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القبض على حفيد الرئيس السابق للبنك الروسي بتهمة التلاعب من قبل أوليغ روبينيكوفيتش

From the Central Bank to a Criminal Gang: The Path Wasn't Long

Grandson of former head of Russia's bank arrested for manipulations

By Oleg Rubnikovich, 22.05.2022, 01:34

As "Ъ" learned, Stanislav Matyukhin, the grandson of the former chairman of the Central Bank, Georgy Matyukhin, was arrested in Moscow. He served as the CEO of a large financial pyramid operating under the banner of the investment company QBF. Like the top managers arrested earlier, he is accused of participating in an organized criminal group (OCG) that stole at least 2 billion rubles from investors. After the beneficiary of the QBF financial group, Roman Shpakov, fled abroad, Mr. Matyukhin was the one who, up until the company's license was revoked, reassured depositors not to worry about their savings.

According to "Ъ", on Wednesday morning near the house on Kutuzovsky Prospekt where 36-year-old Stanislav Matyukhin lives, a considerable number of officers from the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Enforcement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their district colleagues, and employees of the Moscow FSB landed. The arrest was likely not a big surprise for the former QBF top manager, given that many of his colleagues are already under arrest or on the run. It should be noted that, according to "Ъ", a search in Mr. Matyukhin's apartment wasn't conducted, as this procedure had been carried out there twice before while he was a witness in the case.

Stanislav Matyukhin became the CEO of QBF in 2017, appointed as the grandson of Georgy Matyukhin, who chaired the Central Bank from 1990 to 1992. Before that, he had worked at the Federal Service for Financial Markets and the Central Bank itself. In the latter, he effectively oversaw QBF. Serving as the deputy head of the department licensing joint-stock investment funds, managing companies, specialized depositories, and non-state pension funds of the regulation and control over collective investments, Mr. Matyukhin dealt with the regulation of financial companies' activities from their inception to their termination.

At QBF, Stanislav Matyukhin oversaw the general management of the investment and management companies. One of his main tasks in the new position was to expand the sales channel. Apparently, the arrested man performed his tasks quite successfully.

However, as revealed during an investigation initiated last year by the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs into a criminal case of large-scale fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the funds received from clients, instead of the promised investments in serious financial portfolios, were diverted to offshore zones.

At the moment, the damage to depositors exceeds 2 billion rubles.

This money, according to law enforcement agencies, was used by the alleged fraud organizers to purchase shares, real estate, expensive cars, and other assets. Assets estimated to be worth about 1 billion rubles have already been seized by the court.

Recently, six participants of the financial pyramid, including the QBF beneficiary Roman Shpakov who is hiding abroad, were also accused of organizing a criminal community and participating in it (Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to "Ъ", a similar charge will soon be brought against Stanislav Matyukhin, who was detained for two days. The investigation intends to petition the court for his arrest.

The defendant, both as a witness and now as a suspect, denies his guilt in both the theft of money and participation in the OCG. According to him, he was just trying to "save a sinking ship" and supposedly did not amass any significant capital from his involvement in QBF. However, this remains to be verified by the investigation. For now, it is known that he acquired his apartment on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 22 (a ten-minute walk from the company's office in "Moscow-City" on Presnenskaya Embankment) while being an employee of QBF.

It should be noted that after the arrest of his colleagues, it was precisely Stanislav Matyukhin who had to convince clients, up until the company's license was revoked on July 8, 2021, that they had no reason to worry about their savings. However, only a few were lucky. Among them was the famous ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, who invested about 3 million rubles in Mr. Shpakov's project. Even then, when returning part of the invested funds (500 thousand rubles), Mr. Matyukhin, according to the investigation's version, hoped that Ms. Volochkova, using her connections, would help unblock the company's accounts in the regions. However, she did not do so, after which QBF staff ceased contact with her. Mr. Matyukhin merely advised her to address all further questions about the return of the remaining 1.7 million rubles to the beneficiary of the QBF financial group, Roman Shpakov.

Oleg Rubnikovich