72% per annum on the resale of jewelry from China was offered to investors by the Amethyst consumer cooperative. A year ago, the company was included in the banned list of the Central Bank, and today the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the initiation of a criminal case with a preliminary damage of 70 million rubles. So far, two alleged organizers have been detained: Eric Karmatsky, convicted of recruiting into a terrorist organization, and Rustem Kasimov, who was listed as one of the founders of the Rost CCP, but somehow escaped criminal responsibility for the first time. About what interest was promised to depositors and whom the “shareholders” accused of promoting the pyramid – in the material “BUSINESS Online”.
“Investment” in gold and damage of 70 million
Unusual in shape, but predictable at the end of its life cycle, the pyramid “collapsed” in Tatarstan. We are talking about the until now unknown consumer cooperative “Amethyst”. As the employees of the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Tatarstan, together with the investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate, established, the consumer cooperative has been working since 2021. Money was accepted at offices located in the Volga and Vakhitovsky districts of Kazan. According to open sources, one of the offices of the Amethyst PC, for example, worked in Korston (for some reason, the organizers of dubious projects choose it for their scams: there, for example, there were branches of FrendeX).
Amethyst’s depositors were offered to earn money by reselling Chinese “jewellery”: they say that the items paid for by the “shareholder” are put up by “Amethyst” for sale on the marketplace at an inflated price. After this product is resold, the income is paid to the “shareholder”. In fact, the payments were made at the expense of the money of other investors, according to today’s release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Tatarstan.
In terms of attracting citizens who want to earn money, Amethyst worked according to the classical scheme. The so-called MLM-managers, or networkers, were involved in the activity, who were supposed to invite the maximum number of “investors”. For each of which the “barkers” were supposed to be rewarded. According to the sources of our publication, the preliminary damage in the case was estimated at 70 million rubles.
The number of victims of the pyramid has not yet been called. However, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, among them are not only residents of Tatarstan, but also residents of neighboring Bashkortostan and other regions – they began to receive complaints from them to the police.
Who was behind the “Amethyst”
A criminal case was initiated under two articles – on the organization of a pyramid scheme (172.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the latter faces severe punishment – up to 10 years in prison.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so far there are two defendants in the criminal case – they have already been charged, they have been arrested. Their names are not revealed. However, according to BUSINESS Online, these are two local residents – Erik Karmatsky (he was included in the list of terrorists and extremists in 2016, but now his name is not on the list on the Rosfinmonitoring website) and Rustem Kasimov. On March 1, the Vakhitovsky court of Kazan sent them into custody.
Karmatsky grew up in Tetyushi, where, as a child, he attended a military-patriotic camp, and in his free time he liked to play Counter-Strike. Now he is 25 years old. And at 18, he became “famous” throughout Russia: then, in 2016, he was detained in Moscow on suspicion of recruiting Russians into the illegal armed formation Hizb ut-Tahrir (a terrorist organization banned in Russia – ed.) . The video of his detention was quoted by the federal media: the recording shows how the security forces twist him, and literature is found in his room. In 2017, the Volga District Military Court found him guilty under the article on participation in a terrorist organization (part 2 of article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The verdict is not publicly available, but it is known that Karmatsky and two other defendants in the case appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The due date has not been specified.
For some time, Karmatsky lay low and appeared in the public space in 2021 – first he got a job as a marketer at the Amethyst PC (that is, at the time of his arrival, the consumer cooperative was already working). In 2021, as follows from the data of the Kontur.Focus database, he officially became a director. By the way, the organization has been operating since 2004, but only formally: before that, the company was called “Consumer Cooperative Volga-Kama Mutual Insurance Society” and was managed by other people. It is possible, as is often the case, that the company was bought out and renamed so that people get the impression that it has been working for a long time and stably. Karmatsky also has an individual entrepreneur, which is engaged in the trade in “jewelry”, and a part of “Vmestenavsegda” LLC, which also sells jewelry. The latter is spelled out in Korston.
The second detainee in the case of the financial pyramid – Kasimov – according to the service “Kontur.Focus”, was one of the co-founders of the infamous CCP “Rost”. Moreover, by the way, only two people from the list of co-founders of the CPC were convicted – Natalya and Andrei Makarov. And Kasimov was also involved in gold (at least, this is what the name of the company implies): he headed the UK Cash and Gold, located on the street. Dostoevsky in Kazan, which was liquidated in 2022. Kasimov, judging by Kontur.Fokus, was once engaged in real business: he had an individual entrepreneur selling furniture, and three more firms that were engaged in trade and construction.
By the way, in one of the companies where Kasimov worked, and in another organization where Karmatsky now works, the previous director (from 2020 to 2021) of the PC Amethyst, Ramil Gainullin, appeared. He had another PDA – “Finter”, which lasted about two years and was registered on the street. Ostrovsky. His status in this criminal case is unknown.
What exactly was promised to the “shareholders”
Sites of PC “Amethyst” are currently unavailable: the domain registration period has expired. According to information from open sources, investors were offered to invest in jewelry, including designer, unique, which cannot be found in mass markets.
So, the “shareholder” is explained: you invested, we received the ring from the manufacturer, paid for the order and put the ring up for sale on Ozon and in our own online store (not available) – for example, for 3.5 thousand rubles. At one of the sites, the ring was bought at a price almost 2 times more – 6.2 thousand rubles. The depositor receives the difference minus the “15% fee” that the marketplace allegedly takes. In this case, the “shareholder” is promised a profit of 1.6 thousand rubles, or 45% of the investment, and in just three weeks. At the same time, the creators of the scheme make a reservation: this is the most banal, average example – you need to take into account that products, they say, can be sold for six months, they can be asked for a larger discount. But everything pays off: some products supposedly can be sold at exorbitant prices.
In order to invest, three programs were offered. The first one is called “Partner 12”. The minimum entry threshold is from 50 thousand rubles, the program is valid for a year, during which Amethyst promises a yield of 72% per annum. It is impossible to replenish or withdraw money during the year, and they promise to accrue payments to the depositor on a monthly basis. The second program is “Partner 6”, with an entry amount of 100 thousand rubles and an income of 60% per year. Both options provide that the “shareholder” invests in the supply of jewelry from China. Another program – “Finter”: worked only if the “shareholder” had a contribution to the CCP “Finter”, on which “Amethyst” offered to accrue 13% per annum (i.e., it turned out that the interest was dripping in two at once PDA at the same time).
And depositors were also offered to buy gift certificates (similar to buying shares), the possession of which supposedly will bring interest: 10% of the value of the certificate every 10 days per card during the year. And in the end, when the entire “cashback” under the certificate is paid, it can supposedly be exchanged for a piece of jewelry for free.
Despite the fact that PC Amethyst was officially registered, it did not report on its revenue. At the end of 2021 (there is no more recent data), it showed zero profit and revenue with working capital of 1.2 million rubles.
