A FINANCIAL PYRAMID IN TOMSK. CREDIT COOPERATIVE ACCUSED OF EMBEZZLEMENT OF 500 MILLION

A criminal case initiated several years ago against the heads of the consumer credit cooperative "First Tomsk" has been sent to court. The volume of the investigation materials amounted to 200 volumes. Investigators believe that the director of the Consumer Credit Cooperative Evgeny Sedletsky and his wife Irina Samokhina, who held the position of chairman, stole 528 million rubles.

The consumer credit cooperative appeared in Tomsk more than two decades ago and did not cause serious complaints from regulatory authorities until 2019. But the situation changed dramatically after the regulator conducted an audit of the organization's work. Signs indicating the insolvency of a Consumer Credit Cooperative were found. The police and prosecutors organized their inspection.

In December of the same year, a bankruptcy application to the Tomsk arbitration was received from the Central Bank and directly from the management of the Consumer Credit Cooperative. By that time, the cooperative consisted of about 3 thousand shareholders, of which about 900 had financial investments. Many were tempted by the high profitability of the organization, which offered rates at 15% per annum (later they dropped to 10.5%).

The director of the cooperative acknowledged the existence of problems that arose back in 2009. According to him, with a loan portfolio of 200 million rubles, the cooperative had property of only 30 million rubles. By that time, according to him, only 11 million remained on the settlement account of the Consumer Credit Cooperative.

In 2020, a criminal case against two persons was initiated by the police. Information about who is the accused in the case has not been disclosed for a long time. In April 2020, the arbitration introduced the bankruptcy procedure (supervision) Credit consumer cooperative. And in the middle of 2022, the fraud case (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was transferred to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

At the moment, the couple is on their own recognizance not to leave. According to local media, investigators believe that from 2013 to 2019, the Consumer Credit Cooperative worked as a financial pyramid. The heads of the organization attracted shareholders by advertising and other means, convincing them of the reliability and profitability of investments. At the same time, funds were stolen and spent on the needs of the chairman and director.