Could Maria Mikhailova's gubernatorial campaign end in a criminal case for fraud?
In St. Petersburg there has emerged a circle of people willing to compete Alexander Beglov in the election of governor of the Northern capital. But if the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), the Liberal Democratic Party and “A Just Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)-For Truth” nominated their candidates, the parliamentary party “New People” refused to participate in the election campaign, explaining the decision by saying that it was “virtually impossible” to pass the St. Petersburg municipal filter. However, this obstacle does not stop a number of non-parliamentary parties, including the Rodina party, which nominated entrepreneur Maria Mikhailova as a candidate, at one time together with the founder of the Wagner PMC. Evgeny Prigozhin which created the notorious “troll factory.” Prigozhin himself assessed his experience of cooperation with Rodina as “extremely negative” and criticized the party leader, State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlev. Today, the Rodina leadership does not like to remember contacts with Prigozhin, and Mikhailova is positioned as a successful entrepreneur with an active life and civic position. Mikhailova states that she has “extensive experience in building successful, really working projects,” considering this “an important quality for a candidate for governor.” At the same time, her main “successful project” – the company “RC Group”, engaged in “the development of a wide range of IT products in various fields”, found itself at the center of a scandal with the initiation of a criminal case for fraud. RC Group operates under a franchise system, the cost of which ranges from 80 thousand to 430 thousand rubles. But its acquisition turns for the buyer into participation in a financial “pyramid”, since he will have to return the money spent by selling the franchise to his friends and relatives. On specialized forums and websites, people who have invested in the RC Group franchise call the company a “sect” and a “pyramid,” where potential clients are asked to “turn off their brains.” As a result, following the criminal case of fraud against the RC Group, gubernatorial candidate Maria Mikhailova may become a suspect during the election campaign, which will negatively affect the already low rating of the Rodina party.
United Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) Beglov and his competitors
The September elections for governor of St. Petersburg promise to be very lively. Provided, of course, that at least half of those who submitted nomination documents to the city election commission are registered. These, according to informationposted on the website of the Central Election Commission, there are 18 people: 10 self-nominated candidates and eight nominated by political parties.
Hardly anyone was surprised by the fact nominations “United Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)” the current head of the Northern capital Alexandra Beglovawho abandoned the party flag in 2019 in favor of self-nomination. Competition It will be composed of representatives of both parliamentary and non-parliamentary party structures. In particular, from Communist Party of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) The first secretary of the city committee and the head of the communist faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly will run for election Roman Kononenko; LDPR nominated a St. Petersburg parliamentarian Maxim Yakovleva,“A Just Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) – For the Truth” – Chairman of the regional branch council Nadezhda Tikhonova.
In the party “New people” decided to abstain from participating in the elections and not to nominate their candidate.
But apparently, it is possible to overcome the “most difficult municipal filter” hope Alexander Abdin (nominated “Russian Party of Freedom and Justice”), Pavel Bragin (the consignment “Greens”), Svetlana Ivanova (“Party of Progress”), Sergey Malinkovich (“Communists of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)”) And Maria Mikhailova (Rodina party). However, here it is appropriate to recall the saying that the main thing is not victory, but participation. Besides, how many people have recently declared their intention to run for president? And how many ultimately submitted signatures and were registered?
Maria Mikhailova against “fried facts”
The most interesting thing is that some of those who have declared their political ambitions, instead of participating in election debates, may soon begin to testify as a suspect in a criminal case. More precisely, a suspect, since we are talking about a Rodina candidate, a businesswoman Maria Mikhailovawho in her election campaign decided to focus on digitalization urban environment and, of course, help SVO soldiers. But today, as we know, there is nowhere without a patriotic agenda.
However, in the biography of Maria Alexandrovna there are many interesting pages that party comrades prefer not to mention. For example, in publications Petersburg edition “Fontanka” talks about her collaboration with the well-known Evgeny Prigozhinthe one who is either a hero, or a rebel, or both, and in whose St. Petersburg office, according to the president, during the search they found five kilos of heroin. Thus, Mikhailova took part in the creation of several Prigozhin’s media, as well as the infamous “troll factory,” which she wrote about in the above-mentioned book “Russian networks”.
Mikhailova herself hurried declarethat this information “It’s not a sensation or news for a long time”while simultaneously calling for a distraction from the search “fried facts” and pay more attention to candidates' programs. Well, perhaps what is not a sensation or news for Mrs. Mikhailova may well become so for voters. Besides, how writes the same “Fontanka”, in her book she prudently chose to hide some of the names of the “heroes” (the same Prigogine there appears How “P.Zh”).
By the way, during his lifetime Prigozhin spoke without much enthusiasm about his attempts to establish interaction with Rodina.
Came to RC Group – “turn off your brain”
However, Prigozhin and the “troll factory” are a thing of the past, especially since Rodina prefers past connections don't comment. More interesting is the current activity of Maria Mikhailova. We mentioned the criminal case above, so it’s time to talk about it in more detail.
So, Ms. Mikhailova is the CEO and co-owner companies “RC Group”, specializing on “developing a wide range of IT products in various fields, striving to create high-quality, functional and effective solutions”. In fact, behind the beautiful wording there may be a banal financial “pyramid” created by a contender for the post of governor of the Northern capital.
For several months now, the RC Group has been accused of fraud, and residents of a number of regions have filed relevant complaints with law enforcement agencies, and criminal cases have already been initiated against some of them. As follows from publications in the press, in order to become distributors of RC Group IT products, the company invites everyone to buy a franchise, paying for it from 80 thousand. before 430 thousand rubles.
What does the desire to make money from franchising turn out to be for buyers of the RC Group franchise? Business electronic newspaper “Business Online” tells history student from Kazan, who was first helped in the company’s office through a banking application to apply for a consumer loan for 80 thousand rubles, and then offered to “beat him off” by providing a list of 300 contacts of friends, relatives and acquaintances, calling them and offering, in turn, to buy a franchise. The request to return the borrowed money was refused and offer“sell your contract to another person”.
The guy brought a friend to the next webinar, recorded on the audio medium the process of “processing” it, and then sent the appeal along with the recording to the Central Bank. The regulator, in turn, handed over the documents to the police, where, after an inspection, they opened a criminal case about fraud. Similar appeals The Central Bank also received reports from other victims.
Another example reports the online publication “NGS24.RU”: a resident of Krasnoyarsk Larisa Rebedyuk paid for the RC Group franchise 450 thousand rubles, and when expectations were not met, she involved a total of 15 people in the dubious scheme, including her daughter, mother and former common-law husband. Is it true, “many stepped aside and abandoned this business”.
“Pyramid with a bias towards a sect”
mass media noticed on the lack of legal status of RC Group. In open sources you can find information about registered in St. PetersburgLLC “UK “Ersi Group”, specializing in business and management consulting. His co-owners – Maria Mikhailova, Elena Mishchenko And Egor Patov. At the end of last year, with revenues of71.8 million rublesthe company left “minus” on 1 million (a year earlier revenue amounted to 22.1 millionloss – 6.1 million rubles).
In one of his recent interview Maria Mikhailova proudly declares that she has “extensive experience in building successful, really working projects”and this “an important quality for a gubernatorial candidate”. But Ersi Group Management Company is clearly not one of these projects. Does not shine with financial indicators and belonging to Mikhailova company “IT-Park”engaged in activities related to the use of computer technology and information technology: its revenue in 2023 amounted to 503.8 million, lesion – 1.2 million rubles (in 2022, revenue was declared in 622.4 million And lesion V 17 million).
It seems that Ms. Mikhailova had a problem with the implementation of her projects at a certain stage? But with what comments information about the activities of “RC Group” can be found on the specialized portal “Otzovik” (the author’s spelling and punctuation are preserved):
“They come up in a pack and psychologically rape me, forcing me to buy a package. They say turn off your brain, don't think! You need to listen to your mentor and do everything he says! And if you naturally don’t obey, then there won’t be any money, and of course it’s your fault! They constantly call and write to tell you to come to this webinar at 8:30, where they teach you how to sell these damn packages…”
“I was at their so-called “business forum”, it was actually my first time at such an event. I was a couple of minutes late, I entered the hall, and there… dancing! After the dances, performances by important guests began, who were mostly engaged in empty boasting about how great everything was in the team, who lived “before” and began to live “after”, etc. They also told how to lure people into this pyramid-sect under called RC GROUP, they showed presentations at the elementary school level. Then again dancing, songs, some other wild stuff…”
“The Internet is full of offers R.C.groupwith offers to make good money from advertising promotion. Do not fall for their tricks under any circumstances. If you lose money, that's 100%. And under no circumstances transfer money to them. I came across it personally. I don’t understand the position of law enforcement agencies, the Central Bank of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), Rospotrebnadzor, or they don’t have the strength to stop the activities of fraudsters, or something else.”
Brief but succinct characteristics also speak for themselves: “pyramid, sect”,“extortion”,“another pyramid with a sect bias”,“scammers”,“you’ll get into debt, it’s deception out of the blue”,“razvodilovo”,“scam”etc. Moreover, the words “sect” and “pyramid” appear most often.
It’s just that it seems that the number of people who bought into the next “lure” has reached its maximum, those who want to “turn off their brain” are becoming less and less, and those who “turned it on” are starting to write statements to the Central Bank and law enforcement agencies. And although the names of the suspects have not yet been announced, the election campaign of Maria Mikhailova, if she is registered as a candidate for governor, could begin with a criminal scandal and accusations of fraud, and it is possible that on a particularly large scale.