Blogger and fitness instructor Valeria Chekalina and her husband Artem are accused of tax evasion in the amount of 311 million rubles. They have more than 15 million subscribers in social networks, and their total income is more than 3 billion rubles. The investigation believes that they divided their income into different companies and individual entrepreneurs and is going to deal with their colleagues.
The criminal case against the Chekalins on the fact of evading and complicity in tax evasion by an individual, committed on an especially large scale, was initiated on February 20, 2023. On March 7, law enforcement officers came to the townhouse of bloggers near Moscow with a search, filing charges and taking a written undertaking not to leave.
Law enforcement officers are sure that Ms. Chekalina illegally split up the business and evaded paying taxes in the amount of more than 311 million rubles.
She is also a co-founder (75%) of LLC “Bee Fit” (retail via the Internet). The revenue of LLC is impressive – in 2021 it grew by 107%, amounting to 2.9 billion rubles, net profit – 274.9 million rubles. In 2021, the company paid more than 506 million rubles in taxes, it has only 129 rubles in debt.
Valeria Chekalina is also the sole founder LLC “LEA” (clothes production), established in 2021. Revenue is not shown, there is no information on tax debts.
Artem Chekalin since 2019, he has also been registered as an individual entrepreneur with the same type of activity as his wife. There are no tax debts. He is also the head of Bee Fit LLC and, together with Roman Vishnyak founder (70%) LTD “Letik make-up” (wholesale trade in perfumery and cosmetics). The company was established in 2020, revenue for 2021 amounted to 113.8 million rubles, net profit – 59.7 million rubles.
The shares of Vishnyak and Chekalin in the company are distributed in similar proportions “Ecoflow”also registered in 2020. She is engaged in the sale of cosmetics in special stores, there is no revenue in 2021, a loss of 2.6 million rubles. Tax debt – 1 thousand rubles.
Artem and Arkady Chekalin are listed as founders LLC “Leani”. Registered in 2021, the main activity is trading by mail or via the Internet. Revenue is not shown, there are no tax debts. An individual entrepreneur engaged in advertising activities is also registered with Arkady Chekalin. There are no tax debts.
Roman Vishnyak also acts as an individual entrepreneur, but since 2013, he has been dealing with databases and information resources. With Ekaterina Spasskaya in 2019, he created LLC “Cheysi”, selling goods by mail or through the network. Revenue for 2022 is 239 thousand rubles, net profit is 9 thousand rubles. Paid 35.6 thousand rubles of taxes.
Attention is drawn to the fact that bloggers and related people and companies in open sources do not have not only tax debts, but also courts initiated against them by the tax authorities. If the Federal Tax Service usually charges additional taxes and tries to collect them through the courts, then for some reason a criminal case was immediately initiated against the Chekalins.
According to the publication, the investigators also became interested in the spouses’ house under construction, evaluating the object at 1800 sq.m. at least a billion rubles.
– The Chekalins drove a 2021 Lamborghini Urus (approximately 28 million rubles) and a 2021 Mercedes-Benz G-Class Amg G 63 (approximately 25 million rubles) to oversee the construction of their mansion – these cars are recorded on Artem Chekalin. And he really loves fast and daring driving: according to our data, these two cars have more than 400 fines for 500 thousand rubles, – said the source of the publication.
After the indictment, Chekalina’s bloggers are considering paying off all tax claims.
Meanwhile, according to a source in the Main Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, in the near future it is possible that a number of similar criminal cases will be initiated, since the department is now checking other bloggers who may use similar tax minimization schemes. However, it is quite obvious that those under investigation would prefer to voluntarily compensate the arrears, and not bring the case to court.
On Instagram (the social network belongs to Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation), Valery and Artem Chekalin have 10.4 million and 4 million users, respectively. The Lerchek Telegram channel has over 691,000 subscribers. The main content of the blog is bright pictures from family life and photo shoots. According to Medialogy, Valeria Chekalina’s blog in January 2023 was ranked 4th in the ranking of popular Instagram bloggers. Since November 2021, she has been leading the “Oh, Mommy” column in the program of the Muz-TV channel “Every Morning”. The Chekalins have three children, their relatives also maintain popular social media accounts.
Started blogging in 2011, later worked as a commercial director in the bankrupt company of her husband Artem Chekalin OOO “Valar plus”engaged in retail trade. In 2016, she launched a cosmetics line Letique Cosmetics, since 2017, has been organizing fitness marathons called “Ideal Body”, the cost of a monthly course is 3 thousand rubles. At the same time, each buyer of the package became a participant in the Wheel of Fortune lottery with prizes in the form of apartments, cars, and expensive phones. However, in general, the winners received only the brand’s cosmetics. letiquethe creator of which is the blogger herself.
