Alexey Navalny, arrested by a court decision on January 18, has been on the wanted list since December 29, 2020.

He was detained immediately upon his return to Russia from Germany on the initiative of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

The department referred to multiple violations of the probationary period of the conditionally convicted oppositionist in his previous criminal cases.

As part of a new criminal case on fraud, according to the investigation, it was established that the founder of FBK received more than 588 million rubles from individuals as donations and, together with other persons, spent more than 356 million of them for personal needs.

“Add to this the case on charges of libel against a WWII veteran and the case of money laundering in FBK initiated by the Investigative Committee in August 2019.

In total, he faces 15 years in prison, ”explains lawyer Ilya Remeslo.

According to experts, the new fraud case will also affect other FBK employees.

According to Ilya Remeslo, Navalny's associates controlled large cash flows and now run the risk of ending up in the dock as well.

“Some of the people from the FBK could participate in schemes to steal donations.

As follows from the documents of the court case, Navalny's employees made donations to the Fifth Season of the Year fund, these are tens of millions of rubles.

This money passed through them, and they will, of course, be responsible, ”says Craft. 

Sergei Karnaukhov, Associate Professor of the Department of Legal Support of the Market Economy of the RANEPA, believes that the further work of such a fund as FBK will become simply impossible in such circumstances.

“According to the accusations against Navalny and his associates, they are all subject to criminal liability,” the expert said.

"Thus, further functioning of the FBK is impossible." 

Toxic asset

In July 2020, Navalny announced the liquidation of FBK.

The oppositionist attributed this to the inability to pay compensation determined by the court in the amount of 88 million rubles to the company "Moscow Schoolboy".

According to the Federal Bailiff Service (FSB), the amount of FBK's debt, including unpaid taxes, is now 29.9 million rubles.

Navalny promised that his foundation will keep the name, but will move to another legal entity.

Experts interviewed by RT then said that in this way the opposition was simply trying to cover up his tracks and get rid of the “toxic asset”.

Links of one chain

In a new criminal case on fraud against Navalny and "other persons", the Investigative Committee says that donations in the amount of 588 million rubles were collected for the statutory activities of several NGOs.

Even before the initiation of the case, RT in his investigations spoke in detail about all these organizations, the confusing financing schemes for the FBK and how the “alternative” budget of the fund could be formed.

In particular, the attention of the UK was drawn to the Fifth Season of the Year Media Support Fund, which was liquidated by a court decision in March 2018.

Through this fund, according to the Ministry of Justice, bitcoins were legalized to finance Navalny's election campaign. 

After its liquidation, regional headquarters began to receive money through another legal entity registered in Udmurtia - the Fund for Legal Support of Citizens (FPOG).

In 2019, the court also closed this fund, revealing 11 violations in it.

It is argued, in particular, that the organization did not conduct a statutory audit, did not post reports on its activities and did not keep accounting in the manner prescribed by law.

As part of a new criminal case on fraud, the investigation raised questions to another NGO - the Fund for Organization and Coordination of the Protection of Citizens' Rights, which was registered in April 2019, also in Udmurtia. 

Another organization that accepts donations is the Ufa Fund for the Protection of Citizens' Rights "SHTAB".

In February last year, the Federal Tax Service asked to declare the fund bankrupt due to a debt of 8 million rubles. 

Shadow economy

In the course of RT's own investigations, it turned out that the employees of the organization made donations of unknown origin to the accounts of Navalny funds.

At the same time, it is often impossible to trace the sources of these funds.

However, experts do not exclude that it could be the same cashed bitcoins.

In particular, according to the financial documents of the Fifth Season of the Year fund received by RT, the ex-director of FBK Roman Rubanov in April 2017 transferred 700 thousand rubles to the organization's account. 

  • Leonid Volkov

  • © Wikimedia

Former press secretary of Navalny's "presidential campaign" Ruslan Shaveddinov donated 15.5 million rubles to the organization for the entire time, and the head of Navalny's headquarters, Leonid Volkov, 47.5 million. One of the rank-and-file employees of the Moscow headquarters, Anna Chekhovich, transferred 8 million rubles.

Now employees of FBK and related funds will have to explain to the investigation where they got this money, political analyst Oleg Matveychev believes. 

“This is a black economy, when FBK employees, with a monthly salary of 50-80 thousand rubles, donated tens of millions from their cards and replenished the fund.

Obviously, someone gave them cash and asked them to donate, ”says Matveychev.

“So all these comrades will face criminal cases.” 

Crypto budget vacation

In June 2020, lawyer Ilya Remeslo sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Federal Tax Service about the appropriation by the FBK management of a part of the donations in cryptocurrency. 

From the general report of Navalny's network of headquarters, published by Leonid Volkov for 2019, it is known that 9.7 million rubles were donated to the organizations' bitcoin wallet that year. 

But, according to RT calculations, donations in the form of bitcoins in 2019 amounted to at least 45 million rubles. 

Experts suggest that the difference of 35.3 million rubles, which is not reflected anywhere, could be transferred to other, non-public bitcoin wallets.

From the statement of the Investigative Committee of December 29 to initiate a new case against Navalny, it follows that the donations collected for the work of his funds were spent by him, including on overseas holidays.

According to lawyer Ilya Remeslo, in the period from 2017 to 2020, the family of the head of FBK traveled abroad 21 times.

The expert admits that the oppositionist spent money received from donations on his travels.

Back in the summer of 2019, RT studied in detail the transactions of the opposition's cryptocurrencies.

In particular, a number of coincidences were found between the dates of Navalny's trips abroad and debits from the Bitcoin wallet for donations.

So, during the trip of the politician to Egypt in April 2018, 3 BTC (1 million 622 thousand rubles) were debited from the crypto account.

On the eve of his May tour of the same year to Italy - 2 MTC (1 million 180 thousand rubles).

During a June trip to Latvia - 13 MTC (5 million 556 thousand rubles).

In August 2018, when Navalny was in Spain, 3.84 BTC (1 million 760 thousand rubles) was debited from the wallet.

In January 2019, when he was vacationing with his family in Thailand, 9.9 BTC (2,353 thousand rubles) was removed from the crypto account.

Undercover work

It is possible that in the framework of a criminal case of fraud, investigators will bring charges against regional activists, Remeslo said.

In a conversation with RT, the lawyer suggested that Navalny could hide behind them and avoid responsibility. 

“For people who work in FBK and are in Russia, the only chance to avoid a real deadline in this situation is to tell everything about their role in the organization and try to prove that they were used,” Craftslo explained.

Meanwhile, not everyone is in Russia.

For example, FBK executive director Vladimir Ashurkov lives in the UK, ex-FBK director Roman Rubanov is in the United States, and the head of Navalny's headquarters network Leonid Volkov is also there (he is no longer listed on the FBK official website).

In the name of the latter, accounts for donations were drawn up.

  • Georgy Alburov

  • © RIA Novosti / Maxim Bogodvid

FBK investigator Georgy Alburov, as RT wrote, has his own business in Latvia for trading data from Cypriot offshores, which allows him to obtain a residence permit in the European Union.

According to experts, this business may be a way to legalize the financing of anonymous sponsors.

Recall that Navalny's employees appear in several other criminal cases. 

Thus, in November last year, the sentence to FBK director Ivan Zhdanov came into force for malicious failure to comply with the court decision.

Then the FSSP opened a new case against him. 

  • Love Sable

  • © REUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov

Navalny's ally Lyubov Sobol is also under investigation.

At the end of 2020, a criminal case was opened against her under the article on illegal entry into a home with the use or threat of violence.

After that, Sobol announced the collection of donations for her election campaign to the State Duma. 

Navalny's supporters also called for collecting donations "for the new season of the fight against Putin" just before their leader's return to Russia.

* The Anti-Corruption Foundation is included in the register of NPOs performing the functions of a foreign agent, by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 09.10.2019.