Mitigating obligations: Blinovskaya asked for a reprieve from punishment

Blogger Elena Blinovskaya asked for a reprieve at the last court hearing before the verdict. She is accused of tax evasion, money laundering and illegal circulation of funds of payments. Earlier, the prosecutor asked to sentence the "marathon queen" to six years in prison and confiscation of property. Blinovskaya stated that her main task is to be a mother and be able to raise three young children until they reach adulthood (she has four of them in total). The blogger called her mistakes correctable and asked for a chance to correct them. What else the "queen of marathons" said and how the prosecutors reacted to it is in the Izvestia article.

"The Blinovskys are an ordinary Russian family"

Yelena Blinovskaya had no intention of committing the crimes she is charged with, said lawyer Bulat Soltakhanov, speaking on February 27 at the Savelovsky district Court during the debate of the parties. He insisted that the mastermind behind the splitting of the business between different legal entities and sole proprietors was the blogger's husband Alexei Blinovsky.

— But he had no intention of tax evasion, he just wanted to divide the products into different sales, the lawyer said. — The couple actually paid taxes, Alexey explained that Elena did not interfere with income and expenses, she was engaged only in her sole proprietor, he managed everything else himself.

Blinovskaya was detained in April 2023 on suspicion of fraud for the purpose of non-payment of taxes in the amount of about 918 million rubles. In addition, she was charged with laundering most of these funds and illegal turnover of payments.

According to investigators, Blinovskaya and her husband created a scheme to split up their large-scale business and distribute profits from the sale of marathons to different legal entities and sole proprietors. She transferred each of them to a simplified taxation system, which allowed her to avoid paying taxes by almost one billion rubles. In fact, taking into account the accrued penalties and fines, her debt to the state exceeded one billion, but she was able to repay only part of this amount — about 300 million rubles.

According to the totality of the crimes, Blinovskaya faces six years in a general regime penal colony, a term requested by the prosecutor for her.Earlier, the blogger's husband completely took the blame for the fragmentation of his wife's business. Speaking in court, he stated that he proposed to register each marathon for a separate legal entity. At the same time, Blinovsky added, he had no intention of evading taxes — he was sure that these actions would "simplify accounting."

As Bulat Soltakhanov noted, the business of selling marathons was run by the blogger's "right hand" Lilia Orlenko, who in fact managed Blinovskaya's business organization. The "Marathon Queen" had previously called her her closest friend in court. She took over the organization of her online courses and other events. At the trial, Lilia Orlenko said that her monthly income from Blinovskaya's business was 4 million rubles. At the same time, the blogger's assistant categorically denied the leading role attributed to her in business.

Earlier, Blinovskaya's tax consultant Ivan Morozov told the court the amount that, according to him, Orlenko received as dividends for her activities — more than 100 million rubles.

Blinovskaya's lawyer asked the court to commute the blogger's punishment, taking into account that she has four children (three of them minors) and that the arbitration court has already declared her bankrupt.

— Blinovsky is on HIS OWN, fulfilling his duty to the Motherland, it is also necessary to take into account the case of neryadova, — the lawyer addressed the court. — Besides, the family has many children, it's hard for the children, parents and spouse too. The family has suffered great problems and hardships. Therefore, I ask you to pass a fair but lenient sentence.

The lawyer also asked to exclude the article on money laundering from the charges. In his opinion, what the investigation considers to be the legalization of funds is actually their expenditure. And splitting up a business is in fact tax evasion and is not subject to a separate qualification, the lawyer said.

The lawyers also asked not to use the confiscation of property requested by the prosecutor.

— Confiscation is impossible in this case, no property or funds were acquired as a self—committed crime, - said Blinovskaya's second lawyer Natalia Salnikova. — The prosecutor suggests that the court apply double punishment, and in fact — double property penalty. At the same time, he insists on satisfying the civil claim at the expense of the seized property and at the same time proposes to confiscate other property, and for the same amount.

The lawyer added that the property that the prosecutor wants to seize has not been assessed. All this cannot speak about social justice and directly contradicts the law, Natalia Salnikova said. She added that "one should not perceive Elena through her image on social networks as some kind of stupid woman."

— The Blinovskys are an ordinary Russian family, just with a different income level," the defender noted.

"The main duty is to be a mother"

Speaking before the court, Blinovskaya, as well as her defense lawyer, spoke about her children. She asked the court to apply to her a provision on deferral from serving her sentence until the youngest child reaches the age of 14 (the blogger's youngest daughter was born in 2020).

— Admitting guilt and regretting, I want to say one thing: the articles incriminated to me imply other types of punishment besides imprisonment, — the blogger said. — The punishment will affect not only me, but also my family, my children, and my eldest son, who is finishing the ninth grade. I ask that even in the case of the most severe punishment, the possibility of applying article 82, on postponement, not be ruled out. My main responsibility is to be a mother to my children and take care of their upbringing.

The prosecutor opposed the postponement, saying that the defendant's children "have a father, grandparents." According to the state prosecutor, at the time of the crimes Blinovskaya "already had children, but this did not prevent her from committing illegal acts." The children's father retired recently and it happened only after the criminal case was initiated, the prosecutor drew attention.

— The defendant's behavior leaves much to be desired, she did not go to the tax office and did not give explanations, — said the prosecutor. — She was detained while trying to go abroad (on April 27, 2023, at the entrance to the border with Belarus. In addition, the defendant violated house arrest and led an idle lifestyle. It is not clear that she is remorseful, that is why we are requesting such deadlines. But the prosecutors will take into account the confession and the presence of children.

However, despite the circumstances of her client's detention, lawyer Bulat Soltakhanov insisted that Blinovskaya was not trying to hide abroad, but was allegedly going to perform. He called on the court to "reject media flows of influence."

The blogger drew the court's attention to the fact that her mistakes were not fatal.

— Mine are quite fixable, and I have a chance to fix them, she said. — My family and I have already suffered enough.

The blogger added that in their attitude towards her, people are divided into those who "have not read the book, but condemn it," and those who know her well as a person and business partner.

— I am responsible for my words and follow the agreements, she said.

"An example and a warning for all bloggers"

The admission of guilt, the presence of minor children and compensation for damages are taken into account when sentencing, criminal defense lawyer Tatiana Pashkevich reminded Izvestia.

— But this still does not mean that the sentence will be lenient, since the severity of the crime, the position of the prosecution, the amount of unpaid taxes, and the public outcry of the case play a role here, which is clearly used as an example and warning for everyone. bloggers," said the lawyer. — The prosecutor's office predictably announced her attempt to escape and detention on the border with Belarus, as well as violation of a preventive measure in the form of house arrest.

The court may regard the attempt by the blogger's husband to take part of the blame as a mitigating circumstance, but usually such statements are assessed critically and in conjunction with other circumstances of the case, the lawyer noted.

If the law provides for the possibility of termination of criminal prosecution for tax evasion due to compensation for damage, then there is no such possibility for other crimes attributed to Blinovskaya — they belong to the category of serious ones, Anna Minenkova, head of the criminal practice at Sokolov, Trusov and Partners, reminded

— Considering that charges have been filed, and the criminal case was sent to court, and the fact that her husband attributed the authorship of the illegal idea to himself did not help Elena in any way," the lawyer said. — Most likely, this will not cause a significant change in the assessment of Blinovskaya's guilt.

At the same time, she added, a suspended sentence in this situation is not an entirely improbable prospect, since when determining punishment, the court will take into account the time served by Blinovskaya both on house arrest and in jail.