A 52-year-old man in Moscow faces trial for allegedly defrauding a businesswoman of 177 million rubles in a fake resort lounge investment scheme, city prosecutors announced.
The Moscow City Prosecutor's Office informed news outlet Lenta.ru that the suspect solicited the funds under the pretext of investing in the construction of a business lounge in the Altai Republic.
According to law enforcement officials, the man received the funds in payments spanning from May 2017 to April 2021. Prosecutors said he completed no work toward developing the project and took no actions in the interest of the investor, instead spending the stolen funds at his own discretion.
Court proceedings in Moscow
Authorities have formally charged the suspect under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which specifically addresses fraud committed on a particularly large scale. The defendant has refused to admit guilt during preliminary questioning.
All case materials have been submitted to the Chertanovsky District Court of Moscow for a hearing on the merits. In the Russian judicial system, district courts serve as primary courts of general jurisdiction for major criminal cases, with Part 4 fraud convictions carrying potential sentences of up to ten years in prison.
The Altai Republic is a mountainous region in southern Siberia bordering Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. Known for its natural reserves and alpine landscapes, the republic has seen growing investment in travel infrastructure and commercial hospitality developments in recent years.
Related tourism fraud cases
The prosecution follows other recent judicial actions involving financial misdeeds in the Russian tourism sector.
In an earlier case, Ruslan Yunusov, the former head of the Bashkiria Tourism Development Center, and his deputy Artur Idelbaev were convicted alongside an employee of a commercial firm over a 27 million ruble tourism scam. The three individuals received prison terms of up to six years for their roles in the fraudulent scheme.
