INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Moscow court sentenced popular Instagram blog writer Yelena Blinovskaya to 5 years in prison for money laundering and payment scams, court
authorities said Monday.Blinovskaya and her other half, Alexei, were among several Russian influencers apprehended on tax fraud charges in
At the time, Russias leading detective, Alexander Bastrykin, said tax evasion was inappropriate while the country was at war in
Ukraine.Experts say the crackdown has pressed other influencers to abide by Russias tax laws.The Investigative Committee stated Blinovskayas
tax evasion charges were dropped due to the statute of limitations, but the money laundering and payment fraud charges remained
She pleaded guilty to all 3 charges and repaid 320 million rubles ($3.5 million) of her debt.Moscows Savyolovsky District Court sentenced
her to five years in a medium-security penal colony, bought her to pay a fine of 1 million rubles ($11,100) and prohibited her from running
a company for 4 years.Prosecutors had looked for a six-year jail sentence.A civil suit brought by Moscow district attorneys purchased
Blinovskaya to pay 587.6 million rubles ($6.5 million) in damages to the Russian budget.Blinovskaya, who had 5.3 million Instagram followers
at the time of her arrest, marketed herself as a life coach offering self-help courses and individual growth events that got popularity
throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
Critics have actually implicated her of defrauding her followers.She was jailed at the Russian-Belarusian border in April 2023 on suspicion
of underreporting nearly 1 billion rubles ($11.1 million) in revenues from online services in between 2019 and 2021 and after that
laundering and misusing part of the funds.Her hubby, Alexei, offered to combat in Ukraine in April 2024 to avoid prosecution.
