The Inter-District Criminal Court of Astana has sentenced a woman accused of creating and running a financial pyramid. Her accomplices also found themselves in the dock.
According to the press service of the capital's courts, the defendant, as the director of several limited liability partnerships, under the pretext of supplying construction materials, stole over 114 million tenge from 11 companies between July 2020 and October 2023.
To simulate business activity, she acquired several limited liability partnerships, appointed figureheads as directors, and used their names to disseminate information about the companies' operations.
"The functioning of the financial pyramid was ensured by redistributing investors' money: funds invested later were directed to those who had invested earlier", the statement said.
Between July 2021 and May 2023, the defendant, through controlled companies, entered into 'loan', 'investment', and 'paid services' agreements with more than 90 individuals, thereby raising over 1 billion tenge from citizens.
The court found the head of the financial pyramid guilty and sentenced her to 7 years in prison. Two of her accomplices received 5 and 6 years' imprisonment. Additionally, the convicted individuals were banned from raising funds from citizens and investments for 6 years.
It is worth recalling that at the end of October, a sentence was passed in Astana on a defendant accused of creating and leading a transnational organised group. He was charged with establishing the 'Questra Holding ins' financial pyramid, from which 529 citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan suffered material damage of more than 1 billion tenge.
Shortly before this, the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) initiated a pre-trial investigation into the creation and management of a branch of the 'World Business Consulting' financial pyramid in the Aktobe region. The damage caused by the suspects' actions amounted to almost 60 million tenge.
In mid-October, the FMA completed a pre-trial investigation into the creation and management of the 'HitBeatMusic' financial pyramid in Almaty. The perpetrators attracted investors' funds, promising 10-15% return on the amount deposited. The damage amounted to 255 million tenge.