Trolls with signs of scammers

In St. Petersburg, law enforcement agencies begin an investigation into the activities of the so -called "troll factory" - Teka, which is engaged in the publication of patriotic comments and posts on the Internet. The company's management is suspected of fraud.

The fact that in the activities of Teka LLC (successors of the company "Agency of Internet Research") are the signs of fraud are seen from the letter of the head of the department for the fight against economic crimes and counteracting the corruption of the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, the police lieutenant colonel D. N. Larionov.

This letter sent to the district investigation department is a response to a request to law enforcement agencies prepared by journalist Lyudmila Savchuk together with the lawyers of the team-29. Savchuk turned to the police at the end of November last year and first received a refusal. And now, apparently, on behalf of the prosecutor’s office, where the complaint of the “team-29” was also sent, it was decided to send the materials to the investigator so that he, in turn, decided to initiate a criminal case.

We did not even suspect that some of the events and facts described by us would be qualified as fraud

Journalist Lyudmila Savchuk worked in the "Internet research agency" from January to March last year. After dismissal, she told reporters about what bloggers in this agency are doing, as well as that her labor rights were violated in this company. Lyudmila did not provide an employment contract, did not issue a work book, they did not pay the salary completely, and she did not sign for receiving money. The journalist turned to the prosecutor’s office with a request to check the company. Last summer, Lyudmila Savchuk and “Team-29” recovered through the court from the “Internet research agency” of salary debt and moral compensation in the amount of one ruble. The journalist and lawyers did not stop there and continued the attack on the "troll factory", says the head of the team-29, lawyer Ivan Pavlov:

Ivan Pavlov

- We prepared a statement on behalf of Lyudmila Savchuk a year ago and sent it not only to the police, but also to the prosecutor’s office, various supervisory authorities, including the tax office. In this statement, we talked about all kinds of violations that are committed by the leadership of the "Internet research agency", and asked to simply apply measures available in the resources of these supervisory authorities. We did not even suspect that some of the events and facts described by us would be qualified as fraud. We stated that there are probably some signs of tax failure there because employees receive salaries in envelopes. They talked about violation of sanitary standards, violation of fire safety rules, but not about the fact of fraud, from such an angle we did not even raise the question before the bodies. But if they saw in the bouquet of violations that we sent in our statement, among other things, the fact of fraud, then this only suggests that the police probably reacted to some kind of template. They don’t care at what norm to initiate the case. They saw fraud in this, or maybe in any case, they are initiating a matter of this article.

For the journalist Lyudmila Savchuk, the decision of law enforcement agencies on the possible verification of the “troll factory” for fraud was also a surprise, but, on the other hand, a quite natural continuation of the campaign that she, together with the lawyers from “team-29” was announced in the summer of last year when the first trial won:

Lyudmila Savchuk

-In fact, our court and registering me there to work, albeit retroactively,-this all served that goal so that we can do something with this "factory". Because from the very beginning, when I got there in order to observe their activities, I understood that it was useless to write another article or post on the Internet about them. Now, as a recognized former employee of this organization, I have the right to demand a comprehensive verification of the legality of its activities. Therefore, with the help of lawyers from the team-29 and sent such requests to various authorities. We have already lost the hope that some measures would be taken, because various replies came to me. One of these reports came from the police, who said that she did not find this organization in the place where it was supposed to be located. And now suddenly such an answer comes that not only found, but even the question of initiating a criminal case is being decided. This is a very big step forward. And for us this is a wonderful event. But, of course, we cannot be satisfied with this result, because I continue to say that this is an extremist organization. It should be urgently closed, and its leaders and organizers must bear criminal liability. But the authorities turn a blind eye to all this, so we go like this - step by step.

At the end of September last year, the lawyers of the team-29 became known that the "Internet research agency" changed its name and was reorganized into Tika LLC.

“Legal entities, especially unscrupulous ones, often use this opportunity, constant reorganization in order to get away from a particular responsibility,” explains Ivan Pavlov. - You will also have to deal with this. And, by the way, maybe the fact that they are constantly in the process of reorganization will also affect its qualifications as fraud. Let's see. Now it is difficult to anticipate these events. But in the very near future we will all find out.

- And what actions of the leadership of the Limited Liability Company "TECA" can fall under the validity of 159 Art. Criminal Code, that is, to be regarded as fraud?

Sometimes those people who are in favor today, tomorrow can fall out of disgrace

- Now it’s hard to even imagine it. We will see when the procedural resolution will be adopted. In it, the investigator will have to indicate what actions he regards as fraudulent. It is very difficult for us to analyze the events that will soon receive an appropriate assessment.

-As you know, the “troll factory” is a project of the chef Vladimir Putin, the founder of the Concord holding billionaire Evgeny Prigozhin. Is it possible in our time to win in court with such a powerful person from Putin's entourage?

- You see, the situation is changing. Sometimes it changes rapidly. Sometimes those people who are today in favor of, tomorrow they can, for one reason or another, remain out of work or fall out of disgrace to the first person, so anything can be. It is important here that on our side the law, we operate exclusively by legal methods and hope that state bodies will also use legal measures in order to somehow respond to identified violations.

- What further actions of law enforcement agencies regarding the "troll factory" do you expect?

- We are now waiting for a procedural decision, which should be made by the investigating authorities in accordance with this letter. Because the operatives who dealt with this case saw a violation, qualified it precisely as “fraud” and handed over the materials of the case to investigators in order to already make a procedural decision. This is usually done before initiating a criminal case. Such a procedure.

Olga Maltseva

Clouds are thickened over LLC Teka. On November 14, a trial was scheduled for a lawsuit in another former employee of this organization - Olga Maltseva, who was also not officially employed when hired by the agency, and then made a shallow and did not pay benefits for child care, and even threatened the phone. Olga Maltseva, having quit from the "troll factory", handed over to the lawyers "Team-29" a lot of interesting materials about what the Olginsky trolls do at work-in particular the technical specifications for writing patriotic comments and screenshots from the internal correspondence of employees in the Telegram messenger. Lyudmila Savchuk talks about the most important of what was found in the materials provided by Olga:

If they do not investigate these crimes, we will be very surprised

- The IP of a computer became the sensational find, from which, supposedly, changes were made on the website Whoiswho.me. It published the data of opposition bloggers, which were later beaten and whose cars were set on fire. These materials just give the police the opportunity to directly connect the "troll factory" with terrible attacks on people. I believe that we gave them this evidence in their hands, and if they do not investigate these crimes, then we will be very surprised.

-Lyudmila, did you apply to law enforcement agencies about the IP discovered, and you have not received any answers from them yet?

- No, so far we have not received an answer specifically on this subject. Everything works slowly. Mail - slowly. The police are slow. But she somehow works. Therefore, we will wait and hope that law enforcement agencies will take up this organization from this side.