Blogger Elena Blinovskaya denies reports that police are controlling her after complaints from participants in the “marathon of desires”. In her telegram channel, she appointed these messages are “false”.
“Guys, take a breather. The news about checks, and more so the complaints from marathon participants, is fake. And before you post such loud statements, do at least a basic fact check. I’m on vacation, I’ll be back home soon,” Blinovskaya wrote.
March 22 telegram channel SHOT informed citing a source that police began checking Blinovskaya’s activities after several participants in her “wish marathons” said they had been cheated. “Some have taken out hundreds of thousands of rubles in loans to pay for consultations, and their lives don’t seem to be improving,” SHOT notes.
Also, according to the Telegram channel, some public figures turned to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to check Blinovskaya for tax evasion.
Later, the blogger herself reported SHOT, which, unlike “all the other” bloggers suspected of tax evasion, pays VAT, so it has no problems with the tax authorities. Blinovskaya also said that under her leadership there was a “huge team of lawyers and accountants” dealing with relevant matters. “Of course, if you wish, you can find everything and everyone, but we keep the archives with dignity,” she added.
Blinovskaya’s website states that she is a professional trainer, coach, “a guide to the world of wish granting” and “a student of world experts in personal growth.” By data Forbes, in 2020, the blogger earned more than 200 million rubles from her author’s “marathons”.
On March 7, the Investigative Committee (CI) announced that it had opened a criminal investigation against blogger Valeria Chekalina (ler_chek) and her husband Artem. They are accused of fraud and complicity in tax evasion. The UK claims that Chekalina failed to pay taxes in the amount of more than 300 million rubles. income “from the provision of services for the implementation of fitness marathons”. His home was searched. In mid-March, another criminal case was opened against the Chekalins – for large-scale money laundering.
According to investigators, in April 2021, the couple legalized more than 130 million rubles obtained through criminal means. The Moscow court chose a restraint measure for them in the form of a ban on certain actions: Chekalin, in particular, was banned from using the Internet. On March 21, the Investigative Committee opened an investigation against blogger Aleksandra Mitroshina. She, like Valeria Chekalina, is suspected of large-scale private tax evasion. Searches were carried out at his home. Forbes, citing sources, reported that the Federal Tax Service began mass inspections of popular Russian bloggers and agencies cooperating with them in 2022.
