In St. Petersburg, as part of the investigation into a well-known criminal case involving a financial pyramid posing as a consumer cooperative (PC) called Best Way, several top managers of this organization have been placed in custody.
Authorities suspect that a organized group might have stolen billions of rubles from investors since 2014 by pretending to invest in apartment purchases and financial services. The founder of Best Way PC, Roman Vasilenko, who lives in London, has not yet been accused in the investigation.
The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region initiated a criminal case last October regarding the organization of activities to raise large amounts of funds, as per part 2 of article 172.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The activities of Best Way were identified as a financial pyramid by the Central Bank and the Prosecutor General’s Office, prompting the initiation of the case.
Regulatory and supervisory agencies advised citizens to be cautious when investing personal savings in Best Way and its associated organizations.
Subsequently, the first victims came forward, alleging that large sums of money were stolen from them under the guise of improving their living conditions by the St. Petersburg cooperative “Best Way”. Roman Vasilenko, a 52-year-old businessman, is the founder of the organization that operates in 17 regions of Russia, along with its associated Life is Good LLC and the Hermes investment company registered in Belize. Vasilenko, a Naval Reserve Officer, established his business in 2014 after pursuing a business education in various countries and acquiring multiple citizenships and a residence permit in England.
The primary offering of PC “Best Way” serves as a more affordable alternative to mortgages. To join, each client is required to make a non-refundable contribution ranging from €1,000 to €2,000. Afterwards, they needed to accumulate up to 35–50% of the chosen apartment's cost in the Best Way account before being put on the waiting list to purchase housing.
Thus, the first person on the waiting list received the apartment solely from the investments of subsequent shareholders.
Ownership rights were initially registered under Best Way and only transferred to the final owner after the remaining amount was paid. The scheme was seen as attractive due to its lower overpayments compared to mortgages, but those deemed victims in this case now claim that Best Way's activity actually only involves redistributing money between shareholders.
The St. Petersburg police, together with colleagues from the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs, conducted investigative and operational activities in the city on the Neva as part of the case investigation, as per Kommersant.
Even after the start of a criminal case, Best Way continued to accept contributions from clients until February 15, 2022.
The operatives found and seized all the documentation and electronic media confirming the illegal activities of the cooperative in the offices. The investigation obtained data revealing that over its seven years of existence, the organization collected over 15 billion rubles from 20 thousand shareholders across the country. Around 3 billion rubles were found in the accounts. By the end of 2021, only 247 people managed to buy apartments from Best Way. Overall, the cooperative has provided 2,478 apartments to shareholders during its existence. Furthermore, those who moved into the housing transferred to Best Way without becoming its owner are at risk. If the company goes bankrupt, the cooperative will retain ownership of over 2,000 apartments.
The seized documentation and testimonies indicate that those who couldn't afford to buy an apartment were encouraged to invest their savings in the Hermes investment company, which promised a profit of up to 30% per year and benefits when joining a cooperative and buying real estate. Incidentally, the Hermes offices in St. Petersburg shared locations with the Best Way PC.
Several top managers of the alleged financial pyramid were arrested as a result of the police's work.
At the request of the investigation, the Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg sent Anna Vysotskaya, executive director of PC Best Way and Life is Good LLC, Elena Solovieva, chief accountant of Best Way, and Alexandra Grigorieva, director of Life is Good, to jail.
The investigation reclassified the accused's actions as fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) recently.
Regarding Roman Vasilenko, while he is not a defendant in the criminal case, law enforcement may have questions for him. However, it's unlikely that they'll be able to question him as he reportedly flew to London shortly before the initiation of the case, where he owns real estate, including several shopping centers. Additionally, operatives have information that a significant portion of the property abroad is registered to Mr. Vasilenko's relatives.
“Sneg”, 12/27/2021, “Shareholders may be left without apartments”: who may suffer in Tatarstan due to the problems of “Best Way”: […] Vasilenko is very active on social networks and a Youtube channel, with nearly 80,000 followers on Instagram. He frequently shares information about harmful attitudes and the right goals. about successful success. He recently introduced his own book called “Success Hunter”. On the cover is Vasilenko himself. The leader of “Best Way” is working hard to create the image of a philanthropist and a respectable businessman who is trying to assist people.
Roman Vasilenko is known to have a military background and received an economic education. A few years ago, he gave an interview to a journalist Vladimir Solovyov. In the interview, the head of Best Way mentions that he initially participated in network marketing and then decided to establish his own company doing the same thing.
Vasilenko says that he combined cooperation with network marketing. He explains that a shareholder can earn money for an apartment by recruiting other shareholders and that a minimum of 240 euros is paid for each recruited shareholder. In reality, Vasilenko openly acknowledges that Best Way is a pyramid scheme. […]
During an interview with Solovyov, Roman Vasilenko mentions that he is willing to take personal responsibility if the company suddenly fails. However, he has not commented officially on either the blocking of the site by the Central Bank or the criminal case so far. Vasilenko, his companies, and his followers appear to be open and public. They have open websites, social media pages, and YouTube channels. However, there is hardly any open communication on these platforms. The companies' websites do not provide financial statements or even a contact phone number for outsiders. — Inset K.ru
chelny-biz.ru, 12/20/2021, “Best Way demands to be excluded from the list of “financial pyramids”: Interregional consumer cooperative “Best Way” (Best Way) has decided to take legal action against the Central Bank of Russia to be removed from the list of “financial pyramids”. The lawsuit was filed with the Moscow Arbitration Court. After the Central Bank stated that Best Way showed signs of being a pyramid scheme, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office took over the organization. A criminal case followed immediately, and the cooperative’s website was blocked.
In the meantime, shareholders have launched an online petition to support Best Way (also known as Life is Good), and over 12,000 people have signed it on Change.org.
“The Central Bank has violated the civil and constitutional rights of shareholders to voluntary cooperation and has harmed a non-profit organization created to meet citizens' housing needs! — the authors of the petition write. — On December 16, 2021, Roskomnadzor blocked the cooperative’s website, preventing the possibility of making monthly share payments for the subsequent purchase of personal housing. Interregional Consumer Cooperative Best Way does not engage in illegal activity in the financial market and does not meet any of the signs of financial pyramids identified by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. – Inset K.ru.
