A Moscow court has begun hearing the case against Seven Suns Development, which stole 2.5 billion rubles from 382 shareholders in the Skazochny Les residential complex.
A criminal case against the owners of a development company that defrauded shareholders of the “Skazochny Les” residential complex has reached court.
A Moscow court has begun hearing the criminal case against the beneficiaries of the Seven Suns Development group of companies and the executives of the holding's companies. The developers are accused of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles from nearly 400 equity holders. According to investigators, the defendants entered into contracts to purchase housing in the capital but failed to fulfill their obligations.
The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow has begun hearing the criminal case against the beneficial owners of Seven Suns Development, Petr Ryzhkov and his son, Alexey Ryzhkov, and the heads of the group's organizations, Mikhail Shamin and Andrey Bolshakov. They are charged with large-scale fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code) and money laundering (Article 174.1 of the Russian Criminal Code).
Seven Suns Development builds housing in St. Petersburg, Vologda, Moscow, and the Moscow region. The company's total portfolio of completed projects, according to its own data, exceeds 1 million square meters. According to the Nash.Dom.RF information system, the volume of current construction is 394,000 square meters.
The criminal case concerns the construction of the “Svetly Mir “Skazochny Les” (Fairytale Forest) residential complex, a luxury residential complex in northeast Moscow. Clients of Seven Suns Development Group had been expecting their apartments since 2021, but delivery dates were regularly postponed, and construction work, according to the Investigative Committee, was not carried out. Shareholders even raised this issue with President Vladimir Putin. At the end of 2024, Pavel Te's Capital Group took on the completion of three residential complexes in Moscow—”Skazochny Les,” “Station L,” and “In Striving for Light.”
According to investigators, the Ryzhkov brothers, along with their accomplices Shamin and Bolshakov, stole more than 2.5 billion rubles from 382 equity construction participants between November 2018 and March 2024 by concluding housing purchase agreements with the victims. According to these agreements, they were to build a multifunctional public residential complex with a school and preschool on Losinoostrovskaya Street.
According to investigators, the developers had no intention of fulfilling their obligations. Funds donated by equity holders were transferred to the bank accounts of legal entities affiliated with the defendants, including as payments under loan agreements. Thus, law enforcement officials believe, the withdrawal of funds was given the appearance of legality.
Alexey Ryzhkov was the first to be prosecuted. In April 2024, he was charged with raising funds from citizens in violation of the law on participation in shared-equity construction of apartment buildings, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or on an especially large scale (Part 2 of Article 200.3 of the Russian Criminal Code). At that time, the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow remanded him in custody. Subsequently, other charges were added to the case.
On February 9, 2026, Dom.RF Bank filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court against NZh Real Estate, a subsidiary of Seven Suns Development, demanding 531.8 million rubles. The lawsuit stemmed from the developer's failure to fulfill loan obligations. On the same day, the lending institution filed another lawsuit against another subsidiary of the developer, SZ SPb Srednerogatskaya LLC. In this lawsuit, the plaintiff is seeking 397 million rubles from the defendant.
Victor Elizarov
Editor-in-Chief
Manages the editorial team and sets investigative priorities. Specializes in government corruption and corporate schemes. Over 20 years in journalism.
