The arrest of Elena Blinovskaya, the “Queen of the Infogypsies,” became a sensation not only for the admirers of her teachings, who believed that if you make a wish correctly, it will soon come true. People who are far from “personal growth courses” were struck by the amount presented to Blinovskaya by law enforcement officers – according to the investigation, she underpaid taxes by 918 million rubles. Is there really so many naive simpletons with money in Russia who are ready to share it with “infogypsies”?
Blinovskaya is not alone – earlier, law enforcement officers detained a couple of bloggers – Valeria and Artem Chekalin, accusing them of non-payment of taxes for 300 million rubles. The TFR also opened a case against blogger Alexandra Mitroshina on the fact of tax evasion for 120 million rubles.
Elena Blinovskaya was detained on April 27 at the entrance to the Russian-Belarusian border. Accompanied by a security guard on a rented Maybach, the blogger hurried to Minsk in order to fly to Tashkent from there. Until recently, this method of escaping from Russia was considered the most effective – there are no border controls or customs on the border with Belarus, so many used the “window through Belarus” to secretly leave the country. However, Blinovskaya was not lucky. After thousands of Russians decided to flee Russia through Minsk in connection with the announcement of mobilization, Lukashenka tightened the screws in a friendly way, and now data on Russians flying out of Minsk airport are immediately transferred to the FSB.
Showing off is not good
The organizer of the famous “marathon of desires” Elena Blinovskaya is accused of tax evasion and money laundering on an especially large scale (part 2 of article 198 of the Criminal Code, punishable by a fine of 200 to 500 thousand rubles or a fine in the amount of income for a period of 18 months to three years, or forced labor for up to three years, or imprisonment for the same term, as well as paragraph “b” of part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code, is punishable by forced labor for a term of up to five years, or imprisonment for a term of up to seven years with a possible fine, restriction of freedom or a ban on engaging in certain activities). According to the Investigative Committee, being an individual entrepreneur, Blinovskaya paid taxes according to the “simplified”. However, this system assumes an income of no more than 150 million rubles a year. Blinovskaya, according to the investigation, earned much more.
Law enforcement officers really have reason to believe so. Suffice it to recall the boasts of the blogger who assured that she does not live in hotels where a room costs less than 3.5 million rubles per day. Also in August 2021, all the tabloids wrote about how the “queen of desires” celebrated the 40th anniversary. The business class guests were sent to a hotel in Altai, where they were entertained by Ivan Urgant and Philip Kirkorov. At the end of the holiday, Blinovskaya boastfully posted an estimate on the social network, from which it followed that her birthday cost her 118 million rubles. In total, according to Forbes, in 2020 Blinovskaya’s revenue amounted to 330 million rubles, and profit – 200 million. In addition, in January last year, the blogger gave an interview to Ksenia Sobchak. One of the questions was about the amount of earnings. Blinovskaya flirted for a long time, but then agreed that Forbes, on the whole, correctly assessed her income. But then the blogger should have held her tongue. “I pay taxes in the tens of millions. Well, this definitely exceeds the numbers with large zeros, but I can be wrong in the figure, because I swim in them very much. I have a chief accountant – one of my close friends, the exact figures are known to her, because she pays these taxes. But I know for sure that it is tens of millions of rubles,” she replied.
Tens of millions? Does not look like it. According to the IC, Blinovskaya used a business splitting scheme involving third-party individual entrepreneurs. Thus, according to the security forces, in 2019-2021, the blogger did not pay VAT and personal income tax in the amount of more than 918 million rubles. How much money did Blinovskaya collect then? Since the investigation does not specify what kind of non-payment of taxes in question, the assessments sound different. So, lawyer Mikhail Alekseev believes that the total turnover of Blinovskaya’s business amounted to about 6 billion rubles. According to another estimate, this amount could be twice as high – about 13 billion. However, if the IFTS charged additional 20% VAT, 20% profit, and an additional 15% personal income tax, then the turnover could be only about 2 billion rubles.
Blinovskaya herself, who used to love to brag about her income so much, now you won’t ask – by a court decision she was placed under house arrest, forbidding to communicate with everyone except her husband. At the same time, she fully admitted her guilt and even agreed to pay off part of the arrears – the amount, however, was not specified. At the same time, last week it became known that the “marathons of desires” seem to be continuing. On April 29, in the “marathon” chat, invitations appeared to sign up for the next stage, now for 10 thousand rubles. Blinovskaya herself, as the Baza telegram channel clarifies, is listed as the administrator of this chat. It turns out that “infogypsy” continues? It is unlikely that Blinovskaya’s subordinates would have dared to do so without her knowledge. And this is a direct reason to transfer the blogger from house arrest to a cell.
In the event that non-payment of taxes is transferred to the category of fraud committed by a group of persons on an especially large scale (Article 159 Part 7), the punishment may be up to 10 years in prison. And for cashing out money, Art. 187 “Illegal turnover of means of payment” and art. 172 “Illegal banking activities”. The first assumes up to 6 years in prison, the second – up to 7. Then the question arises – how will the roles be distributed in this organization? Will Blinovskaya want to hand over her “partners”? It is quite possible that the interest of individuals to conclude an agreement with the investigation will give rise to competition.
It is reported that the Federal Tax Service decided to create a special department to track the financial flows of bloggers with earnings of over 50 million rubles. Even if money laundering cannot be proved, the result of this work will be. After the smell of prison bunks, Mitroshina immediately paid 120 million rubles
Billion turnovers
Blinovskaya is not alone: earlier, law enforcement officers detained a couple of bloggers – Valeria and Artyom Chekalin, accusing them of not paying taxes for 300 million rubles. The TFR also opened a case against blogger Alexandra Mitroshina on the fact of tax evasion for 120 million rubles. In addition, against the backdrop of the detention of Blinovskaya, the media reported the appearance of a certain black list of popular bloggers, whose work the security forces allegedly intend to study under a microscope. Names are given: TV presenter Regina Todorenko, singer Instasamka, hip-hoper Yegor Creed, “phytonyashka” Anastasia Mironova, as well as Gusein Hasanov, Dana Sanaeva and others, the mention of which says nothing to 9 out of 10 Russians.
The fact that popular bloggers really earn a lot is undeniable. This is confirmed by their expensive houses and cars (a Lamborghini was found at the Chekalins, realtors valued Blinovskaya’s mansion at 300 million rubles), but these are still not billions. Therefore, what is interesting in this story is that every criminal case of tax evasion was accompanied by an accusation of money laundering. And, it seems, for good reason. “In Russia, money laundering through bloggers is a new fashion trend. A few months ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also busted bloggers selling nutrition courses and their own grub, and they also had billions of dollars in tax evasion. Billion turnovers! Are there fools who would believe it? – asks blogger Pavel Gladkov. Lawyer Vadim Bagaturia agrees with him: “Why did we all get the idea that only bloggers’ money was legalized? The possibility of a criminal origin of billions cannot be ruled out.”
– The authorities are increasing pressure on big bloggers. Potentially, tens of billions of rubles a year in taxes can be collected from this sector. When the government is frantically looking for something to plug the budget deficit, every penny will come in handy. When they go through all the big bloggers, they will come for the middle ones. I think that in general they will comb through the entire informal sector, in which the annual income is estimated at about 16 trillion rubles. Even a transition to self-employment with a 6 percent tax could generate $1 trillion in tax revenue. And with personal income tax and corporate taxes – many times more.
It has already been calculated: Blinovskaya sold her courses at a price of 3 to 10 thousand rubles, but most cost 4 thousand, while there was also a free part of the “marathons”. There was also an online store with goods from the “guru”: perfume for 6 thousand, meditation kits for 25 thousand, notepads for writing desires for 1320 rubles, etc. The Chekalin couple asked for 8 thousand rubles for weight loss courses, their “branded” creams went for a thousand, “diet food” also did not cost a lot of money. Alexandra Mitroshina, who called herself the “mother of the Russian information business”, traded courses in accounting and marketing at a price of 5 thousand rubles. That is, absolutely exorbitant amounts clearly do not add up. But here’s what you should pay attention to – all bloggers actively sold advertising on their pages, and the already mentioned Chekalins actively held lotteries, drawing expensive prizes. At the same time, advertising and lotteries are one of the most famous ways of legalizing income. Especially when it comes to social media. He mentioned the name of the product or someone else’s page in the story – that’s the reason to write off a million. And no one will prove that it was only an imitation. The same Alexandra Mitroshina, shortly before law enforcement officers paid attention to her, publicly boasted – in just an hour of selling her Instalogia webinar, she earned 140 million rubles, and the total income from it amounted to half a billion rubles! As follows from the description on the course website, its cost in the basic version is 109,990 rubles, in the advanced version – 500 thousand, and in the VIP, which involves advertising on Mitroshina’s blog – 1 million rubles. For many, these amounts caused bewilderment – according to experts, an attempt to sell a Russian-language course for half a million rubles in conditions when Instagram * (Meta, the parent company for Instagram, was recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation. Instagram is also recognized as an extremist organization, its activities in the territory RF banned) is banned in Russia and has lost its former effectiveness, looks like a joke. No, there will always be gullible people, but not in the same numbers! Or is Mitroshina’s money for her obscure courses transferred not by gullible, but, on the contrary, by very smart people?
Three years ago, a similar scheme was already uncovered. At that time, streamers broadcasting their videos on the Web were used to launder money. Attracting attention, streamers live off donations – donations from users who like to watch their videos. As a result, it turned out that popular streamers were approached with an offer to help launder money: under the guise of donations, they were transferred amounts that the streamer then had to withdraw to a bank account on his own behalf, take the agreed percentage for himself, and transfer or cash out the rest.
Be that as it may, they decided to take bloggers seriously. It is reported that the Federal Tax Service decided to create a special department to track the financial flows of bloggers with earnings of over 50 million rubles. Even if money laundering cannot be proved, the result of this work will be. After the smell of prison bunks, Alexandra Mitroshina immediately paid 120 million rubles. And now the money will be very useful to the budget. Another question: will the authorities stop at bloggers? After all, there is still an unplowed field – artists who receive fees for concerts in envelopes, home craftsmen, landlords who rent out housing … In total, according to various estimates, almost every tenth inhabitant of the country is in the “shadow employment” sector, which is why the budget receives less than 3 trillion rubles of taxes. So rejoicing at the arrests of “loafer bloggers”, perhaps, is still with caution.
What was found at Blinovskaya
Elena Blinovskaya and her husband own two houses in the village of Derevenka, Yaroslavl Region (51 sq.m), an apartment on Serpukhov Val in Moscow (132 sq.m), two houses in Adygea, a house in Alushta. They also have two houses in the village of Serkovo in the Kostroma region, two apartments in Yaroslavl, a house in the elite cottage village Millennium Park in the Istra district (1181 sq.m) and two land plots – in the Moscow region and in Yalta.
Of the cars, they own the Lamborghini Urus 2021, Bentley Continental, Jeep Wrangler and Mitsubishi Outlander, as well as the Harley-Davidson 114 motorcycle and the Sherp all-terrain vehicle.
Specifically
Elena Blinovskaya gained fame as the creator of online personal growth courses. In 2015, she launched a “marathon of desires”, in which she taught how to achieve her goals. The essence of the idea was that in order to achieve success, you first need to correctly formulate your desires, as well as identify the fears that prevent you from making the necessary efforts, and then start acting.
In general, the same can be read in any article on psychology. However, Blinovskaya turned this simple method into a complete representation. During the month, the participants of the “marathon” regularly received simple tasks (to sort through things and take out all the rubbish from the apartment, draw up a detailed action plan on a sheet, meditate and imagine yourself in the future). Their implementation was presented as another victory over oneself and a step towards achieving the goal, for which the participant of the “marathon” received an approving message from Blinovskaya such as “you did a great job” or “you did a great job”. At the end, a person had to write a cherished desire on paper, tie it to a balloon and launch it into the sky. In addition, a lottery was held among those who completed the course, in which Blinovskaya promised the winner to fulfill his desire (an obligatory condition for participation was an enthusiastic review of the “marathon” in social networks). All this looked beautiful and pretentious, which is why the course was very popular with women. In total, according to estimates, more than 150 thousand people took part in the “marathon of desires”, and the number of subscribers in Instagram banned by the Russian Federation exceeded 6 million. Nevertheless, reviews of Blinovskaya’s business look very contradictory.
“I passed the“ marathon of desires ”by Elena Blinovskaya. The training promises that it will teach you how to dream so that everything, even the most daring desires, come true. Elena tells how to wish correctly, teaches how to deal with limiting beliefs and your fears. Under her sensitive hand, the participants formulate their desires and work on them. One of my wishes is to win 1 million rubles in the draw. It didn’t come true. But I really started to win more often. She won cosmetics for 3 thousand rubles, a family portrait from the artist, a photo session with a pet and a few more gifts. I liked the participation, I think that is not in vain. Inspiring!” – AlbinaR from Khabarovsk enthusiastically writes on Otzovik.
“This marathon is complete nonsense. Blinovskaya talks to a fig about the ease of getting money and what she wants, they say, everything easily falls into her hands and fell, and she is only “in the flow, in relaxation, in nirvana.” Yeah. Blinovskaya forgot that the Internet can do anything. And everyone can find out how much Lena did, from the wedding salon to Fish Story LLC, together with her husband. That is, if Lena only caught Zen, threw skirts and sweaters out of the chest of drawers, wrote wishes in a notebook and admired the Balenciaga window, then now no one would know her and her marathons. The whole marathon is built in such a way that people are taught the obvious, presenting it as a gift from the gods. Absolutely all information from the marathon is available for free, there is nothing unique in its information for money. The marathon is dusted with entourage in the form of a balloon and other stray things. And even this is not Mrs. Blinovskaya’s trick. “Everything has already been stolen before you,” as the classics write, in turn, states Eseniya_Ya on the website irecommend.ru.
