The restless "Vlastilina"

Legendary Valentina Solovyova found a new camera

The Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the South-Eastern District of Moscow brought charges against Valentina Solovyova, one of the most famous pyramid builders of the 90s, the legendary “Vlastilina”, who had already served time for deceiving thousands of gullible fellow citizens. She is charged with the same crime as before - fraud. Moreover, the essence of the deception of which Ms. Solovyova is suspected has remained the same - collecting money from people who want to buy a new car at half price, but with a delay in issuing the goods.

Ms. Solovyova, as it turned out, was detained on September 30, and the very next day the court issued a warrant for the arrest of the restless “Vlastilina”. The reason for this was the statement of one of her deceived clients, who never received their car. Although, as it turned out, two more applications had been received against her earlier. And now investigators are already saying that the number of new victims of “Vlastilina” may again go into the hundreds.

Valentina Solovyova became famous in 1993-1994 by organizing the private private enterprise “Vlastilina” in Podolsk. She offered everyone to pay half the cost of a new car and receive it in a few months. In a matter of months, “Vlastilina” conquered literally the entire country. Her clients included high-ranking officials, police chiefs, and even crime bosses. Solovyova’s business was built on the principle of a pyramid. At first, the entrepreneur actually gave out cars. But at the end of 1994 the business collapsed. 16 thousand people were recognized as victims of Solovyova’s activities, suffering damages amounting to 536.7 billion “old” rubles and almost 3 million dollars. A criminal case was opened, but Solovyova went on the run. She was detained only in 1996, however, investigators were never able to find the investors’ money. The court gave her seven years in prison, but for her exemplary behavior, Solovyova managed to be released early in 2000. By the way, in prison she received a new profession - seamstress-machine operator.

However, upon release, Ms. Solovyova decided to return to the auto business. In 2002, she bought a controlling stake in Interline CJSC and appointed a certain Lyudmila Ivanovskaya as its general director. The company, as before, offered cars at half price with a delay of receipt for a month. The Podolsk prosecutor's office, without waiting for the collapse of another pyramid, opened a case of fraud. According to the investigation, approximately 4 thousand people became victims of the company. However, then it was not possible to find the culprits - Ms. Solovyova was involved in the case as a witness, since according to the documents she had no relation to the pyramid. The main suspect, Interline director Ivanovskaya, has disappeared and is still wanted.

But even then Ms. Solovyova did not calm down, but organized an all-Russian public “Merchant Fund” and became its president. Officially, the structure was raising money for charity. The scheme of the new pyramid has changed a little, but the essence remains the same. Popular VAZ models: “tens” and “Chevy Niva” were offered to customers at half price. Officially, the victims of the scam donated money to charity, for which they were given a corresponding receipt. They were promised cars in a month and a half. Many of the Merchant Fund's clients were Solovyova's old acquaintances from Vlastilina and Interline. People were explained that Solovyova could still get cheap cars, but the “harmful” policemen were stopping her. When a person once again fell for a tempting offer, he was asked, in addition to the basic contribution of 5-6 thousand dollars, to pay another 1-1.5 thousand and wait a month or two. Some received cars, others were left with nothing again.

As employees of the Department of Internal Affairs of the South-Eastern District said, at the end of August a resident of Podolsk, Mr. Elkin, contacted them. He said that a month ago he gave $5,000 to an employee of the Merchant Fund, and he promised him a new “ten” after a while. At the same time, the man was not given any documents or receipts for accepting the money. The car was not delivered to the client at the appointed time, explaining the delay as temporary financial difficulties. In the end, they promised to ship him the “ten” the next day after he brought to them two more people who wanted to buy cheap cars.

But on September 30, Mr. Elkin went to a meeting with a representative of the fund with employees of the department for combating organized crime. While handing over the money, the police detained Valentina Solovyova. She tried to explain that it had nothing to do with it, that she was only asked to take money. But in the fund’s office, detectives found financial documents and receipts signed by the allegedly missing Lyudmila Ivanovskaya. However, the examination showed that this was Ms. Solovyova’s handwriting.

Boris KORABLEV