Intermediary servants: the case of apartment theft by Dolina went to court

The criminal case of larceny of Larisa Dolina's apartment has been submitted to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, but the date of the first meeting has not yet been set. This information appeared on the court's website, and the lawyers of the defendants confirmed it to Izvestia. According to investigators, the fraudsters, who were helped by the arrested intermediaries, stole a total of almost 180 million rubles from the singer. The prosecutor's office estimated the damage at one and a half times higher. The mother of one of the defendants told Izvestia that her son himself had become a victim in this case. On July 15, two defendants, Angela Tsyrulnikova and Andrey Osnova, tried to appeal their arrest, but the Moscow City Court kept them in jail. What other cases the suspects may be involved in and what punishment they face are described in the Izvestia article.

Who is being investigated in the case of Larisa Dolina's apartment

The prosecutor's office has sent a criminal case to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow about a scam involving the apartment of singer Larisa Dolina, according to information on the court's website. The fact that the case was registered in court was confirmed to Izvestia by the lawyers of the defendants.

Judge Tatiana Izotova will conduct the judicial investigation and establish the guilt of those accused of fraud. She will have to study 30 volumes of the criminal case on the theft of an elite apartment from the People's artist, the market value of which is estimated at more than 138 million rubles. The singer, who believed the scammers, sold it significantly cheaper — for 112 million rubles. Larisa Dolina also transferred tens of millions of rubles from her own savings to the attackers, losing a total of 180 million rubles.

The date of the court hearing has not yet been set. Artur Kamenetsky, Dmitry Leontiev, Andrey Osnovy and Angela Tsyrulnikova will appear before the court. All four defendants are accused of fraud as part of an organized group and on an especially large scale, which resulted in the deprivation of a citizen's right to housing (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Larisa Dolina announced that she had become a victim of fraud in August 2024. The attackers convinced her to sell her apartment in the center of Moscow, and transfer the money allegedly to a secure account. Polina Lurie, a 34-year-old single mother, became the new owner of the apartment. A criminal case was opened.

In March of this year, the Khamovnicheskiy district court of Moscow ruled in favor of Dolina on the counterclaims of the singer and the buyer of her apartment. Polina Lurie's representative, Svetlana Sviridova, said that they did not agree with this decision and intended to appeal.

According to the investigation, the defendants did not act alone, but as part of an organized group. They coordinated their actions with their accomplices, whose identities have not yet been established. From April to July 2024, they jointly stole more than 175 million rubles from Dolina and deprived her of the right to an elite apartment in Kseninsky Lane in Khamovniki.

Taking into account the banks' commission for the transactions and the costs of the apartment sale, the total damage to the singer amounted to 317.6 million rubles, the prosecutor's office said.

The lawyers interviewed by Izvestia suggested that the final amount of damage could have doubled because the amount of the apartment sale — 112 million rubles — could have been counted twice. For the first time, Dolina transferred this amount to fraudsters, but after the court returned her apartment, declaring the deal invalid, the singer, apparently, will have to return this amount to Polina Lurie.

The defendants in the case did not agree with the charges and did not admit guilt. On July 15, two of the four defendants, Angela Tsyrulnikova and Andrey Osnovy, tried to appeal their arrest. As an argument, Tsyrulnikova referred to the plight of her minor children.

She told the court that her daughter was depressed due to the absence of her mother - she stopped going to school, withdrew into herself and did not communicate with anyone. And my son was expelled from school due to poor academic performance. The defendant believes that this happened against the background of stress due to the publicity of the case.

— The son is 17 months old (arrested. — Ed.) only cries. I do not agree with my guilt, I consider myself a victim," said Angela Tsyrulnikova.

Andrey Osnovy asked the court to change the measure of restraint to a ban on certain actions. However, the Moscow City Court recognized the arrest as lawful and left Tsyrulnikova and Osnovy in jail.

What is known about the accused

53-year-old Angela Tsyrulnikova is accused of meeting Larisa Dolina personally at the request of fraudsters and taking away her bag, which contained the bulk of the funds for the apartment sold — 112 million rubles in cash.

The defendant explained to the investigation that she had never intended anything bad against the singer, whom she loves very much. According to the woman, she herself became a victim of fraud and acted on a tip from an "FSB representative."

"They called me and said that the information about me had gone somewhere and that I was being protected and my problems were being solved," she said. — Then the investigator called. They knew a lot about me and even about my children. Therefore, I did not have any suspicion that they were scammers.

Then, on the eve of her birthday, a "female investigator" called the defendant and said that she had a surprise for the birthday girl - a meeting with a famous singer.

— She asked: "Are you ready for this?" — said the woman. "But we have a small request for you. She's in financial difficulties right now, and an investigation is underway. And you're a neutral person. Could you take the bag from her?" We met and said hello. I was surprised that it was really Larisa Dolina, and she gave me a large package.

Then, according to her, the woman took this package to a certain exchanger, where everything was "kindly counted" at the cash register.

"But I don't even know the amount,— Angela Tsyrulnikova assured.

After that, a crypto wallet was created in her mobile phone and money was transferred through it to an unknown destination. Then Tsyrulnikova "calm and peaceful went home." She was detained in August 2024.

In addition to the episode with Larisa Dolina, Tsyrulnikova is also accused of three more similar cases of fraud in Moscow and the region against two Moscow pensioners (also under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

So, on July 19, 2024, the accused, fulfilling the role assigned to her by her accomplices, took 2.7 million rubles from a misled pensioner on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment, the Moscow prosecutor's office reported.

"And on July 27, 2024, Tsyrulnikova, acting on the instructions of her accomplices, met with another misled woman in Balashikha, Moscow region. And, posing as a Financial monitoring employee, she stole 8.2 million rubles from her, naming the code word," the supervisory authority said in a statement.

Then, the accused tried to steal another 4.5 million rubles from the same victim, but was detained at the time of the transfer of the money, as the woman recognized the deception and turned to law enforcement officers.

What do the relatives of the accused think

Dmitry Leontiev, a 43-year-old resident of Yoshkar-Ola, was detained by security forces on October 22, 2024.

According to investigators, a previously convicted man was one of the drops — 3 million of the 180 million rubles that the singer gave to the scammers went through his bank card. Leontiev kept 30 thousand for his mediation services, and transferred the rest to the members of the criminal group.

In addition, investigators believe that the suspect purchased communications equipment and SIM cards from mobile operators for communication between members of an organized group.

In the court for the election of a preventive measure, it became known that the accused had previously been brought to criminal responsibility for beatings and causing serious harm to health. His last conviction was for theft, and Leontiev was released in 2022.

The third person involved, Andrei Basnova, was detained in December 2024 in Tolyatti. The man also acted as a dropper — he sold his bank card to fraudsters through Telegram.

The defendant's mother, Elena Denisova, told Izvestia: when the events related to the sale of Larisa Dolina's apartment took place, her son had just returned from the army and got a job. He didn't say anything about the scam with the dropper bank card.

— He lived in Tolyatti with a girl, and, apparently, he was in dire need of money, although he earned it himself, — said Elena. — On Telegram, some people promised him a reward, he agreed and sold his card for 10 thousand rubles (during interrogation, the detained man told investigators that he had sold the card for 20 thousand rubles — Ed.). As the widow of a member of the SVO, I was supposed to receive payments at that time. But he didn't address me. I'm used to solving everything myself.

According to Elena Denisova, her son has always been an ordinary good child and has never committed anything criminal. The woman believes that the scammers simply "messed up his brains" by convincing him to sell the card "for a meager amount."

— I am very sorry that this happened to Larisa Dolina. I hope that all those responsible will be caught and punished," the woman said. — But my child was also a victim. He did a bad thing by selling his card, but he didn't know what this card would be used for. He didn't want to deceive anyone.

On November 21, 2024, the fourth person involved was detained, Artur Kamenetsky, a 27—year-old previously convicted resident of Tatarstan. According to the investigation, a bank card was found in the man's possession, to which Larisa Dolina, under the influence of scammers, transferred 10 million rubles.

What threatens the defendants in the Dolina case

For fraud committed by an organized group on an especially large scale, the defendants may face up to ten years in prison, Ilya Drozdov, a lawyer at the Moscow bar association Union of Lawyers, told Izvestia. However, droppers who have sold their bank cards to fraudsters may be reclassified to a more lenient charge.

— This will happen if the court finds that the defendants did not know about the criminal purposes of the fraudsters and did not provide them with other assistance, — said the lawyer. — In this case, their actions can be reclassified to Part 3 of art. 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — "transfer out of self-interest of an electronic means of payment for illegal transactions." In this case, the sentence may be reduced to three years in prison.

In June 2025, amendments were made to Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the illegal turnover of funds of payments, Egor Panin, lawyer at the Avex Yust law Firm, reminded Izvestia. And now, dropers who sell their bank cards to fraudsters are increasingly attracted to it.

"This is a clearer tool for the court, and the punishment under this article is much milder," the lawyer said. — However, the defendants in the Dolina case were involved in a more serious "fraudulent" article. And here the key issue remains awareness and intent. The court will have to carefully study the role of each person involved and find out their intentions.

The lawyers believe that it is possible to talk about potential mitigation of punishment only in relation to three male defendants. And Angela Tsyrulnikova is accused of three more fraudulent actions, which also caused particularly large-scale damage to the victims, Ilya Drozdov added. Taking into account all the episodes, the maximum sentence for her can reach 15 years in prison.