Valeria and Artem Chekalina did not pass marathons
As a fitness blogger, Lerchek, with the help of relatives, underpaid 311 million rubles. taxes. The prosecutor’s office accused the millionaire blogger Valeria ChekalInu (Lerchek/Lerchek) in tax evasion for 311 million rubles, and her husband Artem Chekalina – in helping. The Moscow prosecutor’s office announced this in a telegram channel.
“Valeriya Chekalanother charged under Part 2 of Art. 198 of the Criminal Code of Russia (tax evasion by an individual by failure to submit a tax return, committed on an especially large scale), and Artem Chekalinu – according to part 5 of Art. 33, part 2 of Art. 198 of the Criminal Code of Russia (assistance in tax evasion by an individual),” the statement reads.
According to the investigation, Chekalina and her husband evaded paying value added tax for the period from the first quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021, as well as on personal income for 2020-2021 in the amount of more than 311 million rubles.
Valeria Chekalina, known by the nickname Lerchek, has about 10 million followers on Instagram (owned by Meta Corporation, whose activities are banned in Russia), and since March 2022, after blocking Instagram in Russia, she has also been running her telegram channel “Lerchek is now here” . In 2020, she took seventh place in the Forbes ranking as one of the highest paid social media bloggers in Russia.
Beyond Advertising ChekalIna and her husband sell weight loss marathons. For example, one of them promises an incredible result in just a month – minus 10 cm at the waist. In 2021, the blogger started selling underwear under the LEANI brand.
The Moscow Investigation Department reported on the case under Part 2 of Art. 198, part 5 of Art. 33, part 2 of Art. 198 of the Criminal Code (evasion and aiding in tax evasion from an individual) against Chekalanother and her husband on the morning of March 7th. “Urgent searches” were carried out in their places of residence.
According to the SC, ChekalIna has registered an individual entrepreneur and uses a simplified taxation system with an allowable income limit of 150 million rubles. in year. However, in the period from July 2020 to July 2022, she received income from organizing fitness marathons “in a significantly larger amount,” the investigation indicated, but did not switch to the general taxation system and pay VAT and personal income tax and attracted her husband and others as accomplices relatives.
Life.Ru, 03/07/2023, “Businessmen from all over Russia went bankrupt because of the franchise of blogger Lerchek”: Entrepreneurs from all over Russia who bought the Letique Cosmetics franchise of blogger Lerchek (Valeria Chekalother), claim to have gone bankrupt in this business. According to SHOT, one of the affected business women bought the brand’s “island” for 1.1 million rubles even before the coronavirus pandemic. At first, things went uphill, but after a couple of years the conditions of the game changed: Lerchek and her husband Artyom allegedly forbade “franchise players” to hold draws on the sites, which caused the number of buyers to drop sharply. — Inset K.ru
As Mash wrote, during searches at Chekalothers found gold bars with a total weight of 8 kg, whose value at the rate of the Central Bank is about 36 million rubles. Also, a US passport and about ten Russian passports were found in the bloggers’ house, the Telegram channel notes. Later, “RIA Novosti” and “112” reported that the spouses took a written undertaking not to leave.
Kommersant.Ru, 03/07/2023, “Millions of taxes will be collected from bloggers”: It was through social networks that bloggers offered their online marathons for quick weight loss. At the same time, each buyer of the package became a participant in the Wheel of Fortune lottery with prizes in the form of apartments, cars, and expensive phones. However, if someone won, then, as a rule, only cosmetics from the Letique brand, the creator of which is the blogger herself. Chekalina. By the way, in June last year, for a PR campaign, during which Lerchek distributed its cosmetics to subscribers right on the road at the Patriarch’s Ponds, the Presnensky Court fined her 20 thousand rubles. From the court decision, it followed that the crowd of those who wanted to get gifts from the blogger impeded the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. […]
Meanwhile, according to Kommersant’s source in the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR, in the near future it is possible that a number of similar criminal cases will be initiated, since the department is now checking other bloggers who may use similar tax minimization schemes. However, it is quite obvious that those under investigation would prefer to voluntarily compensate the arrears, and not bring the case to court. — Inset K.ru
Kommersant.Ru, 03/07/2023, “Valeria (Lerchek) and Artem Chekalothers: who are they and how much do they earn “: The current IP of Mrs. Chekalanother was registered in 2018 in Moscow. Activities – representation in the media and various types of trade. According to Kartoteka.ru, Valeria Chekalina is also the beneficiary of several companies involved in the sale of clothing, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, including Bee Fit LLC (revenue in 2021 – 2.9 billion rubles, net profit of 657.8 million rubles), LLC LEA, LLC “Letikbad”
Her husband Artem ChekalYing is the CEO of Bee Fit LLC, owns cosmetic companies Letik Makeup LLC (revenue 113.8 million rubles, net profit – 59.7 million rubles) and Ecoflow LLC (net loss in 2021 – 2, 6 million rubles), as well as the clothes sales company Leani LLC. In 2019, an individual entrepreneur was also registered for him, the types of activity are representation in the media and trade.
Valeria and Artem Chekalother three children. Relatives of Valeria and Artem Chekalothers also have successful blogs. Valeria Rodion’s younger brother has 99.8 thousand followers on Instagram, and the wife of Artem’s younger brother Anna has 1.4 million.
@breakingmash, 07.03.2023 11:18: Searches in the house of blogger Lerchek began because of her last year’s conflict with star stylist Elvira Yankovskaya. In the summer of 2022, Lerchek accused her of selling Dior, Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton singed bags. Then the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs intervened and began to find out where hundreds of thousands of rubles of taxes had gone. After the operatives began to be interested in the rest of the taxes of the blogger. Interrogations on her income lasted almost six months. Before searches in Valeria’s house Chekalanother court released Yankovskaya from house arrest. Insert K.ru
Life.Ru, 03/07/2023, “Lawyer Solovyov spoke about the possible development of a criminal case against bloggers Chekalothers”: Honored Lawyer of Russia Ivan Solovyov, in an interview with RT, commented on the news about the initiation of a criminal case on tax evasion in the amount of 300 million rubles against spouses-businessmen Chekalothers who earned money by running fitness marathons. The specialist noted that the line between legitimate tax optimization and tax evasion is “rather thin”.
“The presence of a guilty intent, a large or especially large amount of evasion, as well as the connection between the use of illegal schemes and the non-receipt of taxes to the budgets are taken into account. In this case, the defendant involved her husband and some relatives in an evasion scheme and thus made them her accomplices. As a result, the blogger’s income Chekalanother did not go to her settlement account, but to settlement accounts belonging to her relatives, opened through individual entrepreneurs, ”said Solovyov. […] He also drew attention to the fact that a person who has committed this crime for the first time is released from criminal liability upon payment of the amount of arrears and the corresponding penalties, as well as a fine.
“Thus, if Chekalina will voluntarily pay to the budget the amount of underpaid taxes actually stolen from the state, and will also pay all the fines and penalties due in this case, she will be exempted from criminal liability, ”concluded the interlocutor of RT. — Inset K.ru
Five cars, four apartments in Moscow and two mansions: What property do blogger Lerchek and her husband own
Life publishes a list of property, which, according to official data, belongs to millionaire bloggers Chekalothers, to which the security forces raided with searches today. By the way, blogger Lerchek (Valeriya Chekalanother) has already been charged with tax evasion on an especially large scale, and her husband Artyom with complicity. At the moment, the spouses have been released on bail.
According to our data, four Chekalothers have at least five luxury cars, the total cost of which exceeds 145 million rubles. So, on Lerchek, a Ventley Continental Gt V8 worth about 22.9 million rubles is recorded – the “childhood dream” of a 30-year-old blogger was presented by her husband. The couple’s family fleet also includes a Lamborghini Urus (about 28 million rubles), a Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge (about 62 million rubles), a Mercedes-Benz G-Class Amg G 63 (about 25 million rubles) and a Mercedes-Benz GLE 300 D 4MATIC (approximately 6.9 million rubles) – a gift for Artyom’s father.
Valeria ChekalIna and her mansion under construction at Agalarov Estate From real estate, the couple has four apartments in Moscow and two in their native Togliatti. Yes, for Chekalothers include a 72-meter housing in the capital’s Zilart business class residential complex, its cost is estimated at about 52 million rubles. The bloggers also have an apartment on Serpukhovsky Val Street with an area of 150 square meters (it cost 57 million rubles, repairs cost 21 million rubles). The bloggers also have two apartments on Dekabristov Street in the north-east of Moscow: one with an area of 83 square meters (about 20 million rubles), the other – 38 squares (about 10 million rubles). In Togliatti, the spouses own 200-meter and 94-meter housing for about seven and three and a half million rubles, respectively.
It is worth noting that on this list of real estate Chekalothers do not end. In particular, they own a mansion in the elite cottage settlement “Agalarov Estate”, the construction of which was estimated at a billion rubles. The total area of the house is more than 2.1 thousand square meters. Lerchek and her husband also own a cottage in the village of Ilyinka Leinhouse near Moscow for 125 million rubles. The area of the suburban area is 523 square meters, and the house itself is about 400 square meters. […]
Life.Ru, 03/07/2023, “The security forces raided the relatives of the billionaire blogger Lerchek and her husband with searches”: The security forces are conducting searches in several apartments in Moscow, where the relatives and friends of the blogger Lerchek (Valeria Chekaldifferent) and her husband Artyom. It is reported by SHOT. In particular, searches are being carried out in a four-room apartment on Serpukhovsky Val, where Artyom’s parents and brother and his wife live. The area of the property is 150 square meters, and the cost is about 57 million rubles. Previously, the blogger herself lived there with her husband and children, but now they have moved to a country house. It is curious, but the relatives of the journalists who wanted to talk to them ChekalIna was not received warmly at all and asked to leave as soon as possible. — Inset K.ru