The police detained in Cheboksary chief executives of a credit institution suspected of creating a multi-level financial pyramid ("Ponzi scheme")
"Officers of the General Administration for Economic Security and Combating the Corruption of the MIA of Russia together with colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chuvash Republic held a large-scale operation to curb the illegal activity of top executives and founders of the organization with features of a multilevel "Ponzi scheme" and its controlled companies," - said the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Elena Alekseeva.
The company was created by two residents of Cheboksary, one of whom had already been previously a co-organizer of a financial pyramid. The company does not have any licenses for attracting funds of citizens, and it is not entered into the register of microfinance institutions.
According to the available information, the management of the limited liability company in the period from December 2011 and until now have been attracting funds of citizens promising high dividends (up to 60% per annum). The depositors were informed that their savings would be placed in the Forex market or invested in high-yield financial projects. In fact, the money was not placed anywhere, and dividends were paid at the expense of receipts from new investors.
To involve the maximum number of people in the "pyramid scheme" the organizers were widely advertising its activities through their own website, publications, as well as popular social networks.
According to the preliminary data more than ten thousand citizens became victims of the company. The total damage exceeded 300 million rubles.
The Investigation Administration of the MIA for the Chuvash Republic initiated a criminal case under the RF Criminal Code article "Fraud on a large scale".
The search operation involved more than 300 police officers. In numerous searches carried out in seventeen regions of Russia, the police seized financial and economic documents, printing drafts, electronic data carriers, bank cards and other items and documents of evidentiary importance for the proceedings.
Three organizers of the fraudulent scheme have been detained and placed into custody by a court decision.
Now investigators establish additional circumstances of the detainees’ unlawful activities.
Press-Center of the MIA of Russia
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