Shish at the top of the pyramid

It seemed that it was impossible to forget this character in the television advertising of MMM JSC: Lenya Golubkov either danced with “just Maria” or convinced his brother that he was “not a freeloader, but a partner.” It seemed that the lessons of the MMM pyramid itself would remain unforgettable. But they seem to have been fairly forgotten, otherwise numerous new “financial pyramids” would not have blossomed again on Russian soil, in whose network gullible Russians again began to gather under promises of the highest interest rates.

At the beginning of November, Konstantin Zverev, general director of the “Partner” credit and financial union, received 6.5 years of general regime for fraud, the victims of which were almost four dozen St. Petersburg residents.
This is not the first verdict of Mr. Zverev this year. Earlier, in the Vyborg Federal Court of St. Petersburg, Zverev was already convicted on similar charges of fraud against eight St. Petersburg residents, where he received 4 years in prison.
Zverev himself said until the last that he was only partially guilty, having himself become a victim of the Iranian businessman Amiram Mohammed Baradaran, who headed the “Partner” council and directed all the real activities of the “pyramid”. According to Zverev, he was only a “blind executor of someone else’s will,” and he himself did not make a fortune from the results of these financial frauds.
“Partner” for four years, from January 2000 to May 2004, actively attracted funds from St. Petersburg residents under the promise of high (from 36 to 48) interest rates with the prospect of purchasing housing for a third of the cost with a ten-year installment plan. At the same time, Zverev convinced shareholders that their investments would increase due to investments in housing construction, lending to other commercial organizations, including abroad - in Germany, Iraq, Iran, etc. Advertising for “Partner” was published on the pages of several Petersburg newspapers. In just four years, 39 people believed Zverev’s promises, parting with a total of 8.5 million rubles. The money was transferred to Zverev at the Partner offices at 65 Nevsky Prospekt and 32 Kolomenskaya Street. In the second half of 2003, it became clear to most of Zverev’s clients that his promises were a scam, and they turned to law enforcement agencies.
Baradaran himself, strange as it may seem, acted as a witness at the trial. The Iranian businessman said that he has been engaged in export-import operations in Russia for more than ten years, however, without having a permanent residence permit for some time, he was forced to register all his companies under the name of Russian citizens. He described Zverev as an honest man who became a victim of force majeure. At the same time, Baradaran stubbornly denied any actual participation in the activities of “Partner”.

Alexander SAMOILOV