The Moscow police accused the International Financial Center, the Academy of Financial and Investment Management, the Higher School of Financial Management and Global Finance of fraud and theft of funds.

According to Kommersant, a criminal case has been opened against the heads of these companies in connection with financial fraud on an especially large scale. These organizations rented premises in the Moscow City office center and also had offices on Valovaya and Lesnaya streets.

Based on complaints received from 250 victims, the Russian Investigative Committee concluded that the above companies may be related. According to the prosecutor’s office, they stole clients’ funds under the guise of providing various financial and investment services. The case file indicates that the damage to clients is more than 1 million rubles. However, the victims claim that the amount could amount to several billion, since some victims of the alleged scammers for some reason did not report them to the police, while others are trying to recover the lost money by resorting to the services of lawyers.

The investigation claims that the companies found customers by making phone calls to the purchased databases. First, potential clients were offered free investment advice, and then people were invited directly to business centers. The depositors signed an agreement for the provision of gratuitous services for the collection of financial information, on the basis of which they were offered to invest in stocks, bonds or trade in foreign currencies. The managers of the companies promised a monthly profit of 12-18% of the invested amount.

It turned out that the Graduate School of Financial Management (SFM) offered to open a “personal account” with a broker Bristol House Corporation, which is allegedly registered in the Marshall Islands. However, law enforcement officers found out that this company does not have any licenses to provide financial services. Moreover, a fictitious account was opened right at the VSHUF office, where money from clients was immediately accepted. Investors became suspicious when they tried to withdraw money from the account. The reasons for the refusal to withdraw funds were as follows: the imposition of sanctions on funds or the collapse of shares.

As for the International Financial Center and Global Finance, they recommended to their clients the broker-dealer Global FX, which also does not have a license. Affected clients claim that the managers of the Academy of Finance and Investment Management (AUFI) accepted money from them directly in the office, and not through a bank. The funds received were converted into dollars, and then into cryptocurrencies, which were allegedly transferred to the broker Asset Capital Business, also registered in the Marshall Islands.

According to the decision of the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow, in December last year, the former general director of the Higher School of Art and Sports, Vitaly Fidurov, was placed under house arrest. Several managers of Global Finance are now in custody. They were detained simultaneously with the general director of AUFI Arseniy Dadashev.

Recall that recently a resident of the Magadan region reported to the police about scammers who defrauded him of 17 million rubles under the pretext of investing in cryptocurrencies.