The Court acquitted the Client of all charges based on the arguments of the Firm’s attorneys and those of Business Ombudsman.

In 2019, approximately 100 car owners filed a joint claim to the prosecutor’s office of the Vologda Region, against a group of companies, from which they have bought their cars. After an incomplete investigation, authorities erroneously initiated a criminal case against the Сlient, charging him with large-scale group fraud, having ignored the fact that the Client acquired the business in the summer of 2019, after the acts of fraud were committed and therefore had no connection to the illegal activity.

The proceedings were complicated by the fact that the terms for acquiring the business included conditions for repaying the accrued debt to suppliers and a requirement to resolve the issues with the buyers waiting for their cars.

The Firm’s attorneys developed an efficient and effective defence strategy, successfully arguing that the case was a civil law matter and that the alleged act of fraud could therefore not be classified, as such.                                      

The first and second instance courts upheld the defence’s arguments in full and concluded that there were no criminal elements in the Client’s actions.

“Notably, the arguments of the prosecutor’s office were invalidated and the court fully confirmed that the Client had committed no crime and upheld the attorneys’ position,” commented Andrey Tuzov, Head of the White Collar Practice at EPAM in St. Petersburg.

The client was represented by Counsel and Head of the White Collar Crime Practice in St. Petersburg Andrey Tuzov, Partner Andrey Porfiriev, and Associates Anton Kulikov, Egor Podnosov and Svetlana Zheludkova.