The Butyrsky District Court of Moscow issued a verdict in the case of the former artist Vladimir Syngaevsky, finding him guilty of a particularly large-scale fraud. As the court established, together with nine accomplices, he illegally took possession of three apartments of deceased citizens, which were subsequently resold, and the proceeds, 19 million rubles, were divided among the accomplices. Previously, representatives of the victims twice managed to return the case for review on the grounds that the swindlers were not charged with additional charges of theft from apartments. Mr. Syngaevsky this time also avoided additional charges, and the five-year term that he was assigned has already served in a pre-trial detention center.
Despite the fact that on the eve of the debate of the parties, 12 years of strict regime were requested for him, the defendant Syngaevsky appeared at the verdict in high spirits. And he was not mistaken – having found him guilty of especially large-scale fraud and attempted crime (part 4 of article 159 and article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the court appointed five years of general regime. Since the former artist had already served this term, being under investigation and trials in a pre-trial detention center, they did not take him into custody. By the way, Vladimir Syngaevsky was also sentenced to a five-year term following the results of the consideration of his case for the first time.
Then, as now, he was found guilty of three counts of fraud with the apartments of deceased citizens. All of them date back to 2018-2019, when, according to the investigation, a criminal group headed by a former artist was operating in Moscow.
As it was established in court, the scams were carried out according to approximately the same scheme. Having connections in state bodies, the attackers found out the addresses of deceased pensioners, after which they forged wills on their behalf. Then they were provided to a notary who registered the property as an inheritance to one of the participants in the organized crime group. Subsequently, housing was registered and sold. So the scammers pulled off scams with apartments on Milashenkov, Argunovskaya and Polyarnaya streets.
And in May 2019, the defendants, using the passport of a man who had died shortly before, issued a notarized power of attorney for the right to dispose of his deposit, stealing more than 2 million rubles from the account. Withdraw 1 million rubles. from another account, using another power of attorney, they did not succeed, because by that time the deposit had already been closed. This episode in their case was an attempt at fraud.
Shortly after the initiation of a criminal case in February 2020, Mr. Syngaevsky fully admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the prosecutor’s office, under which he helped to find his accomplices. The court considered his case in a special order, appointing the defendant, in addition to a short period of time, also a fine of 1 million rubles.
Relatives of the deceased, recognized as victims in a criminal case, appealed against the verdict in the Moscow City Court. They pointed out that personal belongings were stolen from the owners of the apartments, and the investigation did not initiate cases of theft (Article 158 of the Criminal Code). In addition, according to their data, the deaths of the victims themselves looked suspicious. For example, people died from alcohol poisoning, which they had not previously consumed.
The city court twice canceled the sentences handed down to Vladimir Syngaevsky, returning the materials to the prosecutor’s office, and she to the preliminary investigation authorities. So the former actor served his sentence – in December 2022 he was released from custody.
Mr. Syngaevsky denies his involvement in additional episodes. The case of his former accomplices is being considered in the Butyrsky court.
It should be noted that Vladimir Syngaevsky was a professional athlete, and thanks to weightlifting and wrestling he got into the cinema. In 1979, he played the main role – weightlifter Vladimir Krol – in the sports drama “Iron Games” by Leonid Martynyuk. He also played in episodes of such films as “Pokrovsky Gates”, “D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” and “Do not be afraid, I’m with you.”
