They teach in a share: blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov pleaded guilty to fraud

Blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov said at a meeting in the Presnensky District Court of Moscow on May 5 that he fully admits the fraud charges against him. This was an official confirmation of a similar statement made earlier, which Shabutdinov posted on his social networks. In it, he admitted that he "sold his courses aggressively, indiscriminately," and promised to improve in the future. Former clients of the defendant also appeared in court, some demanding billions of dollars in compensation. What else happened at the meeting is in the Izvestia article.

What is imputed to blogger Shabutdinov

On May 5, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow held a regular hearing on the case of blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov, who for several years had been selling educational business courses to clients. The prosecutor filed charges in the criminal case of fraud, and Shabutdinov stated that he would admit guilt in full.

The popular blogger was detained on November 3, 2023 and charged with fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the prosecution, Shabutdinov, along with his accomplices, posted on their social networks "deliberately false information about educational programs that were not really such." With the help of "aggressive marketing and an active advertising campaign," he sold courses, trainings and webinars to clients on behalf of controlled legal entities (in particular, Like Center LLC), "promising high results of subsequent entrepreneurial activity."

Shabutdinov personally developed the texts of the trainings and the contracts of the offer for the provision of educational services. At the same time, his goal, according to investigators, was to create "a false impression that the programs are able to guarantee financial protection in any life situation."

Investigators also believe that the blogger created "a false impression about the legality of his activities and their civil nature." The word "false" appears in the indictment many times. The programs that Shabutdinov sold cost from 60 thousand to 12 million rubles. There are more than 280 volumes in the case, the total damage exceeded 57 million rubles.

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How Shabutdinov pleaded guilty

Even before the start of the court session, Shabutdinov pleaded guilty, posting a corresponding statement on his social networks.

"I believed that anyone can become an entrepreneur, and I taught this. But practice has shown that this path is not for everyone. At the same time, we sold our courses aggressively, indiscriminately. And the advertisement itself sounded like a miracle pill," the blogger wrote.

He also admitted that he and his team "put too much emphasis on sales training rather than a comprehensive knowledge system," as well as on "demonstrating wealth" rather than serving people.

He also noted that he "never acted with malicious intentions." "My original mission — to help people develop entrepreneurial skills — was sincere. But the methods I used need to be reviewed," he explained.

According to the blogger's lawyer Kaloy Akhilgov, "leading experts from the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanova and MSU confirmed the legality of Shabutdinov's activities. But despite this, "Ayaz took responsibility for himself, admitted his guilt and undertook full compensation for damages."

"We hope that the court will take into account his sincere remorse and noble deed," the lawyer wrote in his Telegram channel.

Akhilgov said that his client had already reimbursed 64 victims in the amount of about 18 million rubles. Earlier, the court attached to the case all the receipts attesting to this. There are 113 victims in total.

Some of the blogger's former clients refused to provide their details for transferring money. They stated that they were afraid of further claims of unjustified enrichment, without specifying from whom they could come. Shabutdinov's defense said it would look for other ways of compensation.

Who is Ayaz Shabutdinov?

On his official website, Ayaz Shabutdinov positions himself as "the founder of a technology education company for entrepreneurs Like Center, an investor and a billionaire." But then it is stipulated that "in fact, I am a former teenager from the village of Kueda in the Perm Region."

In his autobiography, the blogger repeatedly emphasizes that he is an ordinary guy who has achieved a lot on his own. Since 2013, Shabutdinov has been developing a network of Like Hostel hostels and Coffee Like coffee shops, and also owned barbershops, language schools, and a travel business. On his website, he promises clients to destroy "the painful stereotype that not everyone can be an entrepreneur in our country."

In June 2021, his company received record revenue of 1 billion rubles, and reached 7.5 billion rubles in a year. "We have turned business into a science. Our students will defeat everyone. I'm telling you this for sure," he wrote.

According to him, more than 20 thousand clients have been trained at the Like Center. In 2022, Shabutdinov went abroad to "build a business from scratch in a new country." In 2023, the blogger returned to Russia and was arrested.

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What did the victims say

One of the victims, businesswoman Natalia Kalistratova, told the court that in 2019 she bought the Million with Ayaz VIP program from the defendant for 1 million rubles. Since she did not have this amount in cash, she was offered to take out a loan. We went to study in different countries — Scotland, Jordan, South Africa. The students paid for the trip at their own expense. Natalia did not like the courses, because "the speakers provided the simplest information from the Internet."

As a result, the victim spent 1.9 million rubles on training, but she did not have any more clients. For this, she demanded compensation of 1 billion rubles from the blogger. At the same time, at the suggestion of the defense to discuss the amount of compensation, the woman hung up, the blogger's lawyer Dmitry Grigoryadi told the court.

Another victim, Alexander Vilyuga, previously said that he was faced with the refusal of the "Like Center" to return the money after he decided to complete his studies at Shabutdinov's entrepreneurial courses ahead of schedule. The civil court sided with Vilyuga and decided to return the money along with compensation.

Another applicant, Vadim Baibula, attended Shabutdinov's free webinar, after which he took a training course for 316 thousand rubles in installments for two years. At some point, he also wanted to finish his studies ahead of schedule, but they persuaded him to stay and transfer to the Faculty of Thinking. According to the man, there he was taught to "change the mindset of a poor person to the mindset of a rich one."

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What threatens Shabutdinov

When purchasing an educational course, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the subject of the contract, the obligations of the trainees, the documented competencies of the teachers and only then conclude the contract, said Anton Pulyaev, managing partner of Advolaw.

"The expectations of the buyer of an educational course are not always fulfilled, but in these cases it is not always possible to talk about fraud," the lawyer said. — The main difference between fraudulent actions and the sale of an educational course is that the implementation of the course does not contain obviously impossible obligations on the part of the educational institution.

The blogger will be able to expect a non-custodial punishment only if the victims agree, he explained.

What matters is how Shabutdinov presented his courses to clients, says Timofey Ermak, senior partner at the law firm Yurlov & Partners.

"If he convinced everyone that the result was fully guaranteed when following his recommendations, then there is already an element of deception in this," the lawyer believes. — Or if the contracts specifically dealt with education, new knowledge and competencies, and instead the students danced and meditated.

If educational courses are presented objectively and their user gets exactly what is promised in terms of the content and scope of the program, and not in terms of the result that the student should achieve, then this cannot be considered a crime, lawyers believe.

Failure to return money to victims upon termination of contracts was also probably contrary to the law, Timofey Ermak believes.

According to him, 10 years in prison is the maximum penalty under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is extremely rare for a court to appoint such a term, even with many episodes, like Shabutdinov's. Partial compensation for damages and an admission of guilt are mitigating circumstances in the case, but they do not guarantee a lenient punishment.