The Moscow Regional Prosecutor’s Office approved the indictment in the case of a group of realtors and funeral service workers involved in the illegal privatization of real estate of deceased citizens living in Moscow and the region.
According to the investigation, a group of 19 people are accused of organizing and participating in an organized crime community (OPS), fraud, and laundering illegally obtained funds. The case will soon be sent to the Balashikha City Court for consideration.
Investigators believe that in October 2013, a realtor named Yuri Shilov organized a criminal group. It included 18 more people who aimed to illegally take possession of real estate in Moscow and the Moscow region. They targeted deceased individuals with no relatives. The prosecutor’s office report also mentioned attempts to take over municipal property in the Moscow region. There are a total of 14 fraudulent actions in the case.
To take control of the deceased's real estate, OPS members created sales contracts approved by a notary within the community. They then submitted fictitious documents for state registration and re-registered the property to the attackers. The property was later sold, and the proceeds were divided among the accomplices.
From October 2013 to 2017, the attackers managed to obtain approximately 510 million rubles in this manner.
In late 2017, law enforcement detained the fraudsters and found both real and fake documents of deceased people, false seals, and letterheads of various organizations during searches of their residences.
According to the Moscow Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the core of the OPS included individuals providing real estate and funeral services, as well as those involved in organizing transactions for property ownership transfers. There were also accomplices responsible for creating fake passports, death certificates, and sales contracts.
The Main Investigation Department (GSU) of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region charged each participant based on their role in the organized crime group with organizing and participating in a criminal community, large-scale fraud, and money laundering.
Initially, the defendants were held in custody, but most of them were later placed under written undertaking not to leave or prohibition of certain actions due to the lengthy investigation. The organizer of the criminal group, Yuri Shilov, remains under house arrest.
