Caviar in the dark: investors invested millions in an imaginary fishing business
Dozens of residents of Moscow, Perm and the Sverdlovsk region have contacted law enforcement agencies with complaints about the activities of Maria Akhmadishina, the owner of the Pir Morey chain of stores. They invested in her business, expecting a percentage of sales, but after receiving the money, the entrepreneur stopped contacting. The victims invested from three to 60 million rubles, but, according to them, they received only fake invoices for food supplies and videos from warehouses. They estimated the total damage at 300 million. Is there a chance for investors to return the money, — in the Izvestia article.
What Maria Akhmadishina promised investors
They invested millions of rubles in a potentially profitable fishing business and lost everything — this is the typical story of dozens of people from Moscow, Perm and the Sverdlovsk region in conversations with Izvestia. It is not yet known how many victims there were, but the total amount of damage may exceed 300 million rubles.
As stated in a collective appeal to law enforcement agencies from six people (Izvestia has it), Maria Akhmadishina, the owner of the Pir Morey fish store chain, offered bloggers, entrepreneurs and friends to invest in the production of fish delicacies.
— She took the money as an investment and promised certain percentages. She paid them to someone, but someone just took the money and disappeared, Evgenia Preobrazhenskaya, a blogger from Yekaterinburg, told Izvestia. — Maria doesn't get in touch with us. As she said, she is not going to repay the debts, because at the moment she has absolutely nothing: no apartments, no cars, no businesses.
Evgenia Preobrazhenskaya and blogger Svetlana Bonor (Sveta Pineapple) transferred 3 million rubles to Akhmadishina. They believed the businesswoman, because she showed them photos and videos from warehouses, as well as invoices and applications from customers.
Many people were also impressed by the party on the occasion of the opening of the Feast of the Seas store: red and black caviar, squid and crabs, fish and shrimps — the tables were full of delicious seafood, judging by the videos on social networks. The children were treated to fresh berries, and the adults were given expensive alcohol. The delicacies were tasted by popular Ural bloggers and investors.
Svetlana Bonor has been advertising "Feast of the Seas" on her social networks for a year. But after she revealed that her investments were gone, dozens more people approached her with the same situation.
— This is a lot of people from different regions and cities, 11 people in Perm, in Serov (Sverdlovsk region. — Ed.) a lot. Since 2023, she has been deceiving people in the same way, then blocked some, intimidated them with the fact that she has connections in the criminal community and the Investigative Committee," says Evgenia Preobrazhenskaya.
The victims contacted the police.
— But we don't really know how many victims there are. We know that she owes 50 million to one girl, 50 million to another, 2.5 million to someone. Anyone who watches my social media has contacted me," Svetlana Bonor said.
Among those who sent a collective appeal is Maria Zhitnyuk, Akhmadishina's former PR manager.
— I think there is no way back. I wish I could sit on the sidelines, but, alas, I'm in trouble too," she left such a comment on social networks.
According to the Rusprofile database, Maria Akhmadishina has been registered as an individual entrepreneur since April 14, 2022. In an interview published on social media, she said that she has been working in the trade for many years — she started by selling women's and children's clothes and toys. According to the entrepreneur, her fishing business was on the verge of collapse: due to problems with the supplier, she had debts of 40 million rubles.
In April 2024, Akhmadishina registered the trademark "Feast of the Seas" and, according to her, the business went up thanks to "getting to know the right people."
At the same time, the website of the Arbitration court of the Ural District states that in the period from 2022 to 2025, ten administrative lawsuits were filed against Akhmadishina — in the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk regions and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The plaintiffs, in particular, complain about the non-fulfillment and improper fulfillment of obligations under loan and loan agreements, under contracts for the provision of paid services and under supply contracts.
Currently, as indicated in the file of arbitration cases, nine cases worth 13 million rubles are being considered against Maria Akhmadishina.
Is the Akhmadishina network working now
Akhmadishina has opened three fish shops in the Sverdlovsk region: two in Yekaterinburg and one in Serov. Currently, the "Feast of the Seas" on Dekabristov Street in Yekaterinburg is marked in the 2GIS system as temporarily inactive. Izvestia correspondents called the number listed on social media and asked if the store was open, after which the subscriber hung up.
According to Evgenia Preobrazhenskaya, this store is now closed.
— They moved out, leaving two weeks' rent unpaid and utility bills. So they continue to look for people like us and continue to work in some other place," the girl said on social media.
The rating of Akhmadishina's stores in Yandex. Maps is quite high — there are practically no negative comments, as well as in social networks. However, the situation under the revealing videos on the Internet is completely different. As users write, "the whole city knows that Akhmadishina is a fraud, but they still give her money."
"This Akhmadishina "threw" hundreds of people from different cities: Perm, Moscow, Serov, Karpinsk, Yekaterinburg. There is a minimum amount of 500 million rubles. She managed to dump the widow of her classmate who died on her own, and walks around smiling, flying to Dubai," wrote one of the commentators.
Do the victims have a chance to get the money back
The probability of a refund to the victims is extremely low, the lawyers interviewed by Izvestia believe.
— The refund is secondary and depends on whether law enforcement officers managed to seize her real assets before the money disappeared. If they have "gone into the sand" or are spent, there will be nothing to recover from. A civil claim is a necessary formality, but it guarantees a refund," said lawyer Albert Khaleyan.
According to lawyer Mirza Chiragov, if a criminal case is opened and the entrepreneur's guilt is proven, she may face up to ten years in prison. Such actions can be qualified as fraud on a particularly large scale, the expert believes. In addition, the victims have the right to initiate a civil lawsuit, where they can declare their financial claims.
If the investigation finds out that the bloggers who advertised the "fish business" knew about the deception and deliberately misled people, they may face responsibility for complicity, Albert Khaleyan noted.
"But if they sincerely believed in the project and simply advertised what they considered to be an honest business, they are unlikely to face a criminal case," he believes. — However, innocence in the criminal sense does not mean perfection. Victims have the right to file a civil lawsuit against bloggers, trying to prove that it was their advertising that caused the loss of money. This is a difficult path, but legally possible.
According to the expert, many people believe in such fraudulent schemes, including because of the "crowd effect", especially when the project is supported by well-known bloggers.
Izvestia contacted Maria Akhmadishina, but she refused to comment on the current situation.
"You're not telling the truth right now. You want to promote yourself and bring a person to suezism (the spelling of the original is preserved. – Ed.)," the blogger wrote in response to an interview request.
Izvestia also had a recording of Maria's telephone conversation with one of the victims. Akhmadishina openly stated that the goods that end up on store shelves are poached. And in the correspondence of the entrepreneur with her companions, Maria regularly asked to throw off fake invoices.
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