Map of Grigory Tsaregorodtsev bit
In Moscow, on September 5, the 235th Garrison Military Court extended the arrest period for a FSB officer in the Perm Territory until November 7 Grigory Tsaregorodtsevaccused of opposing the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and a bribe of 100 million rubles, journalists from the Kommersant publication drew attention to the court ruling.
According to investigators, a former FSB employee who patronized members of the hacker group received 100 million rubles from two defendants in the case. He promised that he would resolve issues with the transfer of their criminal case from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the FSB, and organize the transfer of the accused to the Perm pre-trial detention center, from where they would be released due to the termination of criminal prosecution.
The case materials indicate that he gave instructions to his proxies to destroy evidence of his involvement in criminal activities. In addition, Tsaregorodtsev, through third parties, influenced suspects and defendants in a criminal case being processed by the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in order to obtain their refusal to testify, including about the fact of giving him a bribe.
From the testimony of the witness it follows that after the arrest by officers of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Tsaregorodtsev told her that he himself feared criminal prosecution. At the same time, using his official connections, he resolves the issue of transferring these persons to a pre-trial detention center in Perm and the subsequent termination of their criminal prosecution.
It is known that in April, when choosing a preventive measure, Tsaregorodtsev’s lawyers asked that he be prohibited from certain actions. In September, they petitioned to replace their detention in a pre-trial detention center with house arrest.
As a Properm.ru journalist previously wrote, on February 9, 2022, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow sent the general director of the Saratovfilm film company to pre-trial detention. Denis Pachevskyentrepreneur Alexandra Kovalevaemployee of Transtechcom Artyom Bystrykh, co-owner of Perm Get-Net Artyom Zaitsevas well as two unemployed – Vladislav Gileva And Yaroslava Solovyova. All of them were charged under Part 2 of Art. 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal use of computer programs intended for receiving, issuing, transferring funds, committed by a group of persons).
Moreover, a classified witness in the case: a girl (S.L.S.) said that Vladislav Gilev, who previously headed the trade and construction company Uralenergostroy (one of the partners of Transtechcom Bystrykh), gave Tsaregorodtsev 100 million rubles in cash. The transfer was carried out by their mutual friend, Gilev’s business partner, Alexander Kovalev. Also, according to the witness, through her Tsaregorodtsev tried to calm the hackers, claiming that he was making every effort to get them out of prison. However, after a year behind bars and multiple court rejections of defense motions and appeals regarding mitigation of the preventive measure, the detainees allegedly decided to “dump” their curator and revealed the fact of transferring money intended to bribe investigators
How official then reported to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, “This is the third hacker group whose activities have been stopped in Russia since the beginning of 2022. Earlier, members of the hacker group REvil and The Infraud Organization were arrested in a case of cyber fraud in Moscow, some of whom were sent under house arrest as part of a pre-trial cooperation agreement.”
According to Kommersant, the case of the Perm hackers is now being considered by the Savyolovsky District Court. According to the case file, the first hearing in the case took place in August 2023.
