The founder and senior partner of Baring Vostok private equity fund, Michael Calvey, has been officially charged with a large-scale fraud involving a Russian bank, TASS cites a source in Russian law enforcement as saying.
The US citizen, who was put in pre-trial custody by a Moscow court, could get up to 10 years in prison along with a fine of up to one million rubles (US$15,000) over alleged participation in the fraud scheme, which involved Russia’s Vostochny Bank.
The court had previously rejected Calvey’s request to release him on five-million-ruble bail. The prosecutors insisted that the detention was an absolute necessity, as the detainee might flee the country. Calvey’s attorney reportedly vowed to challenge the detention order.
Also on rt.com Moscow knows top Baring Vostok businessman as major investor in Russia, alarmed by his arrestSeveral other people were also detained on suspicion of taking part in the scam.
According to investigators, Calvey embezzled 2.5 billion rubles from Vostochny Bank via a fraudulent scheme. The investor and his associates allegedly persuaded the bank’s board to accept a package of shares of an enterprise instead of paying off a debt. While the shares were said to be worth over 3 billion rubles, their real cost was merely 600,000 rubles.
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