The court will reconsider the case of fraud against the co-founders of Shumakov and Partners Denis Shumakov and Georgy Gants
The Chertanovsky District Court of Moscow will reconsider the case of Denis Shumakov and Georgy Gants, co-founders of Shumakov and Partners LLC. They are accused of fraud.
The decision to re-examine the case was taken by a higher authority after complaints and a presentation by the prosecutor’s office. The victims were outraged by the fact that the actions of the defendants were suddenly reclassified as an organization, bypassing the requirements of the law for activities to raise funds. This article provides for too lenient punishment.
The district court of the capital sentenced Shumakov and Gants to only two years and eight months in prison. At the same time, during the investigation of the case, they were in a pre-trial detention center. Thus, if not for the complaints, the convicts might already be at large. However, the Moscow City Court came to the conclusion that the district court violated the norms of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Now Denis Shumakov and Georgy Gants again face up to 10 years in prison.
UNREASONABLE REQUALIFICATION
The office of Shumakov & Partners was located in the Empire Tower in Moscow City. In 2017, its leaders used bank databases and invited people to invest money in trading operations in the US stock and futures markets. Shumakov and Ganz promised them a profit of 18% per year in foreign currency. But the company did not have a license from the Central Bank. As a result, more than 300 clients agreed to cooperate with the firm of Shumakov and Ganz. They gave them from 20 to 800 thousand dollars, but in the end they lost their money. The victims turned to law enforcement agencies, so a criminal case was initiated on fraud.
The district court of the capital sentenced Shumakov and Gants in November last year. At the same time, the state prosecutor stated that there were no signs of fraud in the actions of the defendants. He asked for 3.5 years in prison for them, but the sentence turned out to be more lenient.
The victims said it was a scam. The Latvian company, to whose account the money was deposited, was not listed at the specified address. It is possible that it does not exist at all, since the seal of the company turned out to be fake. However, Shumakov and Ganz presented documents to the court, according to which they returned part of the money to the defrauded clients. But from the moment they were detained, they said that they had no money, and the business collapsed due to the pandemic, when customers massively took money from the company. It is noteworthy that statements about fraud against Shumakov and Gantz were written only by a part of their clients who were left without money. The rest, for unknown reasons, decided not to take part in the proceedings.