‘Some 700 people from Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region became victims of the fraudsters from Gorod, the regional public fund that operated in the area in 2000-2003. Approximately 3,000 people suffered in the other regions of Russia. These data haven’t been finalized yet, as not all of the victims actually filed their complaints. The criminal suit proceedings involving accusations of fraud (Article 159 (part 4) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code) and organized crime (Article 210) began in 2003. At the present moment, the case has been placed with the regional court,’ Ivan Yablokov of the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced at the conference.

The financial pyramid in question had been operating in the city and in Sverdlovsk Region for three years; the fund management held seminars in the northern and western districts of Yekaterinburg for 700 to 800 people at a time. ‘The fraudsters employed NLP practices in order to persuade the attendants to pay club membership fees of 60,000 RUR. Most victims that ended up losing the money are close to the retirement age,’ reported Mr Yablokov.

‘The total material damage is estimated at 100m RUR,’ he said.