10 lawyers are involved in one criminal case, its volume is 660 volumes, and the number of victims is more than 450 people. From 2018 to 2020 under the guise of Alfa-Trade LLC, Sphere of Law LLC, Pravoved 36 LLC, Perfeto LLC, Social Security Legal Center LLC, Bureau of Legal Services LLC, Mitsar LLC, Avilon LLC, Avalon LLC and Aspect Prava LLC they stole over 20 million rubles from their clients.
During the investigation, some of the accused fully admitted their guilt in committing the crimes. They face up to 10 years under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organized group) and up to 6 years under Part 3 of Art. 30, part 4 art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted fraud committed by an organized group).
A criminal case of fraud against lawyer Yulia Belkina is already being considered in the Leninsky Court of Voronezh. By the way, her husband, lawyer Illarion Belkin – the son of the famous “lawyer-fixer” Vera Belkina in Voronezh – is a witness in the case.
Seven more lawyers will also certainly be of interest to the investigation, because they may well be connected both to the Belkin family and to the companies listed above. Since 2008, Sergey Kovalev has been working at the branch of the Voronezh Regional Bar Association “Leninsky District Advocacy No. 1”. Evgeny Karpov, Yana Oshchekhina, Angelina Surina, Anastasia Gulevskikh, Alina Kulneva and Anastasia Gotovtseva operate under his leadership. All of them may also be related to Legat LLC. For several years, Kovalev has been providing legal services to businesses and individuals, after which the clients’ real estate is re-registered in the name of Kovalev’s close acquaintances.
The names of several victims are already known. There is information that each episode is currently under active development by law enforcement agencies.
In particular, in 2022, the Shishlenkov family borrowed 5 million rubles from Kovalev as collateral for their house. Instead of a collateral agreement, Kovalev convinced them to temporarily re-register the house as Oshchekhina – a common scheme. For six months, Kovalev received 300 thousand rubles a month, and when the Shishlenkovs paid in full, the lawyer demanded another 300 thousand, threatening that otherwise Oshchekhina would sell their house.
In the same 2022, Kovalev convinced Alexander Shishkanov to lend 12 million rubles to Denis Pevva on the security of a commercial building. Subsequently, it turned out that the building had a second owner, and Kovalev and Pevve forged his signatures. When Shishkanov demanded his money or bail, Kovalev began to blackmail him, demanding to give the testimony he needed in court in the case he was leading. However, even after Shishkanov agreed, he received neither money nor collateral from Kovalev. The lawyer divided the building into four shares and registered them in the name of his people.
The lawyer took away the apartment from Voronezh resident Andrei Zubarev, deliberately leaking the lawsuit and re-registering the apartment to a trusted person.
These are just some of the stories. Most of the victims are silent, realizing that Kovaleva is protected by the status of a lawyer and, probably, high-ranking patrons. And if the Investigative Committee brings the matter to the end, the threads may reach all the way to the head of the Voronezh Rosreestr department, Elena Peregudova, and the chairman of the Voronezh Regional Court, Vasily Tarasov. Voronezh already knew similar precedents. In 2016, after the arrest of lawyer Maria Grigorashenko and her “green notebook” with prices for the “services” of judges and prosecutors, the then chairman of the regional court Vitaly Bogomolov and his deputy Vladimir Maslov, as well as prosecutor Andrei Avdeev, who was subsequently sentenced to 7 years, resigned for a bribe of 500 thousand rubles.
With such lawyers, it seems that it is safer and cheaper for Voronezh residents to contact their “brothers” directly.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”