An unexpected turn took place in the Tverskoy court of the capital at the trial of the largest online scam with tickets for famous Russian theaters. As it became known to Kommersant, the pre-trial cooperation agreement was terminated by the owner of the firms Evrotikets, Ticket Market and Office Group involved, according to the investigation, in the machinations, Vitaly Gashakov. Meanwhile, he was the only person involved in the investigation, who admitted his guilt. But at the very first court session, Mr. Gashakov, whose case was heard separately, refused the deal concluded with the Prosecutor General’s Office. However, he did not cancel his testimony given during the investigation.
Initially, it was assumed that the process in the case of the owner of the firms “Evrotikets”, “Ticket Market” and “Office Group” Vitaly Gashakov would not take much time. He is the only person involved in the criminal case of the “ticket mafia” who pleaded guilty and entered into an agreement with the prosecutor’s office. Therefore, the case of the entrepreneur, who, like his accomplices, is charged with especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and the misuse of trademarks of famous Russian theaters (article 180 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), should have been considered in a special order – without investigation evidence and interrogation of witnesses.
However, already during the preliminary meeting, Mr. Gashakov, according to Kommersant’s sources, unexpectedly for the representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office, who supports the prosecution, said that he did not want his case to be considered in a special order, since he intends to abandon the pre-trial deal.
After that, the prosecutor asked the court to adjourn. The hearings were then adjourned several times for consultations with the defendant’s defense. The latter firmly stood by his decision and ended up breaking the deal. At the same time, in court, Mr. Gashakov could not clearly explain the motives for his decision, but at the same time emphasized that he did not intend to refuse the testimony given by him during the investigation. The state prosecution did not hide its surprise, and one of those present asked the defendant’s lawyer if the latter knew the expression “lift the term off the floor.” There was no answer. Now the case of Mr. Gashakov will be considered in the usual way. His defense could not be reached for comment.
As previously reported by Kommersant, Vitaly Gashakov and entrepreneurs Alexei Kurinov, Yana Tagina and Yulia Charykova, whose cases are also being considered by the Tver Court, are considered by the investigation to be the leaders of a criminal group that carried out the largest online scam with tickets of famous Russian theaters and other cultural institutions.
The victims in the case are the Bolshoi and Maly theatres, the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater, RAMT, the Theater of Nations, the Moscow State Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky and the international cultural center “Spasskaya Tower”. The damage from the actions of fraudsters was estimated by the investigation at 9.1 million rubles. However, the victims themselves, who, due to the actions of the defendants, practically stopped online ticket sales, filed claims against the defendants for a total of 130 million rubles.
As follows from the case file, in December 2013, businessmen Andrey Khartanyuk and Alexei Kurinov, through their company Simple Life Innovation, began legally selling tickets to various performances, sports matches and festivals. However, in February 2017, Mr. Hartanyuk, according to the investigation, having decided to sharply increase his income, developed a criminal enrichment plan, instructing his partner to create twin sites for official theater portals. Mr. Hartanyuk, according to the case file, took over the overall management of the criminal business, set ticket prices and distributed the money received from their sale, and also provided cover from various kinds of checks. His accomplice Kurinov, for his part, recruited employees and supervised their work.
How did the trial of clones of sites of famous theaters start?
According to the materials of the case, the attackers created sites that completely copied the official portals of theaters and festivals, and then, using special algorithms, ensured that when queries were made in search programs related to buying tickets, the twin sites were indicated first. Gradually, this led to the fact that online sales almost completely went only through clones.
Around 2017, according to investigators, Yulia Charykova joined the criminal group, who became Andrey Khartanyuk’s assistant, passed on his instructions and monitored their execution. In addition to her, Vitaly Gashakov and Yana Tagina, CEO of the company Without Us, became active members of the group. Mr. Gashakov, according to investigators, selected premises for programmers, couriers and call centers, the latter were directly supervised by Ms. Tagina. Also, the business, according to the case file, was joined by the mother of Andrei Khartanyuk, Irina Khartanyuk, who selected and registered legal entities through which tickets were sold. Now she and her son are on the wanted list.
