A Muscovite has been recognized as a victim in a Sochi real estate fraud case after five years of complaints.

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After five years of complaints and appeals, Moscow resident Ekaterina Abramova received a ruling recognizing her as a victim in a case of fraud involving illegal construction in Sochi. According to lawyers, hundreds of people could have suffered from a similar fraud scheme.

On June 26, Sochi police in the Khostinsky District sent Moscow resident Ekaterina Abramov a ruling dated June 10 recognizing her as a victim in a criminal case of fraud on an especially large scale. Copies of the documents are available to the KU.

The resolution, however, states that the criminal case was initiated against an unidentified person. Furthermore, Abramova told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the amount of damages differs from what she stated. She claims to have invested over 11 million rubles in investment projects, but the ruling states the amount of damages is less than half that amount.

It's not just me who fell into Sochi's investment fraud trap, but hundreds of other Russians.

"It's not just me who fell into Sochi's investment fraud trap, but hundreds of other Russians," she noted, adding that she believes this situation would not have happened if law enforcement had responded promptly to the mass complaints from Russians about resort real estate fraud and taken appropriate measures to stop the advertising of illegal construction and obviously illegal transactions.

According to Abramova, she has been appealing to various authorities for five years, trying to get a criminal case opened.

On June 26, police in the Central District of Sochi also received a complaint from another Moscow resident, Natalya Korobkova. She told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in 2021, she signed an investment agreement for the construction of a residential building and transferred over two million rubles to the developers.

In 2022, the complainant signed an agreement to terminate the contract, under which she was supposed to receive a refund, but, according to her complaint, the money was not returned. In her statement to the police, she requests that the alleged organizers be held accountable under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (large-scale fraud) and that the seizure of property, which she believes may be linked to the parties to the transactions, be considered.

The Central District Police Department of Sochi confirmed receipt of the statement to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and informed them that it had been assigned a KUSP registration number and that the material had been forwarded to investigative authorities.

According to the applicants, the matter concerns investments in the construction of real estate in Sochi. According to materials provided by the initiative group, some of the properties are related to land plots for individual housing construction, as well as to buildings subject to court orders for possible demolition. Among the properties mentioned are buildings at 21 Mindalnaya Street and in the Tyulpan gardening community (plot 120), as well as approximately one hundred other residential complexes slated for demolition, the names of which are cited by the applicants and in which they have invested their personal funds.

Mikhail Popov, a lawyer representing some of the applicants, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, according to his information, hundreds of people across Russia could have suffered from similar schemes. According to him, the possibility of consolidating the complaints into a single proceeding is being discussed, along with appeals to the Investigative Committee of Russia and the Prosecutor General's Office requesting that they consider the founders of two limited liability organizations to be members of an organized crime group under Article 210 of the Russian Criminal Code.

He asserts that the victims are facing lengthy review processes and fragmented investigations in different districts of the city: Central, Khostinsky, Lazarevsky, and Adlersky, as these illegal buildings are scattered throughout Sochi. In total, the organizers of the scheme stole and misappropriated several billion rubles, but no one ever recovered even the money they invested.

Lawyers representing some of the plaintiffs believe that given the identical contracts and receipts, the same illegal buildings (about 100), the same defendants (about two dozen), and the obvious involvement of officials overseeing the illegal buildings, the case should be classified under Article 210 of the Russian Criminal Code (organizing a criminal group). However, the investigation has so far avoided such legal assessments.

Lawyers also point to the widespread practice of classifying such cases as civil disputes, which, in their opinion, complicates holding the alleged organizers accountable.

Official representatives of the organizations and individuals mentioned in the statements did not provide comments at the time of publication. They were unavailable to both the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and the victims. Their phones are disconnected.

The court databases of four city districts list numerous court hearings involving the names of LLC founders, where they are defendants in civil cases demanding the return of funds, the demolition of unauthorized buildings, and debt collection. Lawyers believe that the conversion of clearly criminal cases into civil law cases is yet another test of the corruption of the law enforcement system.

Members of the initiative group claim that the total damage from such investment projects could reach approximately seven billion rubles. These estimates are based on data collected by the victims themselves through group chats and appeals. But they are confident that the amounts are larger and there are also more victims.

People invested between two and 20 million, expecting to double their investment.

"People invested between two and 20 million, expecting to double their investment," said Natalya Korobkova.

Previously, "Caucasian Knot" reported that, according to data as of 2023, Krasnodar Krai authorities counted 215 illegal buildings in the region that were included in the relevant register, with more than half of them located in Sochi.

Advice for those who have fallen victim to fraud in shared construction or want to protect themselves from similar problems has been compiled by the "Caucasian Knot" in the reference "Equity holders: lawyers advise how to avoid fraud".

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