Valeria Fedyakina testified for partners
As it became known to Kommersant, Valeria Fedyakina, better known as Bitmama, testified in her case. A defendant who calls himself an expert in the field of cryptocurrency and accused of embezzlement of 2.2 billion rubles, said she herself became a victim of partners. The latter, according to her version, devastated the cashier of the Bitmamafinance company by more than $ 40 million, and then put it on the bench of the defendants.
The 30-year-old native of Simferopol prepared its testimony in advance. However, the extensive educational program in the field of cryptocurrencies, the judge of the Presnensky district court, Katerina Kirichenko, did not give her to her, asking to speak essentially the accusations. However, Fedyakina managed to tell that since 2017 she worked with a cryptocurrency, and three years later her Bitmamafinance company became one of the largest crypto-exchangers.
The latter turned out to be very in demand after the start of it, when other international payments systems became inaccessible to Russian business. At that time, Fedyakina, according to her, was successfully engaged in the so -called rearrangements. They consisted in the fact that entrepreneurs allocated money to pay for goods abroad in local currency or USDT, and they compensated the funds in Russia minus percent.
“At that time, there were no legal norms regulating these operations, and my activity was completely legal, as it was a regular“ exchange ”transaction that did not provide for any tax base,” Bitmama said.
The cost of the exchange of the ruble for cryptocurrency, according to its data, then on average amounted to 1.5% to 5% depending on the volume of funds. At the same time, many entrepreneurs bought USDT in other countries at a lower price, “started” it to Russia and sold it at the price of a “excitement” market, making a profit from 7% to 11%.
The defendant said that in April 2023, the former employee Daria Bratkova introduced her to the businessmen Vargam Stepanyan and Gagik Gulakian, asking them to help them with a rearrangement of gold and sale of gold, which they carried from Russia (here it was cheaper) to the UAE. “Bratkova, as an independent player in the cryptocurrency exchange market, could not completely cover the volume of money requested by Gulakan and Stepanyan,” the personality was continued.
According to her, businessmen told her that their financial activities were directly invested by Samvel Karapetyan, the founder of the Tashir group of companies.
Mr. Stepanyan also said that he “rearranges” Mr. Karapetyan’s money in the UAE, performing the role of his financial manager, who should pay for orders of goods for their future delivery to Russia and sale in Moscow. Some of this money supposedly had to go to the financial and economic activities of one of the banks belonging to Mr. Karapetyan.
The defendant said that a chat was created, in which all the communication between her, the gentlemen Stepanyan, Gulakian and Brotherly. At first, Mr. Stepanyan handed her the dirhams, she gave him rubles, several times it was also “in the opposite direction”. “The amounts were small at that time-300-500 million rubles, which was not for us something sky-high, since the number of my customers is large,” the defendant said. She argued that at first all the transactions passed the “table on the table”, that is, in one day, and soon the Armenians offered her a partnership with a common cashier and an office in the Business Center of “Arbat Star”.
“I could use Stepanyan’s money, if the amounts lay with me, and, in turn, by agreement I withdrew dirhams and rubles from the cash desk for their applications,” the defendant stated her version.
She stated that gentlemen Stepanyan and Galukyan persuaded her to “work as a single team” and for the general “bright future” “to increase the volume of money transferred as much as possible”, becoming a monopolist in this area over time. According to the defendant, the partners said: “then we will heal” and promised “Golden Mountains” – transactions with unprocessed diamonds from Alros, support from famous banks and “2-3 billion rubles. On the day « . “Gagik is already buying armored vehicles for transporting money,” they told her.
According to Valeria Fedyakina, at first the scheme worked clearly, but then with payments by partners who said that they invested money in “long investments”, in particular, the purchase of tankers for oil transportation, delays began.
Nevertheless, funds – about $ 3-4 million per operation – returned to the cashier every time. But by September 2023, according to Mrs. Fedyakina, the partners began to take her money from the cash register in the UAE in the morning, and only partially replenished the cash register to Russia, doing this in the evening. As a result, from September 6 to 12, they devastated the cash desk by $ 40.6 million, the defendant Fedyakina said.
She told: the partners assured that they would return the funds that spent on the purchase of two tankers and 1.5 tons of gold, and promised that after the sale of a valuable metal they would return the funds to the cashier, and the tankers would make it out and “close the debts”, offered to continue to work and “not worry”.
“In fact, at the end of August they worked as my money, there was no money at the cash desk. Thus, they understood my maximum at the checkout, as a result of which they decided to realize the criminal intent to theft of my money and money of my investors, ”the defendant said.“ As I found out later, they conducted transactions with my competitors in the dirhamas, but in the opposite direction – receiving dirhams in the UAE, they distilled them from my competitors using cryptocurrencies and cashed them out in Moscow. Crypto exchangers on the « hump », after which my money was imported to my office in Moscow. «
According to the defendant, “as a result of the work of the above scheme,” she remained “in a grand minus”, since “Gagik with a vagram” earned not only “several tens of millions of dollars” at the commissions as a result of the sale of currencies, but also allegedly abducted the money recognized by the victims of businessmen Evgeny Roitman and Mikhail Westfrid, as well as the blogger of Julia Julia Julia Julia Zakharchuk (Crypto Angel). The latter participated in the promotion of Mrs. Fedyakina.
The defendant said that in September 2023, before initiating a criminal case, Mr. Galukeyan gathered rubles from large customers under the pretext of transferring them to the UAE through it, but to the office in the Bz “Star Arbat” “Money did not reach”.
It is worth noting that, contrary to the version presented by Mrs. Fedyakina, it was Gagik Gulakian who recognized the investigation as the victims in the Bitmam case along with the above -mentioned persons. According to the TFR, he lost 837 million rubles. Gentlemen Roitman, Westfried and Zakharchuk lost more than 830 million rubles, 560 million rubles. and 5 million rubles. respectively. In turn, gentlemen Stepanyan and Bratkova, go on the case as witnesses.
According to the prosecution, unlike banks who take the commission for the transfer, Valery Fedyakina herself promised her customers to “pay”, assuring that working with entrepreneurs exporting oil and coal, and international transfers using cryptocurrencies bring her considerable income. She guaranteed the refund in the agreed currency, as well as a bonus of 0.5%if she can scroll the money in her projects “at least three days”.
Fedyakina herself in court stated that the rest of the victims also actually suffered from the actions of her “business partners”, but took the position that since they gave her funds, she had to answer.
