The court sentenced the director of the Piket Group of Companies to nine years in a penal colony in a case of embezzlement.

The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow found Andrei Esipov, CEO of the Piket group of companies, guilty of embezzlement of 2.4 billion rubles in the supply of bulletproof vests to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. He was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, the Izvestia correspondent reports from the courtroom on November 11.

Together with the previous sentence for illegal banking, Esipov will be in prison for nine years. He will also have to pay a fine of 800 thousand rubles. The civil claim in the case was satisfied, the court decided to recover 2.4 billion rubles in favor of the Ministry of Defense.

The state prosecution requested a penalty of 12 years in a penal colony and a fine of 3.6 million rubles.

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A day earlier, a Moscow court rejected a motion by Esipov's defense attorney to suspend the criminal case. It was noted that earlier, Esipov's defense appealed to the court with a request to suspend the criminal case due to the defendant's intention to go on a special military operation.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested the General Director of the Picket Group of Companies, Esipov, on April 6, 2024. A criminal case was opened under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on an especially large scale"). In August, it became known that the defendants in the case had received at least 2.4 billion rubles from the Ministry of Defense. In the same month, it was reported that the organization has shares in the authorized capitals of five companies, owns land plots and has more than 20 bank accounts.

In September, Esipov's involvement in the shipments was confirmed by witnesses, as well as extracts from financial documents. It also became known that one of the defendants in the case admitted his guilt and began cooperating with the investigation, his name was not mentioned. In early October, an article about giving a bribe was added to Esipov. Later, on December 13, Esipov pleaded guilty.

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