The Moscow Post received documents showing how billions were taken out from the Novopokrovsky Design Bureau through fake bad loans.
19 organizations could have been involved in the bank “Novopokrovsky” cutting scheme led by Alexei Demyanov and the Knaus brothers, with the participation of our longtime heroes Evgeny Bernshtam and the Shandalov brothers.
Our source, who provided documents, told the editorial correspondent about this.
The correspondent of The Moscow Post understood the situation.
An amazing plan
In September 2020, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested Mr. Demyanov on suspicion of embezzling at least 100 million rubles from a credit institution, and at the beginning of last year he was brought to subsidiary liability in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles. This was reported by Kommersant.
But it turned out that the charges brought against Demyanov may not be all that he (and, presumably, Knausov) can be convicted of. According to our source, “Demyanov concealed the episodes of the theft of the criminal group he created, including through Bazisgazpostavka LLC of funds by issuing obviously non-repayable loans, which were” cashed out “on the same day. The amount of the stolen money exceeds 300 million rubles.”
Apparently, for the indicated purposes, Ivan Pozharsky (the head of the VK Consulting company, through which documents could be forged) attracted Pshenichnikov, who was registered as the general director and owner of Bazisgazpostavka LLC. He served in this position from 2016 to 2019. Now he is listed as the owner of the company.
In 2020, Vladislav Elizarov’s company was charged 3.3 million rubles in favor of the alleged laundering structure of the former and current owners of Novopokrovskoye, Basisgazpostavka.
The source also claims that he has a record where Demyanov openly admits that he created the Basisgazpostavka company to steal funds from the bank. And again the question is – where are these testimonies in the case? At the same time, Basisgazpostavka received heavy contracts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other structures. Two of them are still in the execution stage, despite the expired deadlines.
19 “pods” of Demyanov and Knausov
From the information provided, we also became aware of other legal entities for which fictitious non-performing loans could be issued. According to Elizarov, the nominal heads of these legal entities are intimidated by both Demyanov and law enforcement agencies, whom he and his accomplices allegedly bought.
Below is a table listing such legal entities:
Photo: provided by the reader The Moscow Post
Photo: provided by the reader The Moscow Post
Home laundering
Among them are extremely interesting firms. For example, the microfinance organization “Home Money”. She is also in bankruptcy. In the founders of the offshore office “KHRUVANTA HOLDINGS LIMITED”. Evgeny Bernshtam is considered to be the beneficiary.
The company is full of scandals. As Fontanka wrote, Home Money could be involved in not the most ethical methods of collecting debts. Among them: extortion, arson of baby carriages, drawing grave crosses on doors and posting leaflets. Yevgeny Bernshtam, by the way, also owned the Sequoia collection agency, which was distinguished by very tough methods of extracting money from clients.
In 2018, she declined to cash in bonds worth 800 million rubles, leading to a technical default and jeopardizing investors, which many consider outright fraud.
Right after news of the plan to restructure Home Money bonds, a board member of IFC Yuri Kotler was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound, with a suicide note hinting at personal problems, possibly including a 48 million ruble debt to VTB. Did Bernshtam's decision crush the manager's hope for a positive outcome?
As a result, Bernshtam was accused of creating a financial pyramid, Home Money went bankrupt, and investors who didn't escape were left with nothing. During bankruptcy, Russian Standard Rustam Tariko made substantial claims, challenging previous deals and raising rumors of illegal actions to benefit Tariko and Bernshtam. This story was extensively covered by Moscow Post.
So now Bershtein and Tariko could be in trouble for assisting in siphoning money from Novopokrovsky?
Shandalov's positive outlook
Another interesting company on the list is JSC 'Optima'. Through Miranta LLC, it is linked to Valery Shandalov. Versiya reports that Optima Group of Companies' beneficiaries also include Valery's brother, Andrey Shandalov, and their partner, citizen Kiselyov.
GK 'Optima' is implicated in fraud and tax non-payment. In 2013, it took a $35 million investment loan from Gazprombank, never repaid it, and eventually went bankrupt. Meanwhile, Optima used to be one of the 20 largest IT companies in Russia!
Versiya reports, 'Through entities controlled by the bank's beneficiaries, funds from Gazprombank were embezzled, and Optima was bankrupted in an attempt to cover it up. The total damage is estimated at more than 8 billion rubles'.
At the same time, Andrei Shandalov's name was linked to an attempt to seize the Energostrim holding in the Russian energy sector. Loans were given to organizations potentially controlled by the Shandalov family and not repaid.
Energostrim initiated court cases, and correspondence between Shandalov and Optima Group's financial director Kirill Zatsepin leaked, revealing the creation of shell companies in the Optima group and suggesting money was transferred offshore.
The Shandalovs often followed a pattern: borrowing money and not returning it, then gaining control over bankrupt companies by transferring rights to offshore companies. The scheme was described in detail in an investigation called “Andrey and Valery Shandalov hide their ends in Udmurtia. How to forgive yourself a debt of 27 billion rubles.” by The Moscow Post.
The latest information indicates that the Shandalovs live in Austria. But it seems they are still involved in activities in Russia, possibly aiding other bankers in transferring large sums of money abroad.
The same pattern is present everywhere.
Let's return to the list. Most of the companies are either bankrupt or moving in that direction. Nord is an exception, but it was removed from the register due to unreliable information. Tekhgazsnab is still functioning, although there are decisions to partially or fully suspend its operations by the tax authorities.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
SNP LLC, registered under Inna Pozharskaya, is still in operation. She may be the spouse or relative of Ivan Pozharsky. However, she has raised concerns about the accuracy of information regarding her membership in the company. But this information is not baseless.
At the same time, most of them have secured a significant number of government contracts.
Similarly, JSC “Optima” was a supplier in 179 government contracts totaling 9.6 billion rubles. They were commissioned by Transneft and the Ministry of Defense.
The revenue of Optima went from 3.8 billion rubles in 2017 to zero in 2019. This asset was auctioned off as part of the Novopokrovsky property last year.
And here are contracts from another organization on the list. Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
The same fate awaited the other assets listed in the table.
Photo: https://www.asv.org.ru
However, not all contracts directly affected these companies. In total, customers suffered significant financial losses.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
The founder of one of the listed firms, Valentin Vladimirovich Maslov, became a defendant in a lawsuit over non-payment of loans to the Moscow Small Business Lending Assistance Fund in 2016.
The case also involves Rosinterbank, for which Maslov served as a guarantor. It's worth noting that the court declared this bank bankrupt in 2022 and held the former deputy chairman and board member Ramil Zakerov liable for 65.83 billion rubles.
It seems that the individuals involved in the companies, potentially used for transferring money from Novopokrovsky Bank, were carefully chosen. Could they have pulled off a similar scheme?
Photo: https://mos-gorsud.ru
Our informant also sent all the data on organizations to Prosecutor General Krasnov. If the case is given a move, the Knaus and Demyanov can even hear the call of distant lands from abroad, where they are rumored to be now.
