Shabutdinov case
The initiation of a criminal case under article “Fraud” (maximum 10 years in prison) against Shabutdinov became known on November 3. According to investigators, the blogger, together with his accomplices, through aggressive marketing, offered to buy educational programs, trainings and webinars and receive a guaranteed excess income.
The state prosecution suggests that the man, together with his partners, for selfish reasons, created “a false impression of the possibility of doing business and earning a high income thanks to educational programs” sold by his companies, but this was not true.
On the morning of November 4, the blogger was charged with eight crimes as part of a fraud case.
“The blogger offered to buy various courses, trainings and webinars, after completing which the trainers would be able to start a successful business and receive a guaranteed windfall. Supposedly convinced of the high effectiveness of educational programs, eight citizens entered into contracts for paid services in amounts ranging from 100 thousand rubles. up to 1.9 million rubles,” the Moscow prosecutor’s office said, noting that investigators are trying to find out whether there were other victims.
Representatives of the blogger claim that the company “fully fulfilled all its obligations.”
msk1.ru, 03.11.2023, “While the door was being sawed, documents were being burned. What is happening in the Like Center office in Moscow City, where searches took place in the Shabutdinov case”: MSK1.RU correspondent went to the office of the Like Center company, which was founded by Shabutdinov. We’ll tell you what’s happening there. The Like Center office is located in a popular business place in Moscow – in the Federation East tower in the City, on the 30th floor. […] Security guards at the Federation Tower confirmed to an MSK1.RU correspondent that the police came to Shabutdinov’s office.
— Two investigators came before lunch. We went to the 30th floor, searches were carried out there. We finished somewhere before 12, it was a long time ago,” another guard told an MSK1.RU correspondent. […] The reception staff discussed the searches at Ayaz’s place among themselves. One of the girls told a MSK1.RU correspondent that when the security forces arrived, they were collecting information about Shabutdinov.
“One of the employees came and asked what I knew about Ayaz. “All I heard from my colleagues: the security forces sawed right through the iron door in the office,” the girl shared with the MSK1.RU correspondent. “They say that Like employees locked themselves in some closet and burned documents. That’s why firefighters also came,” a receptionist at the Federation Tower. — Insert K.ru
Lawsuits against blogger
As the Kommersant newspaper wrote:eight students wrote a statement against the blogger, who paid him a total of 5 million rubles and were dissatisfied with his services. According to Telegram channel “112”“many statements” were written to the police against Shabutdinov, “there are questions about taxes” for him.
Telegram channel Baza the day before I spoke with one of the women who wrote a statement against Shabutdinov. She stated that she was under pressure during the course. According to the victim, the owner of a logistics business learned about the events for entrepreneurs in 2019. She subsequently signed up for the free event. After that, according to her, the Russian woman’s passport was taken away and they began to put psychological pressure on her, then they took out a loan.
“They allegedly formalize it under the pretext of training, but they themselves influence the person and do not give him anything, but take possession of the funds,” the applicant shared.
@bazabazon, 05.11.2023 17:00: Natalya Kalistratova, who wrote a statement against Ayaz Shabutdinov, was offended by his feedback, as they say in the Like Center. Judging by the video, the girl was still satisfied with the training she received. According to Baza, Kalistratova began training in the summer of 2019, paying a million rubles for the “Million with Ayaz” business course. In August, Natalia traveled to Scotland as part of the program, in November to Jordan, and in January of the following year she visited South Africa. According to Like Center employees, Kalistratova regularly completed all of Shabutdinov’s tasks and did not complain about anything.
However, the situation changed dramatically in March 2020. There was a scandal – Natalya did not like one of the feedback from Ayaz. The girl considered the feedback an insult and an argument ensued. However, according to company representatives, despite this she continued her training until June (and in March she even became the leader of her training group). The relationship between Kalistratova and Shabutdinov finally deteriorated by November of the same year. According to company representatives, Natalya called the police to the office, contacted the media with a proposal to “shape up her story,” and even allegedly staged her abduction. — Insert K.ru
msk1.ru, 11/04/2023, “There was always some kind of intimacy.” The victim and the whistleblower of business coach Shabutdinov speak about the details of the criminal case.”: Among those who came to the meeting was Natalya Kalistratova, a former student of the billionaire. It was she who wrote a statement to the police against Ayaz Shabutdinov. According to Natalya Kalistratova, Ayaz Shabutdinov wrote in personal messages to his students with an offer to spend the night together.
“He wrote to many girls, many of them showed screenshots of how Ayaz wrote to them in a personal message: “Let’s wake up together.” There was always some kind of intimacy, some kind of trash. After that, all the girls thought that he had serious intentions for them,” says a former student of a business coach. “He wrote: ‘Let’s have children.’ Every girl wants to start a family and marry a millionaire,” Natalya Kalistratova, student of Ayaz Shabutdinov.
– They did not officially marry. This is supposedly for the image; again, children were given birth to in order to make content. And children live without parents – with nannies. They are kicked somewhere, they live without the attention of their parents. I want him to sit down. If he is imprisoned for a long time, it will be a gratitude to the police officers,” Kalistratova said. — Insert K.ru
As Gazeta.Ru was told by the legal center DestraLegal.ru, which represents the interests of those affected by the blogger’s activities, former students of the Like Center filed lawsuits due to illegal refusals to return tuition fees. At least 62 people asked for help. All plaintiffs called the courses poor quality.
Those demanding their money back were divided into two types: those who had already completed the training program, and those who decided to issue a refund after several months of training. One of the lawsuits obtained by Gazeta.Ru states that by the end of the first month of training, students realized that the Like Center courses did not allow them to achieve their stated goal – to learn how to run a profitable business.
The Like Center told Gazeta.Ru that they are operating as normal and continue to sell courses.
“Nothing has changed. We are working as usual. Everything is absolutely normal,” the center said.
Vedomosti.Ru, 11/04/2023, “The court sent blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov to pre-trial detention center”: Shabutdinov is the owner of 82.35% of Like Center LLC (legal entity of the Like Center business school), as follows from the SPARK-Interfax database. Edtech company offers “business courses for those who want to earn more.” These include educational programs “How to reach 1.5 million rubles,” “Billions,” “Profitable Connections,” MCA (after completing this course, it is guaranteed that the student will be able to “earn at least 1 million rubles.”), indicated on “Like Center” website.
The cost of school courses varies from 499 rubles. for recorded webinars up to more than 1.5 million rubles. for annual programs with individual student support, personal meetings, etc., the Vedomosti correspondent was convinced.
“Like Center” in 2022 took fourth place in the top 100 edtech companies: its revenue fell by 30.5% to 5.2 billion rubles by 2021, according to data from the Smart Ranking research agency. At the same time, the online school has become a leader in the business education segment, which in 2022 fell by 21.7% to 9.7 billion rubles, they note. Shabutdinov actively promoted the Like Center courses on his social networks. — Insert K.ru
Kommersant.Ru, 03.11.2023, “Ekaterina Mizulina called Ayaz Shabutdinov the biggest information fraudster”: Head of the Safe Internet League Ekaterina Mizulina commented detention of blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov on suspicion of fraud in the sale of courses. She called him “the biggest information scammer.”
“The person has been engaged in information fraud for a long time, deceiving people and evading taxes. Of course, this could not pass by the law enforcement agencies,” said the head of the League. In her Telegram channel, Ms. Mizulina noted that the organization had been waiting for the arrest of the young man since April 2023. The director of the Safe Internet League believes that there will still be cases of bloggers being detained for such activities.
“This is probably the largest information scam in our country, along with Blinovskaya. A large number of citizens wrote, including to us, that they considered themselves victims as a result of his fraudulent actions,” Ms. Mizudina emphasized. — Insert K.ru
