The court sentenced three perpetrators of the Pushkin Cards scam

Individual entrepreneurs Viktor Yakubov and Emil Gurbanov, as well as MGIMO student Ilya Safonov were found guilty in the case of embezzlement of more than 200 million rubles from the funds of the "Pushkin Map" program. This was reported by a correspondent of "Izvestia" from the courtroom on December 5.

The three defendants were charged under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on a large scale, committed by an organized group"). Gurbanov pleaded guilty in full, Yakubov - partially, Safonov did not plead guilty.

The court sentenced Yakubov to six years in prison, Gurbanov to four years, and Safonov to five years. They will serve their sentences in a general regime colony.

According to the Investigative Committee (IC) of Russia, the investigation and the court found that in 2022 they opened bank accounts and issued individual entrepreneur (IE) statuses to themselves and others who were unaware of the criminal scheme. The accomplices registered on the platform "PRO.Culture.RF" to participate in the implementation of the "Pushkin map" as a cultural organization. The attackers concluded rental agreements for premises.

"Further, the co-conspirators ensured by various means the mass purchase of tickets for cultural events organized by them. Spectators had to pay for their purchase from "Pushkin cards" with an unused limit of funds issued by the operator of the program JSC "Post Bank", - said the official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Svetlana Petrenko.

Ticket buyers were sought through the Internet. At the same time, the number of tickets purchased exceeded the capacity of spectators at the rented venues many times. The accomplices provided the Russian Ministry of Culture with false information about their events, illegally receiving and stealing more than 205 million rubles.

To conceal their crimes, the perpetrators created the appearance of a crowd by inviting people to events who knew nothing about the embezzlement. At the same time, the number of such persons was much lower than the number of tickets sold, transferred to the Ministry of Culture.

During the investigation, the three defendants were taken into custody. To compensate for the damage caused by them, the court seized the property of the defendants worth more than 110 million rubles.

Earlier, November 19, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in Kalinigrad region reported that a 21-year-old resident of the region is accused of embezzling 13 million rubles of budgetary funds for the "Pushkin map". The defendant registered five IEs on the platform "RRO.Culture.RF" and posted information about conducting excursions in the region. The defendant has been detained, the investigation of his crime continues.