Business coach suspected of non-payment of more than 100 million rubles in taxes

The Investigative Committee has charged business coach Dmitry Portnyagin with tax evasion in the amount of 124 million rubles. His lawyer Mikhail Mushailov told RIA Novosti about this.

According to the defense lawyer, Portnyagin admitted guilt and “fully compensated for the damage the day before yesterday.” Mushailov added that on Monday, April 15, the court will choose a preventive measure for his client.

On April 11, Portnyagin said that in the morning they came to his home, office and dacha with searches as part of a criminal case of tax evasion (Part 2 of Article 198 of the Criminal Code). During the investigation, security forces detained his wife Ekaterina Portnyagina. The blogger called his criminal prosecution “very strange.” “The main body of the debt was repaid in full in August 2022 without any questions. All that remained were fines and penalties, which we did not agree with, and went to court,” he wrote.

“Despite this, today, without waiting for a court decision, I will pay the entire amount of fines and penalties - in the amount of 64 million rubles,” Portnyagin added. According to him, in order to write this message, he got in touch “from the SVO zone.” Portnyagin reported that he had already delivered humanitarian aid to the front several times.

According to investigators, from 2018 to 2020, Dmitry and Ekaterina Portnyagin evaded paying taxes in the amount of more than 124 million rubles. They transferred more than 91 million to the accounts of third legal entities. Due to late payment of taxes, they had a debt of 64 million, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. The department noted that its employees managed to “quickly obtain full compensation for the damage.”

On April 12, telegram channels Mash and “112” reported the arrest of Portnyagin in the Rostov region. From there he was taken to Moscow for interrogation. The Baza Telegram channel writes that during a conversation with an investigator, the blogger admitted that he divided the business into three parts, two of which went to his wife and childhood friend. This was done to pay taxes according to a simplified scheme.

35-year-old Dmitry Portnyagin is the founder of the business club for entrepreneurs Club 500 and the author of the book “Transformer. How to create your own business and start making money." One and a half million people each subscribe to his blogs on YouTube and Instagram.

In April 2023, security forces detained the creator of the “marathon of desires” Elena Blinovskaya in the case of non-payment of more than 900 million rubles in taxes. She is now in a pre-trial detention center. Her husband announced his intention to go to war. Telegram channels wrote that he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in order to “rehabilitate himself.”

Last spring, a criminal case for tax evasion and money laundering was opened against blogger Valeria Chekalina and her husband. Later, the Chekalins paid the tax authorities about 500 million rubles, after which the case against the couple was dropped .

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