Arkhangelsk Woman Sentenced for Running Financial Pyramid Scheme

In Arkhangelsk, 52-year-old Svetlana Titova has been convicted. She posed as an «investment realtor,» but in fact created a financial pyramid scheme and defrauded 26 northerners of tens of millions of rubles (over $100,000 at current rates). 14 of the victims were left homeless.

Svetlana Titova has a secondary specialized education and has two young children. In recent years, she lived in St. Petersburg. She maintained the image of a businesswoman, claiming that she bought unfinished real estate in Leningrad Oblast to then sell or rent it out profitably.

— Some of the defrauded individuals did not contact law enforcement for a long time, as Titova successfully masked her activities by presenting arguments in support of the success of the «investment plans.» By creating the appearance of fulfilling her obligations, she partially repaid the debt obligations of the «investors,» — said the Oktyabrsky District Court.

Some victims did not contact the police for a long time. Titova successfully masked her visibility, talked about investment plans, and partially repaid investors« debts.

— She does not admit guilt, asserting that all transactions are «clean,» concluded voluntarily, that obligations may be fulfilled in the future, and she blames the victims themselves, their friends and relatives, pyramid participants, and the economic situation in the country. She has not made any attempts to voluntarily compensate for the damage, — said the Oktyabrsky District Court.

Titova is now already in a colony. In September 2025, the Oktyabrsky District Court announced her sentence for a similar crime.

As it was revealed in court then, in 2022 Titova met a woman from Arkhangelsk. That woman had 2.5 million rubles (approximately $27,800 at current rates) after being relocated from dilapidated housing, but the money was not enough to buy a new one, and she was not given a loan due to poor credit history. Titova proposed a solution: the woman pays Titova 2.5 million rubles (approximately $27,800 at current rates), and in return, Titova finds someone who will take out a mortgage in their own name, pays the mortgage herself for a year instead of the woman, and also gives a monetary reward — 15% per annum or 375,000 rubles per year (approximately $4,200 at current rates).

Titova found a person who agreed to take out a mortgage in their own name and transferred the initial payment — 733,500 rubles (approximately $8,200 at current rates). The woman from Arkhangelsk moved into the apartment. After that, Titova paid the mortgage herself, but after 8 months she stopped.

Taking into account the previous sentence, Titova will spend 6.5 years in a general regime colony.

In favor of the victims, the court recovered over 50,000,000 rubles (over $555,600 at current rates) and maintained the arrest imposed on the convicted woman«s accounts.