Investments went offshore.
The police uncovered a pyramid scheme.

Article by Kommersant:  30 May 2021,
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4836856
 
 Translated in English:
 https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/4836856?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en

As it became known to Kommersant, a top manager and lawyer of a large financial pyramid operating under the guise of an investment company QBF, was arrested in Moscow. The alleged fraudsters transferred the money they received to offshore companies, providing clients with fake reports that their investments were invested in serious financial portfolios. According to preliminary estimates of the investigation, we can talk about the theft of about 5-7 billion rubles. According to law enforcement officers, the QBF management could legalize some of this money through development projects, including, for example, the construction of the Gribovsky Les residential complex in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region.

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow took into custody the 30-year-old co-founder of QBF LLC, who previously headed the Cyprus branch of the company, Zelimkhan Munaev, and 47-year-old lawyer of this structure, Evgenia Rossieva. Both are defendants in a criminal case initiated in April 2021 by the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
 
According to Kommersant, the security forces have been investigating the illegal activities of QBF representatives for more than a year. Last week, as part of the investigation, employees of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with colleagues from the Internal Affairs Directorate for ZAO Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow and the Moscow UFSB, with the support of special forces, conducted more than 30 searches in Moscow and St. Petersburg. As part of these measures, Messrs. Munaev and Rossieva were detained. The first one lives on Nikolaev Street, not far from the Government House.

When security forces raided him, he barricaded himself in his apartment and refused to open it for three hours. He gave up only after the commandos began to open the door with crowbars and sledgehammers. It's funny that, at this point, there were problems of a different nature. Now Zelimkhan Munaev, who had already decided to surrender, could not open the half-broken metal door from the inside himself - the anti-removable pins were jammed. As a result, the door had to be finally broken.
 
With Mrs Rossiyeva, who lives on Udaltsova Street, the law enforcement officers had no problems. After that, the investigative team went to the QBF head office, which occupies several floors in the City of Capitals complex in Moscow City (Presnenskaya embankment, 8, building 1). Documentation and electronic data carriers were seized there. Among other things, detectives also found memos for managers, which said how to behave in the event of a visit from law enforcement. It should be noted that a number of companies under the single abbreviation QBF, which also appears in the investigation materials, are registered at the same address on Presnenskaya Embankment.
 
In parallel with this, in St. Petersburg, operatives detained the director of the branch network of the QBF company, Vladimir Pakhomov. He has already been charged with fraud, but the investigation did not petition for his arrest.

As the employees of the GUEBiPK established during the operational-search activities, the funds of citizens were attracted by the company under the guise of investing in financial portfolios not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg but also through a branch network in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Murmansk regions, as well as Bashkiria. Moreover, the main emphasis was placed on wealthy clients, who, according to some reports, had access to budget money. “Not on record” Some QBF managers allegedly said that they were counting on the fact that these people would not turn to the police if they lost their money since they would not be able to prove the legality of their receipt.
 
However, among the official victims, according to Kommersant's data, there are still those who transferred 200–300 million rubles each to the alleged scammers, and one even gave 1 billion rubles for “trust management”.
 
Moreover, such people learned about the opportunity to earn about 20% on investments, as a rule, through the so-called word of mouth. And they were indeed paid some dividends at the expense of subsequent investors. Thus, the reputation of the company was maintained, and, in fact, the influx of new wealthy investors was guaranteed.
 
Ordinary clients who trusted QBF with relatively small sums were, as a rule, led by positive reviews about the company on the Internet. Their problems began when they intended to withdraw the invested funds from QBF. Prior to this, they were all confident that their money was working and making a profit, as managers sent them fictitious monthly and quarterly reports by e-mail.
“Extremely negative impression of QB finance. As long as you bring them money, everything is fine. As soon as you try to pick up, problems begin. Money is not returned. Managers stop answering calls. If you want to lose your money - you are in QBF, - they say, according to Kommersant, the company's clients. - This is an ordinary pyramid that takes money into a trust, some percentage can be withdrawn from you, but when you want to take all the money, then you won't get anything. I have been taken out for a year; the manager always disappears, and no one answers the calls.
 
As a result, many deceived investors agreed that the laudatory reviews about QBF were written either by the company's managers themselves or by someone on their order. At the moment, the victims, in this case, are several dozen people, among whom there are citizens of Ukraine and companies from Liechtenstein. The damage caused by them is estimated at about 2 billion rubles. The total amount of debt to customers is estimated at 5 billion to 7 billion rubles.
 
As the police officers established, the main investment agreement was concluded between an individual and the Cypriot QB CAPITAL CY LTD (QCCI LTD). It dealt with the transfer of funds to “trust management”. This was done in order to circumvent the norms of Russian legislation in the field of investment activity since such a service is not subject to licensing and is not subject to the supervision of the Central Bank. Clients were also explained that investing in foreign jurisdictions is the most attractive and profitable for them. As a screen, according to the investigation, until 2017, the alleged swindlers used QBF LLC, which had all the necessary licenses from the Central Bank. It was with this LLC that clients signed an additional agreement on brokerage services, trust management of funds, etc., believing that they were dealing with a legally operating organization. Meanwhile, investors' funds immediately appeared on account of QCCI LTD, from where they were subsequently transferred to settlement accounts of other non-resident companies, as well as FFIN BROKERAGE SERVICES INC (Belize), LA CASA INTERNATIONAL LTD (Marshall Islands), NOA Circle LTD (Nicosia).
 
In August 2018, when the Cypriot authorities had questions about the activities of QCCI LTD, of which Zelimkhan Munaev was then the director, the organization was liquidated. Its place was taken by new non-resident companies: White Lake Management Ltd (Cayman Islands) and Hong Kong's Simtelligence Company Limited.
 
All funds allegedly raised for investment were still at the disposal of the alleged organizers of the pyramid scheme. At the same time, some of them were actively legalized in Russia through development projects. One of them, according to investigators, could be, for example, the construction of the Gribovsky Les residential complex in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. Housing is being built by the M1 Development company, founded by 33-year-old Roman Shpakov. He is also the beneficiary and founder of a number of companies under the single abbreviation QBF. However, it is unlikely that investigators will be able to ask him questions in the near future.

According to Kommersant, in January 2021, when the clouds began to thicken over his offspring, he left for the UAE, where he now lives. But so far, the investigation is considering Mr Shpakov as a possible organizer of the criminal scheme.
 
In QBF, the criminal prosecution of its structure was connected with the showdown of some former functionaries of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region. The former are allegedly accused of embezzling budget funds, and they said that they had invested them in one of the investment companies. “Thus, the QBF company attracted the attention of the security forces. She was taken into development and searched. They are trying to push in order to receive funds in a volume that the company has never had. We are talking about amounts of several billion rubles,” QBF spokesman Nikolai Stepanov told Kommersant. “In the course of investigative measures, equipment was damaged in the company. By Monday, May 31, the technical support of the company should be fully restored. This will not affect client operations and the performance of departments in any way - money transfers, transactions and settlements will be carried out within the terms specified in the regulations and contracts. The accounts of the company and customers are functioning; there are no failures in the financial activities of the company.”

Recall that just a month ago, in the neighbouring Empire Tower in Moscow City; police officers closed a similar investment platform - Shumakov and Partners LLC. Its co-founders, Georgy Gats and Denis Shumakov, are now under arrest for similar manipulations. Moreover, the latter, before opening his own business in 2016, was a senior financial adviser to the same QBF company.