Dmitry “Transformer” Portnyagin’s spouse, Ekaterina, was detained on suspicions of bribery, according to a Telegram channel called Baza.
Sources from the Investigative Committee cited Ekaterina Portnyagina’s detention tied to a bribery allegation. The arrest occurred during a transfer of 300 thousand rubles to a staff member in Moscow’s North-Eastern Administrative District.
The funds were reportedly used to secure permission to develop on the grounds of an upscale Siberian bath complex project tied to the Portnyagins. The project’s website lists bath visits starting at 25 thousand rubles for four hours of steam sessions.
The Tverskoy District Court ordered a restriction on certain actions by Portnyagina, and a lawsuit was filed against her under the charge of bribery mediation.
Portnyagin’s legal team, including Evgeny Gritskov, Mikhail Mushailov, and Vadim Shakhov, declined to comment when contacted by the channel.
Portnyagin was detained in Rostov-on-Don on April 12 after previously serving in a humanitarian mission within a special military operation zone. He remains under house arrest in connection with tax evasion and money laundering charges (part 2 of article 198 and part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, subparagraph “b”). Ekaterina is named as a suspect in the case.
During questioning, the founder of the Entrepreneurs Club acknowledged a perceived rift between a spouse and a partner within the venture. Analysts noted that dissolving the partnership could facilitate the use of a simplified tax regime and yield savings on value added tax and profit tax.
Earlier statements suggest Transformer’s situation involved questions about house arrest and ongoing legal proceedings related to the case, with ongoing media coverage from various channels .