- Статьи
- Society
- Domestic trouble: the verdict in the case of 5 thousand defrauded shareholders has been announced
Domestic trouble: the verdict in the case of 5 thousand defrauded shareholders has been announced
On April 21, the Cheremushkinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced three employees of the Kvartstroy company. According to investigators, 5,000 participants in shared-equity construction suffered from her actions. The company has 88 unfinished buildings and problems with spending funds on 50 objects — the defendants in the case were charged with inappropriate spending of more than 2.4 billion rubles. The investigation believes that the money went to third-party projects, and about 500 million were simply stolen. How the scheme worked and whether the defrauded shareholders received apartments is in the Izvestia article.
What were the employees of Kvartstroy accused of?
Misuse of funds during the construction of 50 residential buildings and damage in excess of 2.4 billion rubles — on these charges, the Cheremushkinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced three employees of the Kvartstroy company on April 21. Alexander Baigushev, the company's vice president, Marina Lokteva, the financial director, and Natalia Sergeeva, the top manager, were in the dock.
The Kvartstroy case was initiated in 2017, and Anastasia Odinikova, director of the Kvartstroy branch, became its first defendant. She fully admitted her guilt and testified against the other participants in the criminal scheme. At the same time, Sergei Zhmaev, the former general director of Kvartstroy Center LLC, was detained with her. In August 2023, the court found him guilty and imposed a three-year suspended sentence.
The defendants in the case, which was being considered in court now, held senior positions in LLC "Kvartstroy Management Company" and LLC "Kvartstroy-NN". According to investigators, in 2012-2017, they misused more than 2.4 billion rubles received from more than 5,000 participants in the shared—equity construction of five residential complexes in Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow regions - they sent this money to finance other projects, and stole 490 million rubles altogether.
In addition, the prosecution believes that the defendants in the case managed to legalize 98 million rubles — they transferred them to the accounts of the Volgograd branch of the company. Another organizer of the scheme, according to investigators, was Alexander Delis, chairman of the Board of Directors of Kvartstroy.
A pre-investigation check showed that the developer had concluded contracts with citizens for the assignment of claims in violation of the norms of the federal law on shared-equity construction. The amount of damage caused is estimated at 87 million rubles.
After the criminal case was initiated, some of Kvartstroy's subsidiaries went bankrupt: in March 2018, this happened to Kvartstroy Center LLC, and in February 2019, to Kvartstroy-NN Investment Company LLC.
The court sentenced Baigushev to seven years in prison, Loktev to six, and Sergeev to five. Women have been granted a reprieve from serving their sentences until their children reach the age of 14. And the vice president of the company was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The court also deprived the accused of the right to engage in activities related to the exercise of managerial functions in commercial organizations for two years and six months. In addition, the court satisfied the civil claim of the Territorial Development Fund for the amount of damage caused — 2.4 billion rubles.
"The civil claims filed by the victims, participants in shared—equity construction, have been submitted for consideration in civil proceedings," the court's press service said.
The preliminary investigation into the accomplices who escaped from the investigation continues.
Have the defrauded shareholders received apartments
Not all of the defrauded shareholders have received housing so far, Izvestia found out. For example, the construction of the residential complex "On Goncharova" in Nizhny Novgorod has not yet been completed. The complex includes five houses and 747 apartments. Its construction has been suspended since the spring of 2017.
Initially, the developer was LLC IC Kvartstroy-NN, which was declared bankrupt in February 2019.
In order to restore the rights of defrauded shareholders, the Territorial Development Fund, established by the Government of the Russian Federation, assumed responsibility for the commissioning of unfinished houses on the terms of co-financing from the federal and regional budgets. In February 2025, the foundation put up for auction plots of land related to the residential complex worth almost 2 billion rubles. But the auction was declared invalid — no one applied to participate in them.
In the same region there was the largest long—term construction with deceived shareholders - the Noviny Smart City residential complex. Its first developer, Kvartstroy Center LLC, was declared bankrupt in 2018. The press service of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod region, with reference to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin, announced the completion of the construction of the residential complex only in November 2023.
The shareholders decided to complete two houses of another housing facility of the company in Nizhny Novgorod, the European Quarter residential complex, at their own expense. The remaining two were also completed before the fall of 2023.
In the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the construction of the Universitetskiy residential complex was completed by the Directorate for Construction in 2022. Although Kvartstroy started building it.
In the Volgograd region, residents of the European Park residential complex began to move into apartments only in 2020. It has been under construction since 2012.
The total number of unfinished buildings left behind by Kvartstroy is 88 apartment buildings.
Currently, there are 101 buildings in 24 regions in the unified register of problematic objects. 57 developers have not completed the work.
What threatens those who are hiding from the investigation
The employees of Kvartstroy who fled Russia may hide in Europe, Albert Khaleyan, a lawyer at the Matveenko and Partners Bar Association, suggested in an interview with Izvestia.
The extradition of a Russian who committed a crime in his homeland is possible by agreement of the parties, said lawyer Vitaly Ulianenko.
Russia may send a request for extradition to a foreign State on the basis of an international treaty. But the country where a person is hiding has the right to refuse to extradite him if it considers that his actions do not pose a threat to the country, Ulyanenko stressed.
According to Albert Haleyan, Europe traditionally does not rush to extradite suspects, especially if the request is accompanied by a political context.
"Extradition will require confirmation from Russia of specific episodes recognized as criminal in both countries,— Albert Khaleyan added.
The introduction of a new housing finance system has partially solved the problem of defrauded shareholders, explained independent expert Andrei Barkhota.
— It is based on the principle of prohibiting the transfer of funds to the developer directly, — said the expert. — Citizens transfer money to the bank, from where they are credited to escrow accounts. Funds can be withdrawn from them only after the facility is put into operation.
Previously, unscrupulous developers directly received money from shareholders, used it to finance third-party projects, and sometimes simply appropriated it, which led to deception.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
