A Moscow court seized the property of blogger Lerchek

“The resolution of the Troitsky District Court of Moscow accepted the investigator’s request to confiscate the property of the accused Valeria Valerievna Chekalina: funds, for the entire period of the preliminary investigation and trial,” the message states.

In October 2024, the court opted for a preventive measure in the form of house arrest against Lerchek and her ex-husband Artem Chekalin. In December, the Moscow City Court declared legal the extension of the house arrest of the blogger and her ex-husband until January 25.

The Chekalins and their business partner Roman Vishnyak were charged under part 3 of article 193.1 of the Criminal Code (conducting monetary transactions to transfer funds in foreign currency or in the currency of the Russian Federation to accounts of non-residents using forged documents ). The maximum penalty provided for in this article is up to 10 years in prison.

Course: Choose a tax system

According to investigators, the defendants sold marathon fitness courses over the Internet. To do this, they entered into agreements with a foreign company and the payment was sent to the accounts of a foreign bank.

At the same time, “the defendants provided documents with false information about the motives, objectives and purpose of transfers to institutions with powers of currency control agents,” the Moscow prosecutor’s office noted. In total, the defendants withdrew more than 250 million rubles from Russia, they indicated there.

In March 2023, criminal cases were opened against Lerchek and her ex-husband for tax evasion worth 300 million rubles and money laundering worth more than 130 million rubles. In November, the Chekalin defense announced a payment of 500 million rubles to the Federal Tax Service. Both cases were closed: the tax evasion case, in December, and the money laundering case, in March 2024.