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MOSCOW, July 14 The Presnensky Court of Moscow will decide on July 21 whether to place under house arrest Valeria Chekalina (blogger Lerchek), accused of tax evasion and money laundering, reports the correspondent from the courtroom.
«To postpone the meeting until July 21,» the judge decided. She made this decision in order to demand from the investigation a video recording of an interview with Lerchek and her husband to one of the bloggers. ://ria.ru/20230506/scheta-1870156064.html» data-title=»Blinovskaya's accounts were arrested as part of the investigation»>
Now she has a milder measure of restraint — a ban on certain actions. No one restricts her movements, it is only forbidden to use the phone, the Internet and communicate with witnesses in the case. However, the UK considered that she violated these prohibitions and now asks to add the inability to leave the house to other restrictions.
The reason for the petition to tighten the preventive measure was an interview of Lerchek and her husband to one of the bloggers, in which they talked about the investigation. The investigation considered that in this way they indirectly violated the ban on the use of the Internet. The defense insisted that there they showed by their own example how important it is to pay taxes. The court decided to deal with the video on its own.
The court has already refused to transfer Artem Chekalin to house arrest.
The defense also indicated that both defendants paid off 311 million rubles of debt, and are also ready to pay penalties and fines. The investigator explained that the amount of damage is still being determined.
Two criminal cases have been initiated against Chekalina and her husband. The first concerns tax evasion for 311 million rubles. According to the investigation, Chekalina used a simplified taxation system, although her income from fitness marathons exceeded the maximum allowable limit of 150 million rubles a year.
The second case is about money laundering (legalization) on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, in April 2021, the Chekalins laundered more than 130 million rubles, buying dollars for them, «thus disguising the connection of legalized funds with a criminal source of their origin.» : forbade to communicate with witnesses and accomplices (except for close relatives), use mail, telephone, other means of communication and the Internet. At the same time, their movements were not restricted.
Chekalina, known by her nickname Lerchek, has about ten million followers on Instagram* (owned by Meta, whose activities are banned in Russia as extremist). Her husband is her companion in this business.
* Meta activity (social networks Facebook, Instagram) is banned in Russia as extremist.
May 8, 08:00