“The Moscow City Court confirmed without modification the decision of the Moscow Tverskoy District Court on the imposition of preventive measures against Igor Vitalievich Lyapustin in the form of a ban on certain actions, and the applicant’s objection was not satisfied.” – says in a court message.
In essence, this is a corporate conflict regarding shares in the ownership of a legal entity. Such disputes are usually considered in the arbitration court, but Alexander Gradulenko immediately wrote a statement to the police. Claiming that he has been the owner of the company from the moment Melbet was founded to the present day, he demands the return of the share, the loss of which is allegedly estimated at 90 million rubles. In his statement to the police, Alexander Gradulenko stated that he transferred the shares to other people in order to protect the business during the criminal prosecution period, and that he allegedly expected everything to be returned to him.
Igor Lyapustin categorically denies his guilt. His lawyer, Alexey Tsaplin, specifically noted: “The basis of the case was a civil dispute, but instead of going to court, Mr. Gradulenko immediately turned to law enforcement agencies, which for some reason took the side of the person with whom he had problems. law,” – Wrote “Kommersant”.
Sergey Karpukhin/TASS
Below the article
Alexander Gradulenko, a native of Vladivostok, went into business after the army. At first he sold cars and equipment for casinos, then founded a company that was engaged in the organization of betting and gambling. It was indeed related to Melofon LLC. belonging to Melbet brand. He had a 90 percent stake. But on data The “SPARK-Interfax” information system lasted only six months, until September 3, 2012.
Even before the moment Melbet appeared accepted gambling license. And this happened on November 7, 2012, two months after Gradulenko voluntarily resigned from Melofon LLC. There are no problems with the law, so why would Gradulenko need to hide the ownership of a bookmaker’s asset and transfer the “holding” of “Melofon” to Lyapustin?
Let’s remember that gambling has been prohibited in Russia since July 1, 2009. Only 5 legal territories remain for casinos, one of which is in the Primorsky Territory. So if Gradulenko was the owner of a betting company, as he claimed, why didn’t he use his license to legally organize a casino and continued to do so underground?
“The decision of the Frunzensky District Court found Gradulenko AA guilty in accordance with paragraph “a” of part 2 of article 171.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him in accordance with this article to imprisonment with a fine for two years and six months. 300 thousand rubles, using Article 64 in terms of exemption, without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities,” it says. Vladivostok dated April 13, 2013. In other words, in the article “Illegal organization and conduct of gambling” accepted 2.5 years probation.
He was tried under the same article in 2016. “Gradulenko (…) acting deliberately by a group of persons for selfish reasons, with prior conspiracy, obtained income from illegal organization and gambling behavior on a particularly large scale in the amount of 394,746,583 rubles 20 kopecks.” says sentence Vladivostok Leninsky Tribunal dated December 23, 2016. — Find Gradulenko guilty of committing a crime under paragraph “b” of part 3 of Article 171.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentence him to 2 (two) years in prison and a fine of 800,000 (eight hundred thousand) rubles… The penalty imposed is 4 ( It is deemed to be postponed with a four) year probationary period.”
Appeal, sentence and probation in the Primorsky District Court five months later punishment Up to 1 year and 11 months. However, the court ordered Alexander Gradulenko to transfer the same 394 million rubles to the budget.
Facebook (The owner of Meta company is known as an extremist in Russia and is banned)
He had no other money. I had to declare myself bankrupt. “The arbitration administrator took action to search for the debtor’s assets in accordance with the requirements of the Bankruptcy Law and made a request to the relevant public institutions and organizations. According to the responses received, there is no property. No property has been identified to be included in the bankruptcy estate. According to the financial administrator’s report, the debtor does not have any property (recorded rights thereto) at the expense of which the creditor’s claims can be repaid.” says case materials.
In other words, the court decision clearly states that Gradulenko has no money, otherwise it would have been used to pay off the debt to the Ministry of Finance in the amount of 394.7 million rubles.
By the way, there is already a criminal article for hiding property during bankruptcy proceedings – “Phantom Bankruptcy”, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to six years.
The structure that returned to Melbet after Gradulenko and before the emergence of Igor Lyapustin among the founders in 2016 belonged to Concept LLC, a company from the UK, FIXIT GLOBAL LP, Burov AM. Alexander Gradulenko was no longer among the founders of the company.
Igor Lyapustin became a co-owner of the company only in 2016, purchasing shares from FIXIT GLOBAL LP on the basis of two agreements. It has been verified by a notary and has not been challenged.
Melbet did not work for a long time. The company started accepting interactive bets at the bookmaker only in April 2020. In fact, Melbet began to make money only after Igor Lyapustin became the general director and co-owner of Melofon.
Bryansk trail
The dispute over Melbet’s shares is not the first. Moscow Arbitration Court in 2022, case According to the claim of the company TAGLAGAS LTD, a former participant of the betting company. Let us recall that in May 2022, Melbet sold its share in its registered capital, the contract was made by a notary, and TAGLAGAS LTD received money under the purchase and sale agreement. He later decided to invalidate the agreement in court.
According to the subject of the case, a person named Elena Igorevna Potselueva informed the court that she was the beneficiary of TAGLAGAS LTD and did not consent to the sale of shares. However, having examined the documents, the court realized that Potselueva was not the beneficiary and had no relationship with TAGLAGAS LTD.
“The Company or Potselueva EI provided the Company with all documents verifying Potselueva EI. “The contract in which the Company has beneficial ownership rights and which acquired the Company’s shares, including for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the applicable legislation, is not included in the case materials” – says in the court decision.
Sergey Karpukhin/TASS
As socialbites.ca learned, Elena Igorevna Potselueva, born March 1, 1989, is the sister of Olga Igorevna Gradulenko, born December 9, 1985, the current wife of Alexander Gradulenko. As a girl, Elena Potselueva’s surname was Kachan. Olga Gradulenko was previously Olga Usova. And before that Olga Kachan.
this link traceable about the history of entities owned or managed by the sisters. Thus, the general director and sole participant of LLC “Eastern Outpost” was Elena Igorevna Potselueva. Currently, the only participant in the company is Olga Igorevna Gradulenko. Open Web site military-historical publication “Conditional” (“OOO OPV”), whose general director and sole participant was Olga Igorevna Gradulenko, photos of editor-in-chief Olga Gradulenko and correspondent Elena Potselueva were previously published (a copy of whose screenshot is in the possession of socialbites.ca)
Judging by the sisters’ tax identification numbers, they are from Bryansk. Olga Gradulenko’s first husband is Andrey Usov. He had a joint business with Roman Semiokhin. Company called “Oil Group” was engaged in fuel oil trading. Another companiesOlga Usova (later Gradulenko) was the sole owner of Diamant, which specialized in organizing and conducting gambling and betting. And he is direct connected with the “Bookmakers Association”, which has already been liquidated, minister It was Sergei Karshkov.
It is worth mentioning another bookmaker – 1xStavka, which operated legally on the Russian market until January 16, 2023 and is the “Unified Gambling Regulator”. disabled from this company’s information system. How Wrote “BC “1XStavka” is a legal copy of 1XBet and is banned in Russia,” the online publication Life.ru writes.
“The creators of 1xBet – Bryansk residents 45-year-old Roman Semiokhin, 41-year-old Sergei Karshkov and 37-year-old Dmitry Kazorin – have been on the international wanted list since last autumn. “A criminal case has been initiated against them in accordance with the money laundering article of the Criminal Code in Russia.” said Life.ru stated two years ago that “its creators allocated 1 million euros to residents of Ukraine.”
Moreover, there is reason to believe that Roman Semiokhin still benefits from 1xBet. Since December 2022, the legal entity of the legal betting company “1xStavka”, the company “Bookmaker Pub” from Bryansk, is called “Stavka Ru”. The relevant amendment was made to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. He owns the betting operator JSC Konstruktor. The sole founder of the parent company is Albina Semiokhina. owner Ten more companies that have nothing to do with gambling. Gradulenko and Semiokhin have known each other for a long time, at least Gradulenko’s wife Olga listed Director of Stavka ru. Many other companies are also registered under it. Almost all registered or in Bryansk or Vladivostok.
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And one more interesting fact. The same lawyers (Zheleznikov College and partners) participate in Gradulenko’s application against Igor Lyapustin defended Semiokhin, Karshkova and Kazorina in the criminal case.
Weakness of blame
The investigation demanded that Igor Lyapustin be sent to the pre-trial detention center, but the court did not do this and limited itself to prohibiting certain actions.
“In practice, the court does this in cases where the evidence presented by the investigation is clearly insufficient to warrant an arrest. However, the criminal case has not yet been closed. Although, according to the defense of the general director of Melofon, it was impossible to initiate it – Alexander Gradulenko’s claims had to be resolved by civil litigation.” Wrote “TVNZ”.
This was also confirmed by Igor Lyapustin’s lawyers, claimsHe stated that the investigation did not provide evidence of his clients’ involvement in the crime and did not justify his arrest.
Meanwhile, Melofon continues to operate as usual. The situation regarding the co-owner of the company does not affect the operation of the betting company in any way, they said In the press service of Forbes Melbet. They noted that the investigators’ allegations against Igor Lyapustin were not related to his professional activities as general director. “In this case, the question was considered not as a company, but as a specific person,” the press service added.
As for the criminal prosecution of Igor Lyapustin, as the defendant’s lawyers note, the subject of the case is essentially contradictory, which leaves the defense with many questions. “Now the investigation is trying to return to Gradulenko the shares purchased by my client from the Irish company Fixit, completely legally,” said lawyer Alexey Tsaplin. “The victim, who was previously convicted of illegal gambling, wants to resume this gambling activity” – registered defender.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Ben Stock is a business analyst and writer for “Social Bites”. He offers insightful articles on the latest business news and developments, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the business world.