In St. Petersburg, as part of the investigation of a high-profile criminal case of a financial pyramid operating under the guise of a consumer cooperative (PC) Best Way (Best Way), top managers of organizations Mikhail Izmailov, Elena Solovyova, Alexandra Grigoryeva and Anna Vysotskaya were sent to a pre-trial detention center.

So they can just “merge” the father of the financial scam, Navy reserve officer Roman Vasilenko, by testifying.

Recall that a criminal case on the fact of organizing activities to raise funds on an especially large scale was initiated in October last year. The basis was the results of inspections of the Central Bank and the Prosecutor General’s Office, which saw signs of a financial pyramid in the activities of Best Way. On the websites of the regulator and the supervisory agency, recommendations have already appeared for citizens to “be vigilant when investing personal savings” in this and affiliated structures. People in uniform believe that under the guise of investing in the purchase of apartments and the provision of financial services, members of an organized group could steal billions of rubles from investors since 2014.

After that, the first victims appeared, who announced the theft of large sums of money from them under the guise of improving their living conditions by the St. Petersburg cooperative “Best Way”. Roman Vasilenko, a 52-year-old businessman, is the founder of the organization operating in 17 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as Life is Good LLC affiliated with it and the Hermes investment company registered in Belize. A graduate of the Yaroslavl Higher Military Financial School, who now has, in addition to Russian citizenship of Cyprus and the Dominican Republic, as well as a residence permit in England, organized his business in 2014.

PC “Best Way” is a kind of low-cost alternative to mortgages. To join the cooperative, each client must make a non-refundable contribution in the amount of €1,000 to €2,000. Further, it was required to accumulate up to 35–50% of the cost of the chosen apartment on the account in Best Way, and only then the shareholder was put on the waiting list for purchase of housing. Thus, the apartment was given to the first person on the waiting list solely at the expense of the investments of subsequent shareholders. At the same time, the ownership right was registered on Best Way and passed to the final owner only after the payment of the remaining amount.

At the disposal of the investigation were data indicating that over the seven years of its existence, the organization has collected more than 15 billion rubles from 20 thousand shareholders throughout the country. (about 3 billion rubles were found on the accounts). At the same time, at the end of 2021, only 247 people were able to fully buy out apartments from Best Way. In total, during its journey, the cooperative transferred 2,478 apartments to shareholders for use.

Shortly before the initiation of criminal proceedings, Vasilenko prudently fled to London, where he owns real estate, including several shopping centers. However, in Moscow there are those who also have questions. For example, Volodya Solovyov, who spoke at the gatherings of the financial pyramid and did an advertising interview with the fraudster Vasilenko. Moreover, Solovyov was also engaged in direct advertising of their events. I wonder if they’ll interrogate him? And will Posner be interrogated? He also did advertising interviews and directly advertised the pyramid with cynical words “I am a supporter of such things … I myself have gone through a rather difficult path in terms of living space … I want to wish you not only success, but also luck”