The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow issued a verdict against persons who stole 181.7 million rubles from clients of the NPF First Russian Pension Fund (PRPF). Co-owner of Baltika Bank and member of the board of directors of PRPF sentenced to 7 years Oleg Vlasov and for 5.5 years – Anna Khokhlova, General Director of the investment company Empire Trust. Writes about this “Kommersant”.
The criminal scheme was built using a rare financial instrument – mortgage participation certificates (MIS) “High Standard”. They were depreciated after the organizers of the fraud replaced liquid collateral. The case has been in court since March last year. Both defendants were found guilty of particularly large-scale fraud for stealing 181.7 million rubles from pension fund clients.
Khokhlova’s term has been delayed by ten years due to the fact that she has a small child. A civil lawsuit against the convicts for the entire amount of stolen funds was also satisfied, but so far the court has arrested Vlasov’s property in the form of Land Rover and Volkswagen Polo cars, a Harley Davidson motorcycle and three non-residential premises in St. Petersburg and the Moscow region.
It is noted that at the beginning of the investigation of the case, the amount of damage exceeded 1.5 billion rubles, but by the end of the investigation it had decreased several times. In 2014, Vlasov began to lead a criminal group engaged in embezzling funds from the PRPF. As part of the case, co-owners of Baltika Bank Vasily Kosolapov and Olga Chernyak were put on the wanted list. A year before the bankruptcy of the bank, a multi-stage plan was implemented to steal customer funds. Khokhlova became the main executor, having chosen mortgage certificates of participation as the main tool of the scam. Profitability was guaranteed by mortgaged property – real estate in Zhukovka near Moscow and large loans issued by the bank to “reliable” firms. After the PRPF purchased “High Standard” certificates, the most valuable objects were withdrawn from collateral, and others appeared in their place. For example, the buildings of the Rot Front confectionery factory, which have never been pledged to Baltika. The assets of other companies were also used in the criminal scheme.
Oleg Vlasov pleaded not guilty. By the way, he remains a figurant in another criminal case on withdrawal of 46 billion rubles from Russia through Moldovan banks. The verdict has already been appealed by Vlasov’s lawyer Daniil Nikiforov, who believes that the investigation was conducted with numerous violations.
