinovsky, with whom Ostapishina had previously worked in leasing companies.
Later, the witness was officially employed by one of the companies controlled by Blinovsky, Premium LLC, as head of the client relations department. For this she received a fixed salary of about 200,000 rubles a month. Then, according to Ostapishina, she received a call from Blinovskaya (this was her first communication with the head of the marathon empire) and said: "Tanya, now Lilya (Orlenko. - "Izvestia") is in charge, all questions to her." After the call, Orlenko demanded that Tatyana Ostapishina open a sole proprietorship, arguing that "there is nowhere to accept money, we need to open a legal entity".
According to the witness, she agreed to this demand because she was afraid of being fired. Ostapishina cited the example of another Blinovskaya employee who was fired for refusing to open an LLC in her name.
After opening a sole proprietorship, the witness, according to her, was forced to create an electronic digital signature, which was demanded of her by Natalia Avdentova, Blinovskaya's chief accountant. Ostapishina gave her the login and password for her signature. After that, funds were transferred to the account of the sole proprietorship to pay the bloggers with whom Blinovskaya cooperated. Lilia Orlenko was in charge of this matter, Ostapishina stated. The money was transferred from different firms controlled by Blinovsky - Premium, Yaroslavna, Capella, IP Menyaeva.
All of the Blinovskys' employees, except for the personnel service and accounting department, worked from home, the witness said. Only those who promoted the business worked in Moscow, while the rest of the team was in Yaroslavl. Blinovskaya lived there as a child and graduated from Yaroslavl State University.
During the interrogation, Ostapishina was also in Yaroslavl, where she obtained the status of an individual entrepreneur. The court questioned her via video link.
"Elena is very kind and generous."
Another witness, Olga Solovyova, also said that she worked for Blinovskikh as director of several LLCs only nominally. She met Blinovskaya through her relative Lilia Orlenko. According to Solovyova, Orlenko invited her to work as an administrator of a study group in a "wish marathon." During the time she worked for Blinovskaya, Solovyova dutifully became the head of several legal entities because she was afraid of being fired, she said.
The witness confirmed that Natalia Avdentova was in charge of accounting for the "queen of marathons" - she asked Solovyova for SMS codes for bank transfers made through her LLC. Solovyova claims that, like other witnesses, she made a digital signature, the data from which she gave to the accountant.
According to Olga Solovieva, she does not know Blinovskaya personally, but she has been to marathons and they "changed her life". The witness said that on the 10th of every month the blogger fulfilled the wishes of her subscribers. She could, for example, buy someone an apartment. Solovyova was particularly impressed by the fact that after a series of such gifts Blinovskaya gave birth to a daughter on the tenth of the month.
- It seemed that God thanked her for her kindness. In general, Elena is very kind and generous," said a witness.
The third witness who appeared in court on November 28, Tatyana Babenko, told the court that in 2019, Blinovskaya personally invited her to work as a salary accountant. She was employed at IE Ostapishina and told that Natalia Avdentova would be her supervisor.
Can Blinovskaya be acquitted
The practice of punishment for tax crimes is most often not associated with imprisonment, but Blinovskaya is charged with a combination of three crimes, of which the tax crime is the "lightest". Igor Pastukhov, counselor of the law firm YUST, reminded Izvestia about this. According to him, the Criminal Code defines it as a crime of minor gravity, but the severity of the final verdict will be influenced by the punishments under "grave" articles.
-The defendants face up to six years for illegal turnover of payment funds, up to seven years for money laundering, and up to three years for tax evasion ," the lawyer said. - The punishment is appointed for each of the crimes, taking into account mitigating circumstances.
With such a multiple composition, as Blinovskaya, the final punishment is imposed by partial or full addition of sanctions for each crime, added Igor Pastukhov. As a result, the punishment for the "queen of marathons" can not be stricter than 10.5 years, said the lawyer.
Ilya Drozdov, a lawyer of the Law Office "Makeev and Partners", agreed with this maximum term. He added that Blinovskaya's final sentence cannot exceed by more than half the maximum term provided for the most serious of the crimes committed - for money laundering.
All the lawyers interviewed by Izvestia are confident that Blinovskaya's acquittal is out of the question. Partial confession of guilt and partial payment of taxes cannot be the basis for this. Under the article on tax evasion such grounds are considered only the full payment of the full amount of taxes, fines and penalties before the verdict. But she has not paid the full amount, which, including penalties, is now more than 1 billion rubles.
According to court statistics, in the previous three years, just over 60 people were convicted under the article on non-payment of taxes by individuals, while only one person was acquitted.
Tax evasion by individuals is a rather rare crime, said Oleg Dyachkov, partner at NOVATOR Legal Group, in a conversation with Izvestia.
- In practice, imprisonment is almost never imposed for such crimes," the lawyer explained. - But the other articles imputed to Blinovskaya - illegal turnover of means of payment and money laundering - are grave.
According to Oleg Dyachkov, in cases of famous personalities, which are widely covered in the media, the court usually imposes harsher punishment. Blinovskaya pleaded guilty in part, which may affect the amount of punishment, but will not lead to an acquittal, agreed with her colleagues lawyer.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for December 12.
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