Victim of "hypocrisy": Appearance of a fraudster cost a Muscovite 4 years in prison
At the end of 2020, a fraudster under an assumed name organized a real estate sale and purchase transaction. At its final stage, the swindler managed to take 8 million rubles in cash and fled. Soon the police detained a former policeman who worked at a pet cemetery and looked like the criminal. Despite the contradictions in the case, the man was convicted. A year later, another man, much more similar to the real fraudster, was arrested and convicted for a similar crime. When this became known to the defense, the lawyers together with the prosecutor's office began to seek a review of the case. But the victim still insists on the former version. In a tangled story involving a daring swindler, a Georgian fortune-teller and gullible victims were analyzed by "Izvestia".
Similarity "cannot be excluded"
In the morning of January 25, 2021, 47-year-old Alexey Turchin was leaving the entrance of the apartment building of his former civilian wife. On the street he was surrounded by men in civilian clothes and convincingly asked to go with them to the Yakimanka police department. It was about the investigation of fraud.
Comparative portrait examination of Turchin
- Bam, they showed me some kind of ID in my face and said something about some kind of detention. I said to them, "Is this an unfunny prank?" They explained to me that they would tell me everything at the police station and fastened handcuffs on my wrists," recalls Turchin.
Gradually it became clear: the police were convinced that Turchin was a dexterous swindler who introduced himself to the victims as "Gleb Radulov". And on December 7, 2020, he stole 8 million rubles during a transaction in the center of Moscow.
Turchin was sure: he had an ironclad alibi. On the day of the crime, the police said, he was on the other side of the city. There are call and SMS details, receipts from purchases in the store, testimony from acquaintances.
- In my head somehow still does not fit, - says Turchin. - This is the 21st century. Cameras are everywhere, people are found in a matter of hours. There is a city video surveillance system in my entrance, the police could have taken data from it and seen when I enter and when I leave. But they delayed the arrest, and eventually the footage was lost. From the street, from the store I went to, and from the bank.
However, the investigation went the other way and conducted a portrait examination. A forensic expert compared the poor quality of the surveillance footage from the bank with Turchin's photo and came to the conclusion: "It cannot be excluded that Alexei Turchin and 'Gleb Radulov' are one and the same person."
According to Turchin, he has never been involved with crime. A Muscovite, he failed to finish his law degree, and from 1994 to 1996 he worked in criminal investigation. In 1996 he met Andrei Zhuravlev, the founder of one of the first pet cemeteries in Moscow, at a driving school. The man left the police and got involved in Zhuravlev's business: he began to earn money on ritual services for pets - cremation and burial. Later Zhuravlev started leasing cars. He also began to involve Turchin in it - for transportation.
The testimony of the witnesses was split 50/50. Five eyewitnesses did not recognize Turchin as a crook, but the other five decided that he was "Gleb Radulov". According to Turchin, the witnesses were initially asked leading questions. But at the investigation the picture of the crime became clearer.
Deal with disappearance
On December 7, 2020 in the office of a notary in the center of Moscow was a deal on the sale of suburban real estate. Businessman Alexei Zakora was selling for 40 million rubles a house with a plot of 30 acres in a prestigious dacha settlement. A man who introduced himself as Gleb Radulov promised to buy the property.
Ruslan Radulov at a branch of PSB Bank
But according to the buyer, he did not have the full amount, and he could not get a loan from a bank because of bankruptcy proceedings. Therefore, to borrow the missing 8 million he turned to a loan broker, who attracted a private investor - Mikhail Matveenko. The latter agreed to lend the money at 36% per annum and a pledge of the purchased real estate. The fictitious recipient of the loan was cab driver Pavel Komissarov, to whom Radulov promised a reward for his assistance.
Everything looked murky, but profitable. The seller received a decent amount of cash for his real estate. The lender - interest and firm guarantees of repayment. After all, the loan was secured by collateral. And the cab driver - a reward of 1 million rubles, without seriously risking anything.
In anticipation of such a successful deal for all parties, the counterparties did not even think to ask for Radulov's identity documents. The notary signed the pledge documents, the lender handed over the money to the formal borrower. Radulov offered to count the cash at the bank. The parties to the transaction proceeded to the PSB branch in Yakimanka.
The manager of the bank offered to accommodate everyone in the office on the second floor. The seller of the house went to the first floor - to the cash desk. He expected that there they would recalculate the entire sum for the house and the plot. Radulov went up to the second floor, where he took 8 million from the creditor, ostensibly to take them to the cash desk for recalculation. Then he went into the next room, shoved the money in his pockets and left the bank. Passing by the seller, he specified that he was going to meet a man with the bulk of the money for the house. He was never seen again.
Quickly suspecting something wrong, the parties to the transaction called the police and began to recall how Radulov had worn into their confidence. If the seller and the lender the swindler found, using quite transparent mechanisms, then with the formal borrower - cab driver Komissarov - was more difficult.
Do not go to a fortune-teller
It all started with Moscow fortune-teller Nata Bobokhidze. Kakha Nimsadze, previously convicted for petty theft, went to her for advice and complained that no one would lend him money. The soothsayer introduced him to another client of hers - Gleb Radulov. That with a loan could not help, but said that he plans to earn money on the resale of real estate. Only to get a loan for the missing amount Radulov needed an unmarried Russian citizen with no criminal record and no debts. Radulov promised a reward for his help in finding such a person.
Nimsadze told this to his former cellmate - businessman Andrei Zhuravlev. The same one with whom Turchin was well acquainted. Zhuravlev found himself in pre-trial detention in 2018, when he took away a car from another business partner in return for a debt. For a promised reward, Zhuravlev found a gullible cab driver Komissarov with a "clean passport" through word of mouth.
In total, Radulov processed all the participants and intermediaries of the transaction for two months, promising each of them the most favorable conditions.
Doubts in favor of the prosecution
The police officers from the Yakimanka police department who arrived on the scene first of all saved the surveillance footage from the PSB office. Then they questioned all the participants of the transaction and initiated a case of fraud on a particularly large scale (under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code). The most difficult thing was to establish the identity of "Gleb Radulov" - the surveillance footage was of poor quality. The operatives began to work out the connections between the cab driver Komissarov and his previously convicted buddy Zhuravlev.
Strangely enough, they were not interested in the story of the fortune-teller and Kakha. It's still not clear how they found out about Turchin. According to Zhuravlev, most likely, the suspect was found among his contacts in his cell phone. According to Zhuravlev, he did not tell his comrade about the unfortunate deal. But Turchin seemed to the police to look like the fraudster captured by the cameras.
During the investigation Turchin was released under house arrest. Then the case went to court. After the next court session in January 2022, Turchin decided to stop by on his way home to congratulate his son from his former civilian wife on New Year's Eve. The violation, recorded with the help of an electronic bracelet, was the reason for placement in the pre-trial detention center, where the man spent the next eight months before sentencing. The former policeman was still confident that the court would sort it out and release him.
During the trial, the seller Zakora and witnesses Zhuravlev, Komissarov and his acquaintance who had seen "Gleb Radulov", as well as Nimsadze, stated that the swindler and Turchin were different people. The prosecution's version was supported by the loan broker, her assistant, a notary employee, the injured creditor Matvienko and his father. Now, after the discovery of new circumstances, Matvienko refused to discuss the details of the case with Izvestia, but emphasized that he continues to believe that it was Turchin who defrauded him.
In August 2022, the Zamoskvoretsky court sentenced the defendant to four years in prison. The court considered the testimony in his favor as an attempt to protect Turchin from his acquaintances. The court of appeal found the verdict lawful and well-founded.
Manual dexterity for millions
In October 2022, pet cemetery owner Andrei Zhuravlev saw a story on federal TV about the trial of a fraudster, in whom he recognized Radulov. It turned out that this is his real last name. Only the swindler's name is not Gleb, but Ruslan. Moreover, Radulov was sentenced almost simultaneously with Turchin for a similar crime. Zhuravlev found a page on the Internet where the victim encouraged other victims of Radulov to come forward.
In the fall of 2021, Radulov pulled off a very similar scam. This time the wealthy businessman "Gleb" was looking for 24 million rubles, which were not enough to buy a luxury house for 70 million.
Under such a legend Radulov through a realtor came to private lenders - Victor Akimov and Evgeny Abramov with a proposal to give him a loan against the security of real estate. For more convincing Radulov involved in the scheme 33-year-old Marina Sergeeva, who introduced as his common-law wife, expecting a child. At the investigation, the girl stated that she was sincerely convinced that Radulov was her future husband and that the purchase of the house was their joint project.
On October 8, 2021, all parties gathered at the Fora-Bank branch on Vernadsky Avenue to formalize the deal. The creditors had with them 24 million rubles in cash. They were counted, after which 22.3 million rubles Radulov packed in a black bag, and 1.7 million gave as payment for the services of a realtor. The culmination of the scam was a clever trick: literally one meter away from his creditors Radulov exchanged the sealed bag with money for the same one filled with "Bank of Pranks" tickets and plasticine. He put the bag with the real money in his briefcase.
After that, the bag with the fake was put in a safe deposit box, "until the deal was finalized." Then Radulov asked the creditors and his "wife" to wait for him for a few minutes: it was necessary to "meet the seller at home". At that moment, first Radulov disappeared, and then Sergeeva disappeared.
A few hours later, when the investors finally realized that the deal did not go according to plan, the safe deposit box was opened, but instead of 22.3 million found there plasticine and paper.
The businessman's soulmate
The key witness in this story was Radulov's "wife". Her testimony revealed another coincidence in the two scams. According to Sergeeva, she has long been looking for a successful marriage and in search of a woman's happiness contacted fortune-teller Nata Bobokhidze. The same one through whom Radulov came out on a fictitious borrower last time.
"On July 22, 2021, at about 3 p.m., when Sergeeva came to visit Bobokhidze, she had a man in her apartment who called himself Gleb Novikov, who later turned out to be Ruslan Radulov," the verdict reads. - Bobokhidze introduced them and asked Sergeeva to help Radulov. She said that he liked Sergeeva very much and planned to start a family with her".
The lonely woman liked Radulov and thought he was a serious man who could be relied on. He said that he intends to buy a house where he and Sergeyeva will live. According to Radulov, he lacked only a part of the total amount, and to take a loan prevented debts on alimony from the last marriage. All this time fortune-teller Bobokhidze, according to Sergeeva, in every possible way persuaded her to listen to Radulov and do what he asks. So the bride of the "solid businessman" and found herself in the office of the bank alone with his cheated creditors.
The fortune-teller Bobokhidze, who played a fatal role in both episodes, remained a witness. In response to Izvestia's questions, she said:
- I don't want to know anyone or anything.
Even the fact that she was involved as a witness, the fortune-teller, according to her, does not remember.
The victim demands acquittal
Later it turned out that on the day of the transaction in Fora Bank Radulov hurriedly left Russia. He spent almost two months on vacation in Spain. But on his return, on November 30, 2021, he was detained at Vnukovo airport. This time, the image from the cameras in the bank was of much higher quality, and the police involved the capital's facial recognition system in the case.
Ruslan Radulov, photo from Smart City cameras, case materials
During the trial, Radulov denied everything. He said he just wanted to help a relative buy a house, but the deal fell through. Against him were the testimonies of many people, recordings from cameras, as well as phones found during the search with confirming the scam correspondence and photos of stolen money.
According to the injured businessman, in court Radulov behaved extremely impertinent and self-confident, showed him obscene gestures.
- He directly told me, when I talked to him in the TDF, that there was already a "fool sitting for him". He offered me to return the money, and in return I had to withdraw my application. He acts like he's got it all. I wouldn't be surprised if he has also ensured a comfortable stay in prison," says the victim.
It was he who made efforts to get his story covered by the media. Through social networks he urged to respond to everyone who could have suffered at the hands of the same fraudster, and eventually attracted the attention of Turchin's acquaintances.
In February 2023, the Nikulinsky court found Radulov guilty of large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced him to five years in prison. His lawyer declined to comment for Izvestia.
In May 2024, the deputy prosecutor's office of Moscow supported the complaint of Turchin's lawyer and filed a cassation request to cancel his sentence. The prosecutor's office demanded that Turchin's alibi be checked and a second expert examination be conducted. The case returned to the Moscow City Court, from there to the Zamoskvoretsky Court and finally to the investigation, defense lawyer Rafail Mamiev told Izvestia.
However, police officers from the Yakimanka IAB decided to send the case with Turchin's accusation back to the court for a decision. By that time, the Muscovite had already served his sentence. Now he is free and will return to prison only if the punishment is more severe than the last time. However, in case of acquittal, Turchin has the right to claim damages for unlawful criminal prosecution.
"I lost all my nerves with these courts. Did not sleep at night. You never know what will happen next. I'm sure that this whole situation has specifically affected the health of my parents," said Dmitry, Turchin's brother.
In 2024, shortly before the man was released, his father died of oncology. Turchin was not allowed to attend the funeral. Now his mother is fighting with oncology.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
