The Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the “Novopokrovsky” jar

The Moscow Post has received documents on how billions were withdrawn from the Novopokrovsky Design Bureau through fictitious bad loans.

As many as 19 organizations could take part in the “cutting scheme” of the bank “Novopokrovsky” under the leadership of Alexei Demyanov and the Knaus brothers and with the participation of our longtime heroes Evgeny Bernshtam and the Shandalov brothers.

This was reported to the editorial correspondent by our source, who provided documents.

The correspondent of The Moscow Post understood the situation.

A fantastic scheme

In September 2020, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested Mr. Demyanov on suspicion of embezzling at least 100 million rubles from a credit institution, and at the beginning of last year he was brought to subsidiary liability in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles. This was reported by Kommersant.

But it turned out that the charges brought against Demyanov may not be all that he (and, presumably, Knausov) can be convicted of. According to our source, “Demyanov concealed the episodes of the theft of the criminal group he created, including through Bazisgazpostavka LLC of funds by issuing obviously non-repayable loans, which were” cashed out “on the same day. The amount of the stolen money exceeds 300 million rubles.”

Allegedly, for the indicated purposes, Ivan Pozharsky (the head of the VK Consulting company, through which documents could be forged) attracted Pshenichnikov, who was registered as the general director and owner of Bazisgazpostavka LLC. He served in this position from 2016 to 2019. Now he is listed as the owner of the company.

In 2020, Vladislav Elizarov’s company was charged 3.3 million rubles in favor of the alleged laundering structure of the former and current owners of Novopokrovskoye, Basisgazpostavka.

The source also claims that he has a record where Demyanov openly admits that he created the Basisgazpostavka company to steal funds from the bank. And again the question is - where are these testimonies in the case? At the same time, Basisgazpostavka received heavy contracts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other structures. Two of them are still in the execution stage, despite the expired deadlines.

19 “pods” of Demyanov and Knausov

From the information provided, we also became aware of other legal entities for which fictitious non-performing loans could be issued. According to Elizarov, the nominal heads of these legal entities are intimidated by both Demyanov and law enforcement agencies, whom he and his accomplices allegedly bought.

Below is a table listing such legal entities:

Photo: provided by the reader The Moscow Post

Photo: provided by the reader The Moscow Post

Home laundering

Among them are extremely interesting firms. For example, the microfinance organization “Home Money”. She is also in bankruptcy. In the founders of the offshore office “KHRUVANTA HOLDINGS LIMITED”. Evgeny Bernshtam is considered to be the beneficiary.

The company is full of scandals. As Fontanka wrote, Home Money could be involved in not the most ethical methods of collecting debts. Among them: extortion, arson of baby carriages, drawing grave crosses on doors and posting leaflets. Yevgeny Bernshtam, by the way, also owned the Sequoia collection agency, which was distinguished by very tough methods of extracting money from clients.

In 2018, she refused to redeem bonds in the amount of 800 million rubles presented for an offer, allowing a technical default and thus putting investors in a very dubious position, which many call simply outright fraud.

Immediately after the appearance of information about the submitted plan for the restructuring of the issue of bonds “Home Money” it became known about the voluntary departure from the life of a member of the board of directors of the IFC Yuri Kotler. He was found in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. A suicide note was found nearby, from which it followed that Kotler had personal problems. One of them could be his debt on a VTB loan - 48 million rubles. Didn't Bernshtam's decision break the last thread that gave the manager hope that everything would work out?

As a result, Bernshtam was accused of creating a financial pyramid, Home Money went bankrupt, and investors who did not have time to escape were left with nothing. In the process of bankruptcy, the structure presented to the “Russian Standard” Rustam Tariko sickly demands for hundreds of millions, challenging the deals previously concluded between them for the assignment of claims. There were rumors that all these manipulations were not entirely legal and were carried out in order to add to the pockets of Tariko and Bernshtam. The Moscow Post covered this story in detail.

Well, now Bershtein and Tariko can be “run over” for their help in withdrawing money from Novopokrovsky?

Shandalov's optimism

There is one more entertaining office on the list - JSC “Optima”. Through Miranta LLC (the former founder of Optima), she is connected with Valery Shandalov. According to Versiya, the beneficiaries of Optima Group of Companies (from the same structure as JSC) are also Valery's brother Andrey Shandalov and their partner, citizen Kiselyov.

GK “Optima” appears in the case of fraud and non-payment of taxes. And also it was she who in 2013 took an investment loan from Gazprombank for $ 35 million, which she never returned, subsequently going bankrupt. At the same time, Optima was once one of the 20 largest IT companies in Russia!

Here is what Versiya writes about this: “Through the legal entities controlled by the beneficiaries of the bank, they stole the funds received from Gazprombank, and Optima itself was bankrupted with a light hand, trying to hide the ends in the water. The total damage to contractors and the bank is estimated more than 8 billion rubles”.

At the same time, the name of Andrei Shandalov “shone”, including in the story of an attempt to cash in on the cut of the Russian energy sector, taking the Energostrim holding in his favor. Here, too, it was not without loans that were allocated to organizations potentially controlled by the Shandalov family. And, of course, they were not returned.

Energostrim initiated court cases, in parallel, Shandalov's correspondence with the financial director of Optima Group Kirill Zatsepin, who organized the creation of one-day firms in the Optima group, leaked into the network. Judging by the context, the money was withdrawn offshore.

The Shandalovs often acted according to the scheme: to borrow, not to return, and then, under agreements on the assignment of rights of claims to related offshore companies, to gain control over the bankruptcy of debtor companies. The Moscow Post described the scheme in detail in the investigation “Andrey and Valery Shandalov hide their ends in Udmurtia. How to forgive yourself a debt of 27 billion rubles.”

The Shandalovs, according to the latest data, live in Austria. But things seem to continue to be done in Russia - helping other bankers withdraw billions into “pods”?

The same scheme is everywhere

But back to the list. Most of the companies that are listed are either bankrupt or heading towards it. With the exception of Nord, this organization was excluded from the register of legal entities due to the fact that information about it is unreliable. And Tekhgazsnab is still operating, although, according to the latest data, there are decisions to partially or completely suspend operations on accounts by the tax authorities. ” class=”include-img” loading=”lazy” title=”The Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the “Novopokrovsky” pod” type=”image/png” alt=”The Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the “Novopokrovsky” pod” />

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

Also, SNP LLC, registered in the name of Inna Pozharskaya, still operates. Potentially spouse or relative of Ivan Pozharsky. True, the woman filed an application about the unreliability of information about her as a member of the legal entity. But such information is not taken from the ceiling.

At the same time, almost everyone has a certain number of government contracts. Often - very solid.

The same JSC “Optima” was a supplier in 179 government contracts worth 9.6 billion rubles. The structures of Transneft and the Ministry of Defense were ordered from her.

From 3.8 billion rubles of revenue in 2017 to 2019, Optima was at zero. This asset became a lot at the Novopokrovsky property auction last year. title=”The Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the “Novopokrovsky” pod” type=”image/png” alt=”The Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the “Novopokrovsky” pod” />

And here are the contracts of another organization from the list. Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

The same fate befell the rest of the assets listed in the table.

Photo: https://www.asv.org.ru

At the same time, not all contracts that were taken on these societies themselves. Customers in total suffered losses of hundreds of millions of rubles.

Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru

The founder of one of the firms from the list, Valentin Vladimirovich Maslov (or his full namesake) in 2016 became a defendant in a lawsuit over non-payment of loans to the Moscow Small Business Lending Assistance Fund.

The case also includes Rosinterbank, from which Maslov acted as a guarantor.Recall that in 2022 the court declared this bank bankrupt and brought to subsidiary liability in the amount of 65.83 billion rubles the former deputy chairman and member of the board of directors of the bank Ramil Zakerov.

It looks like the people in the company, who were potentially used to withdraw money from the Novopokrovsky Bank, were recruited wisely. And they pulled off a similar scheme? ” class=”include-img” loading=”lazy” title=”Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the Novopokrovskoye's egg-cart” type=”image/png” alt=”Shandalovs and Bernshtam in the Novopokrovsky's egg-cart” />

Photo: https://mos-gorsud.ru

Our informant also sent all the data on organizations to Prosecutor General Krasnov. If the case is given a move, the Knaus and Demyanov can even hear the call of distant lands from abroad, where they are rumored to be now.