Child of discord: how a Moscow businesswoman got from the Forbes list to the colony
The Izmailovsky Court of Moscow has sentenced Olga Mirimskaya, former head of BCF Bank and founder of the Russian Product company, to 19 years in a penal colony. She was found guilty of giving two bribes totaling 3.25 million rubles to Yuri Nosov, an investigator from the Moscow region, who ended up in the dock as well. According to the investigation, Nosov, at Mirimskaya's suggestion, falsified the criminal case against her former common-law husband, co-owner of the Zolotaya Korona payment system Nikolai Smirnov, accusing him of kidnapping a child. Mirimskaya's case also includes several other episodes when she tried to pay $1.8 million in bribes to judges. Lawyers called the verdict harsh, but noted that the key role could have been played by the fact that the recipient of the bribe was supposed to be a law enforcement officer.
What Olga Mirimskaya was convicted for
December 10, Izmailovsky district court of Moscow sentenced Olga Mirimskaya, ex-chairman of the Board of Directors of BCF Bank and founder of the company "Russian Product", to 19 years in a general regime colony in the case of bribing a law enforcement officer. Earlier, the prosecutor requested 20 years of imprisonment for her.
Olga Mirimskaya, daughter of Soviet aircraft designer Mikhail Mirimsky and businesswoman, who appeared in the Forbes list, was detained in December 2021 on charges of corruption.
The car that Olga Mirimskaya bought Nosov as a bribe
According to the investigation, Mirimskaya gave two bribes with cars to Yuri Nosov, an investigator from the Moscow region: in this case, a Honda-CR-V worth 1.25 million rubles was registered to Nosov's wife, and a Mitsubishi Outlander SUV for 2 million - to his father.
The prosecution believes that Mirimskaya gave these bribes to Nosov for the illegal criminal prosecution of her former common-law husband, co-owner of the Zolotaya Korona payment system Nikolai Smirnov, allegedly for kidnapping her child.
The background of that case looked like this: in 2014 Mirimskaya allegedly concluded a surrogacy agreement with a Crimean resident Svetlana Bezpyatnaya. But when the child was born, Bezpyatnaya decided to keep it for herself. Smirnov, who by that time broke off relations with Mirimskaya, sided with the surrogate mother, allegedly bought the child from her and took the girl to Cyprus. As a result, Smirnov found himself involved in a criminal case under articles on fraud and human trafficking. In 2016, both he and the surrogate mother were put on the wanted list. In November of the same year, Mirimskaya's daughter was returned by court order.
However, after long proceedings - in 2020 - the case against Smirnov was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti. It turned out that he did not buy the child, and Svetlana Bezpyatnaya and the child were taken to Cyprus at her own request. According to this version, Bezpyatnaya denied the very fact of concluding a surrogacy contract with Mirimskaya. Moreover, the genetic examination, conducted at the request of Smirnov, showed that Mirimskaya is not the mother of the child. On this basis, the Prosecutor's Office is now trying to deprive her of parental rights.
Three more bribes, the Investigative Committee pointed out, Mirimskaya tried to give to judges of the Presnensky Court of Moscow and the Ninth Appeal Arbitration Court.
From 2014 to 2016, the Presnensky Court considered a case on the division of property between her and her other ex-spouse, former Yukos top manager Alexei Golubovich. As follows from the case file, the defendant tried to give the judges a bribe of more than $1 million for a ruling in her favor.
In addition, through the judges of the 9th Arbitration Court of Appeal, the investigation believes, Mirimskaya tried to get the decision of the capital's arbitration tribunal, according to which in May 2014 Golubovich's firms received a mansion in the center of Moscow worth several million dollars. But the decision was never overturned, and the $700,000 bribe was eventually returned to Mirimskaya by the intermediaries, according to investigators.
The trial in the case of Olga Mirimskaya was held since the summer of 2023 in closed mode. She did not admit guilt. According to her, she did not give bribes to Nosov, and her ex-husbands are behind her criminal case.
In addition to a significant term, the court sentenced Mirimskaya to a fine of 400 million rubles.
The lawyer of the convict, Alexander Chernov, called the verdict of his client a nightmare.
- I think anyone, even those far from the law and jurisprudence, will agree with me that a 19-year sentence for a 60-year-old woman is a death sentence," he said. - We will appeal. She is a strong woman, but it was a shock for everyone.
The second defendant in the case was Yuri Nosov. The prosecutor asked for 13 years of colony for him. The court passed a sentence: 11 years in prison and a fine of 50 million rubles. At the same time, Nosov was deprived of the rank of lieutenant colonel of justice.
What was Olga Mirimskaya's business?
According to open sources, Olga Mirimskaya bought a controlling stake in JSC "Russian Product" - one of the largest producers of groceries in Russia - in 2000. Until 2007 she held the position of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. This manufacturer is known by the brands "Moscow Potatoes" and "Hercules", according to its official website.
According to Izvestia's source, Mirimskaya still owns Russian Product through a chain of Cypriot offshore companies. In 2015, Forbes included her in its list of Russia's richest women, where she ranked 22nd with a fortune of $100 million.
According to the Rusprofile database, the authorized capital of JSC Russian Product is now 791 million rubles. In 2023, the company's profit doubled and amounted to 6.1 billion rubles. The company has 223 arbitration cases for the amount of 22 billion rubles. "Izvestia" sent an inquiry to the company about how they assess Olga Mirimskaya's sentence and how her criminal case affected the company's economic activity.
Another asset of Olga Mirimskaya was the Bank of Corporate Finance (BCF). However, in November 2024, the Central Bank revoked its license. As the regulator indicated in its message, the credit organization violated federal laws on banking, anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.
"For a long period of time the Bank's activity was characterized by low quality of assets, inefficiency of business model and chronic unprofitability, which led to a decrease in the scale of activity and reduction of capital..... In addition, LLC "Bank BCF" was involved in conducting suspicious transactions by clients, mainly aimed at withdrawing funds abroad," the Central Bank said.
In December, the Deposit Insurance Agency paid out more than 1.9 billion rubles to BCF depositors.
Why such a harsh sentence
The court handed down a rather harsh sentence to Mirimskaya, believes Victoria Shevtsova, Managing Partner of RUBICON MCA.
- I assume that the severity is due to the fact that the defendant did not admit guilt," said the lawyer. - I believe that in the appeal there is every chance to overturn the verdict.
Olga Mirimskaya
Mirimskaya did receive the maximum possible sentence, but in practice such sentences are very rare, confirmed partner of NOVATOR Legal Group Oleg Dyachkov.
- I can't remember any case in which there was such a weighty punishment," the lawyer said. - But probably the fact that the recipient of the bribe was a law enforcement officer played a role in this. This in the eyes of the public and judges looks quite audacious and is, in fact, an aggravating circumstance. In appeal, the case may well stand for this very reason. Although much will also depend on the mitigating circumstances.
Terms of 20-25 years are quite rare and often serve as an alternative to a life sentence for women, agreed with colleagues, head of AVG Legal Alexei Gavrishev. In his opinion, given that the court gave Mirimskaya almost as much as the prosecutor asked for, the forecasts on appeal are unlikely to be optimistic.
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