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A court has recognized the evidence collected by the Chuvashia Office of the Investigative Committee sufficient to convict 10 residents of the town of Cheboksary aged between 28 and 39. They were found guilty of illegal organization of gambling business aggravated by return on a very large scale committed by an organized group under part 3, items “a” and “b” of Article 171.2 of the RF Penal Code.

The court and investigators revealed that in March 2012, two of the accused aged 39 and 32 years set up an organized criminal group to get money from illegal gambling in the town of Cheboksary. Considering their experience in the field they picked men to involve in the group until December 2014. Until the moment their criminal activity was broken up by law-enforcers in April 2015, they had established a network of disguised underground gambling clubs of 19 points with 13 of them equipped with game-playing machines and 3 more with computers. The perpetrators recruited necessary staff, after which organized gambling, including that using the Internet. The gang’s headquarters was in an office building in Kheveshskaya Street. As a result of their illegal activity, the perpetrators gained a benefit of more than 338 million rubles.

The gang was stable and united, well-organized with clear organizational and hierarchical structure. Each member of the group had their role. They had double accounting, a lawyer, a system administrator and HR office. Some of the accused had control over some of the gambling joints each of which had one or several alias. The group had a proven secrecy system. The members of the group used for communication cell numbers registered in the names of third persons who were not aware of their criminal activities. The illegal gambling joints operated disguised as Internet-cafes, bookmaker offices, dealing centers and were equipped with surveillance cameras in order to watch and control the staff of joints and to keep unwanted people from them.

Additionally, the leasing contracts on the premises for joints were concluded on behalf of either sole proprietors registered in Moscow Region and who were never located, or on behalf of legal entities whose interests were represented by one of the accused on a power of attorney. The stability of the group was also demonstrated by the fact that after the case had been opened, the accused gathered all the staff of joints in a restaurant in Cheboksary and told them to go for interviews accompanied only by certain representatives and to refuse to give any statements.

Despite all the steps taken by the group to hold their business under wraps, their criminal activity was broken up by investigators of the regional investigative authority and agents of the Economic Security and Corruption Department of the Interior Ministry’s Chuvashia Office.

The investigators carried out 35 searches in residences of the members of the group, in their joints and a warehouse used to store game-playing machines and cards. They confiscated more than 540 game-playing machines, more than 570 cards, 33 computers, spare parts to that equipment and other specialized equipment. After the preliminary investigation the case already had 63 files. 12 forensic technical examinations were run to find the truth and their conclusions confirmed the facts that the computers had been connected to web servers as an online casino system and that the members of the group had used cell phones to communicate with each other in order to ensure operation of the joints. More than 100 people were questioned as witnesses.

The court has sentenced the 39 and 32-year-old organizers of the business to 3.5 and 3 years to be served in a minimum-security correctional facility and fines of 800 thousand and 500 thousand rubles respectively. The rest of the group got 2.5 years in a minimum-security correctional facility and a fine of 500 thousand rubles. One of the accused, a 39-year-old woman, got a punishment delayed until her child is 14 years of age. It should also be noted that during the investigation, the woman’s lawyer together with her boyfriend tried to give a bribe of 500 thousand rubles to a security agent, having decided that he was able to assist in getting the charges dropped. However, agents of the Chuvashia Republic Office of the Federal Security Service and investigators of the Chuvashia Office of the Investigative Committee broke up their actions. Investigation was opened against the lawyer and her boyfriend suspected of attempted bribery under part 3 of Article 30 – Part 4, item “b” of Article 291 of the RF penal Code. The case is now being tried.