Court partially satisfies "premium rate" buyer's lawsuit against blogger Lerchek

Savelovsky district court of Moscow has partially satisfied the claims of Ani Baghdasaryan against blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek). This was reported by the correspondent of "Izvestia".

The court ruled to recover in favor of Baghdasaryan a penalty of Br100 thousand and Br10 thousand compensation for moral damage. Chekalina is also obliged to pay a fine of Br60 thousand.

Baghdasaryan claimed that she bought the course "Premium Program with Valeria Chekalina" from the blogger for Br2 million.

According to the buyer, instead of providing useful information, the blogger held "idle conversations during a joint tea party," as well as "promoted third parties to conclude compensatory contracts with them."

Earlier, on November 26, Savelovsky District Court received a claim for protection of consumer rights against the blogger's IP Lerchek. The plaintiff indicated that she had purchased the course "Premium Program with Valeria Chekalina" from the defendant. The lawyer of the company Chekalinyh, in turn, stated that the plaintiff demanded too large an amount of money, while receiving services under the contract.

November 25, the court extended house arrest of bloggers Valeria and Artem Chekalin on the case of withdrawal of more than 250 million rubles from the Russian Federation. The arrest was extended until January 25, 2025.

On October 3, the Russian Interior Ministry reported that the Chekalins and their accomplice are suspected of illegally withdrawing more than 250 million rubles from Russia to Dubai using forged documents. Izvestiya source said that the damage from the bloggers' activities may exceed 500 million rubles. A new criminal case has been opened against them.

In March 2023, a case was opened against Valeria and her husband for non-payment of taxes in the amount of about 300 million rubles and legalization of more than 130 million rubles obtained by criminal means. At the end of December 2023, the Investigative Committee of Russia closed the case of non-payment of taxes, but refused to stop the proceedings on money laundering. On January 15, it became known that Valeria and Artem Chekaliny pleaded guilty and fully paid the tax arrears, penalties and a fine of 504 million rubles.