Ayaz Shabutdinov completed his education in pre-trial detention center
Blogger Ayaza Shabutdinova sent to a pre-trial detention center until December 16 on charges of eight cases of fraud. The investigation estimated the damage from the activities of the business coach at 4 million rubles. He did not admit guilt. The defense asked that Shabutdinov be given house arrest because he has children born in 2022 and 2023, but the request was rejected. Details about the case are in the Gazeta.Ru article.
Preventive measure
32-year-old millionaire blogger (1.9 million subscribers), business coach and founder of the Like Center courses Ayaz Shabutdinov was arrested for a month and 13 days – until December 16 – in the case of eight cases of fraud committed by an organized group in a particularly large size.
As follows from the testimony of the victims, in order to gain access to the course, it was necessary to deposit a relatively small amount. However, the first lesson turned out to be, in fact, self-PR for Ayaz Shabutdinov. And for further training on how to organize and conduct business processes, it was necessary to pay a lot of money. According to some reports, the cost of such courses could reach up to 1 million rubles. At the same time, not all businessmen could afford to pay such amounts at once. The blogger’s assistants, who rented an office in the Federation Tower in Moscow City, willingly came to their aid. There, those who wanted to listen to the full cycle of lectures by Ayaz Shabutdinov were informed that they could pay in installments or use a special credit program. However, investigators believe that the blogger misled listeners, essentially telling them the story of his success in business under the guise of educational services.
The Tagansky Court of Moscow granted the prosecutor’s request to take the accused of fraud into custody. During the hearing, the court assessed the total damage from Shabutdinov’s actions at 4 million rubles. The defendant did not admit guilt.
The defense asked to choose bail in the amount of 4.1 million rubles or house arrest as a preventive measure. The lawyer insisted that the damage Shabutdinov caused was insignificant and only eight people out of about 20 thousand students wrote a statement to the police.
“The investigation estimates the total damage at 4 million rubles, while my client’s total income for the past year is more than 300 million rubles. Thus, the amount of damage seems too insignificant to choose a preventive measure in the form of arrest,” the business coach’s lawyer said in court Nikita Apalikov.
The defense also asked that Shabutdinov be given house arrest, since he has children born in 2022 and 2023.
“The total damage is estimated by the investigation at 4 million rubles, while the total income of my client for the past year is more than 300 million rubles. Thus, the amount of damage seems too insignificant to choose a preventive measure in the form of arrest,” the business lawyer said in court. coach Nikita Apalikov. The defense attorney suggested that the judge release Shabsutdinov on bail of 4 million rubles or under house arrest in the apartment of the accused’s common-law wife in the Moscow region.
During the meeting, it became known that Shabutdinov has a passport from the island state of Saint Lucia, writes Mash. The channel claims that according to this document, Shabutdinov visited other countries, bypassing sanctions. He was also found to have visas to the USA, Italy and the UAE, and a UAE resident certificate, where he has property purchased in 2021–2022.
Shabutdinov case
The initiation of a criminal case under article “Fraud” (maximum 10 years in prison) against Shabutdinov became known on November 3. According to investigators, the blogger, together with his accomplices, through aggressive marketing, offered to buy educational programs, trainings and webinars and receive a guaranteed excess income.
The state prosecution suggests that the man, together with his partners, for selfish reasons, created “a false impression of the possibility of doing business and earning a high income thanks to educational programs” sold by his companies, but this was not true.
On the morning of November 4, the blogger was charged with eight crimes as part of a fraud case.
Representatives of the blogger claim that the company “fully fulfilled all its obligations.”
— Two investigators came before lunch. We went to the 30th floor, searches were carried out there. We finished somewhere before 12, it was a long time ago,” another guard told an MSK1.RU correspondent. […] The reception staff discussed the searches at Ayaz’s place among themselves. One of the girls told a MSK1.RU correspondent that when the security forces arrived, they were collecting information about Shabutdinov.
“One of the employees came and asked what I knew about Ayaz. “All I heard from my colleagues: the security forces sawed right through the iron door in the office,” the girl shared with the MSK1.RU correspondent. “They say that Like employees locked themselves in some closet and burned documents. That’s why firefighters also came,” a receptionist at the Federation Tower.
Lawsuits against blogger
As the Kommersant newspaper wrote:eight students wrote a statement against the blogger, who paid him a total of 5 million rubles and were dissatisfied with his services. According to Telegram channel “112”“many statements” were written to the police against Shabutdinov, “there are questions about taxes” for him.
Telegram channel Baza the day before I spoke with one of the women who wrote a statement against Shabutdinov. She stated that she was under pressure during the course. According to the victim, the owner of a logistics business learned about the events for entrepreneurs in 2019. She subsequently signed up for the free event. After that, according to her, the Russian woman’s passport was taken away and they began to put psychological pressure on her, then they took out a loan.
“They allegedly formalize it under the pretext of training, but they themselves influence the person and do not give him anything, but take possession of the funds,” the applicant shared.
However, the situation changed dramatically in March 2020. There was a scandal – Natalya did not like one of the feedback from Ayaz. The girl considered the feedback an insult and an argument ensued. However, according to company representatives, despite this she continued her training until June (and in March she even became the leader of her training group). The relationship between Kalistratova and Shabutdinov finally deteriorated by November of the same year. According to company representatives, Natalya called the police to the office, contacted the media with a proposal to “shape up her story,” and even allegedly staged her abduction.
“He wrote to many girls, many of them showed screenshots of how Ayaz wrote to them in a personal message: “Let’s wake up together.” There was always some kind of intimacy, some kind of trash. After that, all the girls thought that he had serious intentions for them,” says a former student of a business coach. “He wrote: ‘Let’s have children.’ Every girl wants to start a family and marry a millionaire,” Natalya Kalistratova, student of Ayaz Shabutdinov.
– They did not officially marry. This is supposedly for the image; again, children were given birth to in order to make content. And children live without parents – with nannies. They are kicked somewhere, they live without the attention of their parents. I want him to sit down. If he is imprisoned for a long time, it will be a gratitude to the police officers,” Kalistratova said.
As Gazeta.Ru was told by the legal center DestraLegal.ru, which represents the interests of those affected by the blogger’s activities, former students of the Like Center filed lawsuits due to illegal refusals to return tuition fees. At least 62 people asked for help. All plaintiffs called the courses poor quality.
Those demanding their money back were divided into two types: those who had already completed the training program, and those who decided to issue a refund after several months of training. One of the lawsuits obtained by Gazeta.Ru states that by the end of the first month of training, students realized that the Like Center courses did not allow them to achieve their stated goal – to learn how to run a profitable business.
The Like Center told Gazeta.Ru that they are operating as normal and continue to sell courses.
“Nothing has changed. We are working as usual. Everything is absolutely normal,” the center said.
The cost of school courses varies from 499 rubles. for recorded webinars up to more than 1.5 million rubles. for annual programs with individual student support, personal meetings, etc., the Vedomosti correspondent was convinced.
“Like Center” in 2022 took fourth place in the top 100 edtech companies: its revenue fell by 30.5% to 5.2 billion rubles by 2021, according to data from the Smart Ranking research agency. At the same time, the online school has become a leader in the business education segment, which in 2022 fell by 21.7% to 9.7 billion rubles, they note. Shabutdinov actively promoted the Like Center courses on his social networks.
“The person has been engaged in information fraud for a long time, deceiving people and evading taxes. Of course, this could not pass by the law enforcement agencies,” said the head of the League. In her Telegram channel, Ms. Mizulina noted that the organization had been waiting for the arrest of the young man since April 2023. The director of the Safe Internet League believes that there will still be cases of bloggers being detained for such activities.
“This is probably the largest information scam in our country, along with Blinovskaya. A large number of citizens wrote, including to us, that they considered themselves victims as a result of his fraudulent actions,” Ms. Mizudina emphasized.