Net money: the court will pass a verdict in the case of the laundered 6 billion OPS
In Moscow, the verdict of one of the largest groups of cashiers will be announced. In two years, a team of 33 people has withdrawn more than 6 billion rubles through fictitious companies. Among the participants of the OPS were employees of large credit institutions, and one of its alleged organizers even managed to be the hero of scandalous talk shows on the "First".
They even cashed out on beer
On May 5, the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow will announce the verdict of six defendants accused of creating an organized criminal group (Article 210 of the Criminal Code) and illegal banking activities (Article 172 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, the organizers of the group of cashiers were 56-year-old businessman Roman Shirinyan and 55-year-old participant of the controversial talk show Vladimir Glebov.
From December 2015 to 2017, the group spent at least 6.4 billion rubles through controlled fictitious companies, earning more than 640 million rubles. As specified in the charges, OPS was looking for clients interested in reducing the tax base and withdrawing funds from legal circulation. To do this, the defendants used almost one and a half hundred shell companies, on behalf of which they billed for fictitious goods and services — from construction, logistics and consulting to the sale of cars and draft beer. The funds received were then cashed out under the guise of salaries of employees of contractor companies. The cash received at ATMs was returned to the customer with a deduction of 10% in favor of the cashiers.
In total, OPS was controlled by more than 130 legal entities. The companies controlled by the group made at least 4 thousand transactions in the amount of 1,200 rubles to 97 million in order to cash out the funds, with an average "check" of one million rubles. The entire extensive network was controlled online through online banking accounts, WhatsApp messengers (owned by Meta, whose activities are recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) and Signal. For conspiracy, the OPS participants used a "dictionary" developed within the group, addressed each other by code nicknames, and constantly changed phone numbers and electronic mailboxes.
OPS was divided into legal, "security", accounting and banking divisions. A team of at least nine lawyers created or acquired fictitious companies in the interests of the group, paid for the activities of nominee directors who visited government agencies and credit organizations to register and open bank accounts.
The denominations themselves were found by members of the "security" unit, which included at least 13 people.
The accounting department of the OPS, consisting of at least three people, maintained the appearance of legal financial and economic activities of fictitious companies under its control. Its participants also produced fake contracts, invoices and invoices to justify the transfer of funds.
Finally, at least five bank employees were involved in consulting and coordinating OPS when interacting with credit institutions: how to avoid security service blockages, how the bank's internal regulations work, how to properly register fictitious salary employees, and how to withdraw funds without hindrance. As a result, the investigation qualified the actions of the OPS as illegal banking services.
Criminal schemes
The investigation began in 2019 after mass searches at 65 addresses in Moscow, the Moscow, Saratov and Yaroslavl regions, as well as in the Komi Republic. The seals of fictitious companies, more than 100 telephones for operational management of bank account transactions and 45 electronic keys to the Bank—Client system were seized from the suspects. Initially, law enforcement officials assumed that the criminal group had existed for more than ten years and had managed to cash out more than 40 billion, but they managed to collect evidence for a much smaller amount.
Dmitry Kebadze, the former director of the Sberbank branch on Vernadsky Avenue in Moscow, helped law enforcement officers uncover the details of the criminal schemes of the group. He agreed to cooperate with the investigation after his arrest. According to the case file, Kebadze, through his acquaintances, current employees of the bank, provided the necessary assistance in issuing large amounts of cash in the framework of "salary projects" without due diligence. To plan operations, he provided information on the availability of funds at the cash desks of the branches and coordinated the actions of the employees of Sberbank who participated in the scheme. He was not one of the main organizers, but he played a key role in the group's access to cash.
Kebadze's case was separated into a separate proceeding. In 2021, the Mytishchi city Court sentenced him to four years in a general regime penal colony with a fine of 200 thousand rubles and restriction of liberty for one year. The ex-banker tried to appeal the verdict because he did not agree with the actual imprisonment, but the court found that since he repented only after his arrest, there was no reason to release him. Dmitry has already served his term and is now free to start a design business: he has opened his own Cube agency, and now he is not in danger of a career in the financial environment. He declined to comment to Izvestia.
To date, at least 12 more ordinary members of the group have received various punishments. Their verdict is being appealed and has not yet entered into force.
One of the alleged organizers of the OPS, Vladimir Glebov, managed to escape after the case was initiated and was on the international wanted list for a long time. He was detained only in 2023. Now his case will be considered separately. In addition to leading a group of cashiers, he is also accused of embezzlement on an especially large scale from several businessmen.
In the past, Glebov was noted for his participation in public scandals with his ex-lovers. In 2012, socialite Yana Grivovskaya accused him of setting fire to a car, telling about it on a talk show on Channel One. According to her, this was how Glebov took revenge on her for the breakup. The entrepreneur also participated in the issue as a guest and denied all attacks in his direction.
In 2021, another former Glebov Muscovite, Yulia Shcherbakova, told the media that Glebov had illegally taken possession of her Porsche car. According to the woman, Glebov allegedly forged documents in order to issue a loan for her, according to which she had to return 10 million rubles to the man at 4.5% per annum or give back the car. When Glebov resold the car, the new owner took it from the woman with a tow truck, and then won the court, proving that he was a good buyer. Shcherbakova refused to communicate with Izvestia. The defenders of Glebov and Shirinyan did not respond to messages from journalists seeking comment.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
