St. Petersburg court convicts group for defrauding pensioners

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg found five members of an organized group guilty of stealing money by depriving elderly people of ownership rights to their apartments. The total damage exceeded 42 million rubles (approximately $442,000 at current rates).

Feb 15, 2026

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg has delivered a guilty verdict to five members of a criminal group engaged in large-scale fraud. According to the joint press service of the city«s courts, the defendants fraudulently deprived pensioners of their housing property, causing damage amounting to tens of millions of rubles.

The court established the defendants« guilt in a series of frauds (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and imposed the following sentences:

To Bogdan Svyatetsky, General Director of M2 Capital LLC: 12 years imprisonment and a fine of 4 million rubles (approximately $42,100); 22,784,239 rubles (approximately $239,800) were recovered from him in favor of the victims.
To Ilya Rubtsov and Konstantin Firsov, co-founders and managers of Brokerfeller LLC and AN Lengrad LLC: each 6 years in a penal colony and a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately $10,500); jointly, 19,598,636 rubles (approximately $206,300) were recovered from them.
To Igor Shvaikin, credit broker of Brokerfeller LLC: 5 years 6 months in a penal colony and a fine of 700,000 rubles (approximately $7,400).
To Irina Zyablova, officially unemployed: 5 years 6 months in a penal colony and a fine of 700,000 rubles (approximately $7,400); she was granted a deferral of serving the sentence until her minor child reaches 14 years of age.

The investigation established that the criminals operated according to two main schemes. The first, under Svyatetsky«s leadership, involved spreading false information about profitable loans. Citizens in difficult financial situations who owned real estate were imposed with predatory loan agreements secured by property.

The money was either not issued in full or issued partially, but signatures for full receipt were obtained fraudulently. Upon the first delay, through the court, foreclosure on the apartment was initiated. In this way, Svyatetsky stole over 9.3 million rubles (approximately $97,900) in cash from the victims and fraudulently acquired rights to real estate with a total value of over 21 million rubles (approximately $221,000). Among the episodes were apartment E. (1.4 million rubles (approximately $14,700) and 66 thousand rubles (approximately $690)); apartment K. (1.07 million rubles (approximately $11,300) and 327 thousand rubles (approximately $3,440)); apartment M. (4.46 million rubles (approximately $46,900) and 840 thousand rubles (approximately $8,840)); property K2. (6.87 million rubles (approximately $72,300) and 3.27 million rubles (approximately $34,400)) and others.

The second scheme was aimed at directly seizing funds from the sale of housing. Firsov, Rubtsov, Shvaikin, Zyablova, and Svyatetsky, under the pretext of «protecting funds from fraudsters» or the need to arrange a loan, convinced pensioners to sell their apartments, organized the transaction, and stole the proceeds. For example, a 76-year-old man (G.) lost 19,598,636 rubles (approximately $206,300) from the sale of two apartments, and a pensioner (S1.) lost 12,262,377 rubles (approximately $129,100).

The background of the case dates back to August 2022, when the Kuibyshevsky District Court of Petersburg sent all five defendants into custody. Only Irina Zyablova pleaded guilty, exposing her accomplices.

During searches, 45 bank cards, numerous SIM cards and phones, notarized powers of attorney, contracts, cash, and two premium-class cars — an Infiniti FX37 and a Cadillac Escalade — were seized from the accused. The investigation believed that the defendants had conspired with fraudsters in Ukraine.