Crypto fraudster: investors believed in super profits and lost 200 million rubles
On September 21, the Zamoskvoretsky Court handed down a verdict in the case of a financial pyramid scheme, which included the Academy of Financial and Investment Management and the Graduate School of Financial Management. 70 people were affected by their activities. The total amount of damage was about 200 million rubles. However, according to the failed investors, there are many more victims, but not all of them decided to file a police report. How "financial" companies have been ingratiating themselves into people's confidence for several years and persuading them to invest millions of rubles in a pyramid scheme — in the "Izvestia" material.
Awaiting sentencing
By 10 a.m., the defendants, who had recently been on their own recognizance, began to pull up to the courtroom. "How are you? Are you holding on?" the accused Snezhana Zaporozhets asked another defendant Denis Mezhevikin, who was trying to fasten a bag tightly packed with things.
At the same time, victims of the so-called financial companies case were gathering in the corridor. "There is no hope for money," the former investors talked among themselves. They were mostly people in their 50s and 60s. Most of them have given hundreds of thousands and even millions of rubles to false brokers.
There are six defendants — the CEO of "Academy of Finance and Investment Management" LLC (AUFI) Arseniy Dadashev, managers of AUFI Ivan Grudynin (the judge called him Grudtsyn) and Mikhail Koshevsky, CEO of "Higher School of Financial Management" Vitaly Fidurov, cashiers Snezhana Zaporozhets and Denis Mezhevikin. Other companies, including "International Financial Center" LLC (IFC), are also mentioned in the case file, but no charges have been filed against any of the employees of this company.
70 people were recognized as victims, one of them told "Izvestia". The amount of damage, according to estimates of "Izvestia", amounted to about 200 million rubles.
The first civil lawsuits related to the defendants in the case began to be filed in the courts back in 2020, but they were refused. This was often due to the intricate scheme of money movement that operated in the pyramid. For example, one of these decisions, published on the website of the Moscow courts, states that the victim has entered into an agreement with "AUFI" LLC for the provision of consulting and information services in the field of financial markets. At the same time, he transferred the money to another legal entity. On this basis, the court considered that the defendant did not receive money from the plaintiff and provided the plaintiff with only consulting services in the field of financial markets without remuneration.
— An inappropriate way of protecting the right has been chosen here: the court dismissed the claim because the money was transferred to another legal entity, and it is impossible to demand its return from the defendant. At the same time, the claim was not filed directly against the recipient of the funds," lawyer Alexander Karavaev explains the refusals of the courts.
But the number of disputes grew. According to "Izvestia" calculations, more than 45 people have applied to the Moscow courts alone. However, already in 2020, several articles were published online stating that AUFI had signs of fraud. As a result, a criminal case was initiated and submitted to the court in October 2023, but returned to the prosecutor's office in November. The hearings resumed in June 2024.
Failed investors
The Higher School of Financial Management and the Academy of Financial and Investment Management worked according to a similar scheme, the victims say. Future investors were called, finding their phones in pre-purchased databases, told about attractive investment conditions and invited to the office. Already on the spot, they were offered to invest in stocks or currency purchase and sale operations on the Forex market.
One of the victims admitted to "Izvestia" that she learned about AUFI in 2019: she became interested in investing, began to study cryptocurrency and stumbled upon the company's website. The word "academy" in the name bribed and inspired confidence, the victim recalled. At the same time, she did not contact the company herself and did not leave her contacts. However, a few days later, the woman received a call and was invited to the office. There were several such calls, and after another phone conversation, she agreed to come.
The company was located in a business center on Valovaya Street in the center of Moscow. This, as the victim notes, also created the impression of a reliable organization. However, the woman had questions already at this stage: for example, she was confused that the ticket office was located in another building. But AUFI managers assured that there is no need to worry and everything is transparent. With her, the employees of LLC opened a crypto wallet and deposited money into it. The managers promised that they would keep track of the clients' accounts themselves.
The victim deposited funds several times, but refused another call with an offer to invest again. After a while, she discovered that there was no money in the account, and the number of the crypto wallet turned out to be fake.
The victims are sure that the employees of all the pyramid companies understood that they were participating in a scam, were trained, received a lot of money for attracting customers and were familiar with each other.
The court's decision
On September 21, after two and a half years of court hearings, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court announced the verdict of six defendants. The longest sentences were given to the director general of AUFI Arseniy Dadashev — 10 years in a general regime colony and the head of the Higher School of Economics Vitaly Fidurov — eight years.
The court sentenced managers Ivan Grudynin and Mikhail Koshevsky to four and a half years in a penal colony. For cashiers Snezhana Zaporozhets and Denis Mezhevikin, the punishment was limited to suspended sentences. In addition, all the accused must pay multimillion-dollar compensation to the victims. The largest claim amounted to 46 million rubles. However, the victims do not particularly expect to get their money back: as one of the depositors estimated, it could take more than 400 years.
The defendants, who received real sentences, were taken into custody in the courtroom. Their relatives reacted emotionally to the verdict, blaming the victims for the incident and saying that only "pawns who do not have millions in their account and have young children" would serve their sentences.
Alarm signals
According to Freedom Global analyst Vladimir Chernov, when choosing a management or brokerage company, first of all it is necessary to check the availability of a valid license for the relevant type of activity through the Central Bank's "Check financial market participant" service, as well as to verify the name, INN and website address with the data of the regulator.
— The contract should include a trusted company with clear terms of fees and withdrawal of funds. A request to transfer money to an individual's card or a manager's crypto wallet should immediately alert the manager. The license does not protect against investment losses, but it allows you to verify who you trust with your money," the expert says.
Analysts note that it is worth considering the legality of a company if it offers an unusually high income and guarantees its receipt.
— If you are promised to earn a lot of money quickly, and with almost no risk, this is the first red flag. Especially when it comes to profitability, which is significantly different from the market. Big profits are possible, but they always involve serious risk. If you are promised both conditional 100-200% per annum and guaranteed results, you should at least stop and double—check everything," adds the information security expert Kontur.Aegis" and Staffcop by Yuri Drachenin.
Market participants note that scammers can pose as employees of a real broker, create similar websites and personal accounts. Experts recommend manually checking websites and checking company contacts to make sure they are accurate.
Yuri Drachenin advises not to trust the numbers in your personal account without checking: the displayed profit does not mean that the money really exists and the transactions were carried out. You can check this by requesting a withdrawal. If you need to pay taxes, fees, insurance, or any other amount first, do not deposit anything. You don't need to make any new payments to receive your own money.
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