Another purchase of the laundering business is overgrown with amazing details. And this time it was not without the money of the retired billionaire colonel Zakharchenko. In the animated environment, the former decider, Sergei Chunaev, who spent time in the pre-trial detention center, surfaced.
Amazing talents were decided from the clip of billionaire Zakharchenko Sergey Chunaev is determined to whiten his reputation after a short term. According to media reports, one of the accomplices of the most famous gang of security forces Chunaev Sergey Leonidovich hit the cartoon!
If a few weeks ago, an Internet search for the query “Sergey Chunaev” gave links to articles about corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and redirected to materials about the former Colonel Zakharchenko and Major General Sugrobov, who are now living in places not so remote, then for some time now he for some reason, the same request gives links to the animation studio Flipp Animation Studio, which announced its intention to restart the Jingliks cartoon.
However, this is not an attempt to clean up the search engine results by so-called “interrupting” with fake news, which should omit earlier materials in the search with an undesirable context for the hero. The former head of the operational-investigative unit (ORCh) of internal security No. 8, which is part of the economic security and anti-corruption department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Chunaev, after he was slowly squeezed out of the authorities and fired from the security service of the All-Russian Bank for Regional Development ( RRRR) really leaned into animation.
Who is Sergey Chunaev?
Sergei Leonidovich bought Flip Animation Studio LLC on August 27, 2020, and on December 24 of the same year he headed his own enterprise:
Such a retraining from a “decider in uniform” (more on this later) to creative workers is rather strange in itself, but it would be understandable if Sergei Leonidovich finally lost faith in his return to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and decided to engage in a profitable business by buying himself – and he has money, and rather big ones (more on that later) – a thriving enterprise. But Flip Animation Studio LLC does not shine with financial indicators:
Net profit in 2021 amounted to minus 1.6 million rubles. Negative profit means losses in translation into human language. However, this figure is even more interesting as a percentage of “profit” in 2020. Then the losses amounted to one thousand rubles, that is, for the year, Chunaev’s company went into negative territory by 161,500%. What is mind boggling. It should also be added that in the new business of Sergey Chunaev, the Flipp Animation Studio, exactly one person works – General Director Sergey Leonidovich Chunaev.
Why Chunaev needed this virtually bankrupt company is unknown. We dare to suggest that through it he plans to launder his corruption proceeds received during the years of service under the leadership of Zakharov and Sugrobov. It is quite possible that we are mistaken, but there are no other reasonable explanations regarding Chunaev’s “business”. This is confirmed by the “profit” of the studio for the year of the management of the “release of cartoons” by Chunaev himself.
However, let us return to the promised details about the very figure of Sergei Leonidovich. For the first time, his name became known to the general public in 2016, when the head of one of the departments of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, was arrested, from whom 120 million dollars and two million euros in cash were confiscated during searches.
Many then thought that Chunaev would follow Zakharchenko, since the latter was one of his closest associates. Sergei Leonidovich began his career in St. Petersburg, under the guidance of another famous “werewolf in uniform” – Police Major General Denis Sugrobov, whom Chunaev publicly called his teacher. Chunaev’s teacher was the main defendant in the so-called “Case of the GUEBiPK and General Sugrobov.” The general principle of the crimes of the GUEBiPK employees committed from 2011 to 2014 was to obtain, record and document operational information that does not correspond to reality about the alleged criminal activities of persons, to commit inflammatory acts with the participation of agents on this basis, and subsequently to conduct operational operations against these persons. experiments. The main defendants in the case were Lieutenant General Denis Sugrobov and Major General Boris Kolesnikov, who committed suicide during the investigation. Sugrobov was eventually sentenced to 22 years in a strict regime colony for creating a criminal community.
However, at the time of Sugrobov’s arrest, Chunaev was no longer serving under his leadership, but was transferred to the Main Directorate of the EBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Where Chunaev was appointed to the post of head of the 22nd department of the Department “M” of the GUEB and the PC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The division specialized in fighting corruption in the fields of mechanical engineering and metallurgy. And this unit was led by Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, who later became famous, among other things, for protecting the Russian Railways contractor, the 1520 company. There, Chunaev was frankly called the “right hand” of Zakharchenko and a person authorized on behalf of Colonel Zakharchenko to “solve issues”.
It was during the period of service under the leadership of Zakharchenko that the financial situation of Chunaev’s relatives improved dramatically – they were able to purchase three luxury apartments in St. Petersburg, an apartment in Shushary and a land plot. However, they wrote about this story, these materials are in the public domain.
In 2013, Sergei Chunaev returned to his native St. Petersburg, where he headed the operational-search unit of his own security No. 8, which was in charge of large business in St. Petersburg. Many in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that Chunaev became Zakharchenko’s “watchman” in the Northern capital.
As a representative of Zakharchenko, Chunaev actively participated in the pressure on banks, his team conducted searches at Novikombank, Rosenergbank, SIAB Bank and Aldanzolotobank. The formal reason for the searches in banks was allegedly that they overestimated the exchange rates, then another version was invented – the transfer of currency abroad. But these cases fell apart very quickly after the initial high-profile statements by the police. The case initiated by Chunaev against the Biblio Globus tour operator also fell apart.
However, observers noted an interesting fact – all these affairs made Chunaev’s relatives a little richer. During this period, Chunaev’s relatives purchased a Land Cruiser 200, Volkswagen Tiguan, Mitsubishi Pajero 30 LWD. And also – non-residential real estate with an area of 234.6 sq.m.; another apartment for 3.5 million rubles; an account in a Cypriot bank; 5 land plots with a total area of more than 4,700 sq. m.; 6 expensive prestigious cars with parking spaces; 8 apartments.
However, on September 9, 2016, they suddenly arrested Dmitry Zakharchenko and began to “unwind” him – it was clear to everyone that the colonel alone simply could not accumulate all those mountains of cash that were seized from him during the searches. In St. Petersburg, many rubbed their hands, waiting for the arrest of Dmitry Chunaev, Zakharchenko’s “watchman”. However, he suddenly disappeared – he did not appear at work, was not at home, did not answer phone calls.
The leadership of Sergei Leonidovich, forced to answer unpleasant questions from the ministry, was at a loss.
Chunaev himself was seriously preparing for his arrest or escape abroad. The phone used by the former “one of the most dangerous security officials in St. Petersburg” was registered to a friend of his wife. And tickets for the Moscow-Peter Chunaev trains were bought using a fake passport in the name of Sergei Maksimovich Kovalenko. Moreover, as in bad spy films, I bought two tickets for peregrine falcons at once, departing with a difference of 10 minutes. Chunaev issued this passport in 2015 in Simferopol, taking advantage of all the well-known events with the Crimea.
It remains a mystery how Chunaev got into the security service of the All-Russian Regional Development Bank instead of a bunk. According to unconfirmed rumors, he paid for his forgiveness in the traditional way – he leaked compromising evidence on a former mentor, for whom the investigation had an evidence base like a sieve.
In Chunaev’s bank, everything seemed to be fine, but in October last year, he was suddenly “asked” from there for good health – he either stole something, or tried, but it didn’t work out. The habit of a luxurious life requires money, a lot of money.
And the unemployed Sergei Chunaev retrained as “deciders”. He walks from office to office, rubs himself into the trust of the leadership, “brings” merchants into grandmothers. I can’t wait, it seems, to get into the zone and take many with me. We want to give free advice to St. Petersburg policemen. Make a small collage in a frame with three portraits – Sugrobov, Zakharchenko and Chunaev – and keep it on your desktop as a talisman.
In addition, Chunaev organized an article in the media, where he accused his former leadership of creating a certain fund at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, to which merchants were obliged to voluntarily and forcibly pay “tribute” with numbers and other details. How could Sergei Leonidovich not know the details, if he himself could be responsible for its formation and further sawing? True, the article was quickly removed from open access – apparently, Chunaev realized that it could cause an investigation, and he would thunder after his teachers Sugrobov and Zakharchenko.
Having knocked down thresholds in high offices for several years in an attempt to recover in the organs, he probably realized that it was better not to “shine”. Moreover, Colonel Zakharchenko was suddenly transferred from the colony where he was serving his term to Moscow to investigate new episodes of his activities. An additional risk factor in this new investigation for Chunaev was the unpleasant fact that Zakharchenko had undoubtedly already been told who had handed over all his schemes in 2016, during the first investigation.
That’s why Chunaev went into animation. However, it turned out that taking bribes from business and doing business yourself are completely different things. This is evidenced by the results of Sergey Leonidovich’s year-long management of his own company.
However, this is also only an assumption – because it is not completely clear what kind of goals Sergey Chunaev pursued when he bought a deliberately unprofitable cartoon studio.
Why Sergey Chunaev decided to become the owner of Jingliks
The fact that the Russian company Flipp Animation Studio, owned by businessman Sergei Chunaev, bought the rights to the Jingliks project and the brand, which includes an animated series, a series of books and trademarks of the same name, from Open Alliance Media became known in early April. As Kommersant reported, the studio intends to release a continuation of the animated series together with the founder of the project, the famous writer Oleg Roy.
Earlier, Oleg Rezepkin (known under the pseudonym “Roy”) and the studio “Open Alliance Media” associated with him had serious problems: in 2020, the Cinema Fund filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court to recover 31.4 million rubles from them, learned in the form of a subsidy for the production of a full-length continuation of the animated series “Jingliks”. The project was planned to be completed in 2018, but in the end the film was never made, the money was not returned, and the studio ignored the proposal to settle the dispute out of court.
Nevertheless, the debt was repaid; to date, there are no claims against the studio from the Cinema Fund. It is known that over the past years, the owners have been negotiating the sale of the rights to “Jingliks”: among the possible buyers, in particular, the American company “Orwo Studios” was named. However, cartoon characters will remain in Russia. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but according to experts, Sergei Chunaev paid about $2.5-3 million.
Here you need to pay attention to one important circumstance: the new owner of the brand clearly does not shine with financial indicators. So, according to the results of last year, Flip Animation Studio LLC, with a rather modest revenue of 764 thousand rubles, officially declared a loss of 1.6 million. A natural question arises: where will Chunaev get the funds for the production of a full-length film, the cost of which a few years ago exceeded 500 million rubles? Other commercial structures, according to open sources, are not registered with him. Are you also looking for a subsidy?
Nevertheless, judging by the costs incurred, the businessman has money. It turns out that we have at least an “underground” dollar millionaire?
“In the footsteps of his father to the police …”
“As a child, Sergey Chunaev dreamed of writing books for adults about children, making cartoons and creating creative spaces for children and adults. But the father insisted on his own, and after graduating from school, the future businessman entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and then, in the footsteps of his father, went to serve in the police. However, the work did not bring pleasure … ”, – says the RBC publication dedicated to Chunaev.
It is specified that in 2012 Chunaev became a student at the Faculty of Economics of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics, and four years later he resigned from law enforcement and received the position of vice president of a “big bank”. But since “the dream of childhood did not let go,” he first became an investor in Open Alliance Media, and then “created the animation company Flip Animation Studio.” On account of who and what “created” – a big question. The fact is that, according to the information of the Rusprofile portal, Flip Animation Studio LLC received registration in November 2015, when Chunaev was still wearing police shoulder straps. He officially became the owner of the company only in August 2020, in December of the same year he took the position of CEO.
Why does a businessman bring confusion to his biography? And why does he speak so coolly about the service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Let’s try to figure it out and first note: “to serve in the police” he went not just “in the footsteps of his father”: Leonid Chunaev worked in the authorities for a long time and in 2000 he retired from the post of deputy head of the department for combating economic crimes (UBEP) of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate St. Petersburg. But even after that, he did not sit idly by. In particular, he served as head of the department for legality, law and order and security of the administration of the Kalininsky district of the northern capital.
There is no doubt that with such parental patronage, all paths were open to Chunaev Jr. in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Not surprisingly, his career began in 2003 in the North-Western Department of Internal Affairs for transport in St. Petersburg, and in the department for combating economic crimes. Thank you dad for following in his footsteps. In 2011, Sergey Chunaev already worked as deputy head of the 3rd department of the UBEP UT of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Northwestern Federal District, but here cardinal changes took place in his life.
“Under the wing” of General Sugrobov and Colonel Zakharchenko
They were associated with an appointment to Moscow, to the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption (UEBiPK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Here Chunaev worked under the guidance of a “werewolf in uniform” who gained federal fame – the head of the Office, Lieutenant General Denis Sugrobov. For those who did not know or managed to forget the details of this criminal “saga”, we recall: in February 2014, Sugrobov was dismissed, and in May he was arrested on suspicion of committing a number of crimes, including nine episodes of abuse of power with serious consequences and organization of the criminal community.
Sugrobov’s deputy, Major General Boris Kolesnikov, and several other officers of the Directorate were also arrested. In June 2014, the media reported on the mysterious death of Kolesnikov: according to the official version, he committed suicide by jumping out of the window of an office located on the sixth floor of the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, where he was taken to conduct investigative actions. There were suggestions that the suspect simply could not withstand the moral and physical pressure exerted on him in the pre-trial detention center, where he even received a head injury.
As for General Sugrobov, in April 2017 the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 22 years in a strict regime colony (later the Supreme Court commuted the sentence to 12 years). As the investigation established, the defendants in the case were engaged in organizing provocations and falsifying evidence in order to prosecute officials and businessmen. This provided the “werewolves” with not only material, but also career growth: the same Sugrobov was awarded the rank of police lieutenant general as an encouragement.
Another kind of “mentor” of Sergei Chunaev was the odious Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, who worked for many years in the UEBiPK and at the time of his arrest held the position of acting head of the “T” department, specializing in combating offenses in the chemical industry and the fuel and energy complex. During a search in the colonel’s apartment, among other things, funds in foreign currency were seized in the amount of 8.5 billion in ruble equivalent.
Zakharchenko was convicted in June 2019: the Presnensky Court of Moscow found him guilty of taking a bribe and obstructing the conduct of a preliminary investigation, imposing a sentence of 13 years in prison and depriving him of his title and awards (later the sentence was commuted for six months). However, the end of the investigation was not put. Today, the same court is hearing a new criminal case against the “billionaire colonel”. This time he is accused of receiving in 2007-2016. bribes in total in the amount of 1.4 billion rubles for the “protection” of an organized criminal group that was withdrawing funds from Russia. Among the defendants are the former co-owner of the largest contractor of the Russian Railways group “1520” Valery Markelov; his companion Boris Usherovich is on the international wanted list.
St. Petersburg “viceroy” of Moscow “werewolves”
Now it becomes clear who gave Sergei Chunaev a “start in life.” Unwanted questions were avoided: in January 2013 (that is, even before the arrests of Sugrobov and Zakharchenko), he returned to his native St. Petersburg as head of the operational-search unit (ORCh) No. 8, which was engaged in “work” with big business. A relatively short stay in Moscow brought material “fruits”: during this time, Chunaev bought and registered for relatives three apartments in St. Petersburg, one in Shushary, as well as a land plot.
In the media, one can find references to the fact that Chunaev repeatedly called General Sugrobov his “teacher”. In addition, at one time he allegedly was the “right hand” of Zakharchenko, on whose behalf he “resolved issues.” An opinion is expressed that, having returned to the northern capital, Chunaev became a kind of “watcher” there, representing the interests of the colonel.
Be that as it may, at that time he was hardly disappointed in his work and actively got down to business, initiating searches in a number of credit institutions, including SIAB Bank, Rosenergobank, Aldanzolotobank and ” Novikombank. At first, the overvaluation of the exchange rate was cited as the cause; then – cashing out and illegal withdrawal abroad of more than 3 billion rubles. Almost simultaneously, investigative actions took place in the office of the large St. Petersburg tour operator Biblio-Globus.
Despite the wide publicity, the resonance gradually subsided, and the criminal cases were closed. By a strange coincidence, the car fleet of the Chunaev family during this time was replenished with foreign cars Toyota Land Cruiser 200, Volkswagen Tiguan and Mitsubishi Pajero 30 LWD. In October 2015, there was a “collision” at PJSC Lenenergo, where the theft of 380 million rubles was revealed during the purchase and installation of an electrical cable between the Damba-1 substation and Kronstadt. While the investigation was going on, the relatives of the head of St. Petersburg ORC No. 8 became richer again: they were issued 8 apartments, 5 land plots with a total area of 4.7 thousand square meters, 6 prestigious cars with parking spaces, etc.
It would seem that Zakharchenko’s St. Petersburg “right hand” has the broadest prospects, but his career was interrupted by the arrest of his “senior comrade” in September 2016. Chunaev Jr., who was in the rank of lieutenant colonel, clearly did not expect such a turn of events. The media described a story similar to a spy thriller of his disappearance, changing phone numbers and throwing between Moscow and St. Petersburg with a fake passport issued in Simferopol in the name of Sergei Kovalenko. However, Chunaev managed to avoid the fate of his “mentors”, although he nevertheless said goodbye to work: on September 20, order No. 544 was issued at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the region on the reorganization of the ORC No.
Shortly thereafter, the former policeman settled in the security service of the All-Russian Bank for the Development of Regions (RRDB), where he worked for the next three years. The reason for his dismissal was called “loss of confidence” associated with fraud and attempts to steal money. After that, Chunaev was allegedly seen in the offices of high-ranking officials and security officials, where he either bothered to return to the authorities, or acted as an intermediary-decider.
And only at the end of last year, Sergei Chunaev finally decided to try himself as a businessman – the owner of a film company. Today, he is clearly trying not to think about the “unpleasant” (but contributing to the growth of well-being) work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, talking more about creating an “animation ecosystem”. However, the presence of an office in one of the Moscow City towers and the purchase of rights to the Jingliki project indicate that the former security official is clearly not experiencing financial problems. Even despite the unprofitability of his Flipp Animation Studio.
