The court recovered 1.6 billion rubles worth of Kopaygorodsky's property to the state.

The Khostinsky district court of Sochi satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation and seized in favor of the state the property of the former mayor of Sochi Alexei Kopaigorodsky and his family in the amount of about 1.6 billion rubles. This was reported on January 16 by a correspondent of Izvestia from the courtroom.

The court found that the multibillion-dollar assets did not correspond to the legal income of the family for the entire period of Kopaygorodsky's public service, their legal limitation was not proven.

Over the ten years of his work in the civil service, Kopaigorodsky's average income amounted to about 16.3 million rubles, while neither an apartment nor a car was registered on him. Taking into account family organizations, 77 luxury real estate objects were registered, including apartments in the center of Moscow, hotels in St. Petersburg and sites on the Black Sea coast.

Most of the assets were registered to the ex-official's wife, Yanina Kopaygorodskaya, as well as to relatives and trusted persons. For example, one of the apartments was registered to Yanina's son from his first marriage, and the land plot with a house in Sochi was registered to a lawyer who provided family services. In 2023, when interest in family matters increased, the couple entered into a prenuptial agreement, declaring his wife's income from business activities her separate property.

At the same time, Yanina Kopaigorodskaya's income, registered as an individual entrepreneur and became the founder of four companies, increased after her marriage. If in 2021 she declared only 25 thousand rubles, then in 2022 her income amounted to 12.2 million rubles, and in 2023 — already 249.9 million rubles.

During the searches, significant amounts of cash were found in the family: more than 62 million rubles, $40 thousand and €2.1 thousand. Luxury items are also presented: a collection of high-end wine, a 2006 switching bottle of Romanee-Conti worth about 2 million rubles apiece, jewelry worth over 50 million rubles (a sapphire ring for 13 million rubles, a watch with emeralds for 11 million rubles) and collector's brands Patek Philippe and Breguet.

The defense lawyers tried to challenge the seizure of part of the collections, arguing that the wine and watches were donated by the spouse in marriage and were not subject to the law on confiscation. However, the court rejected these arguments.

The court's decision was accepted for immediate execution. In parallel with the civil case against Alexey Kopaigorodsky and his wife, criminal prosecution continues under articles on embezzlement, receiving large-scale bribes and money laundering.

Desiring a room: the trial of the seizure of assets of the ex-mayor of Sochi has begun

The supervisory authority demands the seizure of real estate, wine, watches and an antique rifle.

On January 14, the Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit stating that Kopaygorodsky's family had found diamonds and 50 real estate objects. According to the investigation, from 2022 to 2024, Kopaygorodsky stole two plots of land in Sochi with a total value of at least 26 million rubles. He is also accused of receiving 248 million rubles from business representatives for patronage and creating favorable conditions for entrepreneurs.

In November last year, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office approved a criminal indictment against Kopaigorodsky, his wife Yanina and assistant Alexander Pasunko. Kopaygorodsky was detained on September 25 in the special operation area, where he had gone some time ago as a volunteer. At the same time, he was arrested until November 18. The ex-mayor is charged with embezzlement of 3.7 million rubles, he pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is also being investigated for involvement in other crimes.

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