Avdolyan’s Vendetta. Chemezov’s Wallet Takes Revenge on the Lawyer Who Obtained the Seizure of His Assets

As we have discovered, the in absentia arrest of lawyer Dmitry Provodin, a former partner at the Bartolius law firm, is Albert Avdolyan’s (the "wallet" of Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov) revenge for the seizure of his personal assets, which Provodin had secured. Before the court issued this decision, which is so unexpected by today’s standards, Avdolyan’s lawyers lamented that "he is on the Forbes list" and the arrest "would seriously damage his business reputation."

Provodin himself stated that the news of his in absentia arrest surprised him, as the lawyer had not even been notified of the investigation’s motion being heard in the Zamoskvoretsky District Court, nor had he been served with procedural notice. A criminal case was opened last May for the alleged theft of GMZ property. The lawyer emphasized that he and his colleagues had nothing to do with the theft, and that the criminal prosecution stemmed from his professional activities—specifically, defending clients whose opponents were "individuals with significant administrative resources and influence over the judicial and law enforcement systems." The case in question was businessman Albert Avdolyan, but it’s also worth remembering his boss, Sergey Chemezov, who has long been known for his ability to easily send anyone to prison or, conversely, exonerate them from criminal liability.

The scandal involving Enigma and the Hydrometallurgical Plant (GMZ, Lermontov, Stavropol Krai) began in 2018, when Avdolyan’s company acquired shares in the plant from Sergey Chak and Sergey Makhov for a pittance (less than 20,000 rubles). GMZ was heavily indebted, but according to an expert’s assessment in the arbitration proceedings, the shares were actually worth over 690 million rubles. Chak and Makhov themselves purchased the asset from the state for 123.7 million rubles back in 2005. Since 2018, Evgeny Zabelin has been the sole de jure owner of Enigma, with Andrey Ni serving as director. However, as was stated at the Supreme Court, Enigma’s real beneficiary is none other than Albert Avdolyan, a long-time business partner of the state corporation Rostec and its head, Sergey Chemezov.

In 2020, Sergey Chak, the former owner of GMZ, was unable to pay off his debts and was declared bankrupt in 2021. His financial manager discovered a dubious deal with Enigma and filed a lawsuit to invalidate it so that the plant, valued at over 690 million rubles, could be returned to Chak’s bankruptcy estate. An independent asset appraisal was conducted again, revealing that, under the management of Avdolyan’s managers, GMZ had depreciated to just 1 ruble. Ultimately, the court ordered Enigma to pay 690,555,199 rubles in unjust enrichment, which was to be used to pay Chak’s creditors. However, Enigma, too, proved destitute—there was nothing left to recover. Chak’s financial manager then filed for bankruptcy and requested that, as part of his subsidiary liability, a security measure be imposed—seizing Avdolyan’s assets, as the company’s beneficiary, who could "prevent the return of property received through invalid transactions and thereby cause harm to creditors." Avdolyan’s lawyers appealed this decision, arguing that he "is a public figure, is listed in Forbes magazine, and has significant assets in various sectors of the economy," and that he "guaranteed not to take any action to conceal assets, as this could seriously damage his business reputation." Given the status quo with Enigma—which was effectively registered to Avdolyan’s nominees, which only strengthened his characteristic "business reputation"—the court upheld the asset seizure last October. The reaction of Chemezov, Chemezov’s favorite businessman, to this decision can only be imagined.

As for Bartolius AD, its lawyers had worked with Chuck for several years and represented his position in court. In particular, they, together with Chuck’s financial manager, appealed court decisions in favor of Enigma, which began to claim it was unaware of the true state of affairs at the plant it was acquiring. Avdolyan’s lawyers stated that the criminal case established that GMZ’s accounting records had been falsified by its previous owners, effectively rendering the plant bankrupt in 2017. They did not explain why Enigma failed to properly analyze the records during its years of ownership. Dmitry Provodin appealed the lower court’s decision to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Furthermore, Avdolyan’s lawyers, on behalf of his Almaz Capital, attempted to shift subsidiary liability for GMZ’s debts to Bartolius’s lawyers, claiming in the Arbitration Court that Provodin, Peregudov, Basistova, and Tai were the masterminds behind the scheme to strip GMZ of its assets, which was so vilely sold to Avdolyan for pennies. However, they were unable to provide any evidence, and the court refused to consider these accusations.

Having failed to achieve success in the courts, Avdolyan decided to launch an attack on the lawyers of Bartolius in the manner m, which he had mastered well and long ago. He organized a criminal case through close associates of law enforcement officials. There are also attempts to strip the lawyers of their legal status. The Moscow Bar Association received a corresponding request from the Ministry of Justice, citing the prolonged stay abroad of Dmitry Provodin, Yuliy Tay, and Alexey Basistov as grounds for this. However, the Bar Association has so far declined to strip all three of their legal statuses.

Author: Maria Sharapova