Cheating with a stone: Darvol owner given 7 years for diamond scams

The Khamovniki court in Moscow sentenced Darya Spiridonova, the owner of the Darvol jewelry brand, to seven years in a penal colony for fraud. According to investigators, she offered diamond jewelry to clients, received an advance payment, and then did not fulfill her obligations. In addition, she took expensive things for repair, and then pawned them, the victims assured. The criminal case involved 19 episodes with an estimated damage of 200 million rubles. The court ordered Spiridonov to pay 172.3 million to former clients, for which he settled their civil lawsuits. The details of the case are in the Izvestia article.

What was Daria Spiridonova accused of?

On July 21, the Khamovniki District Court of Moscow announced the verdict of Darya Spiridonova (Volkova), the owner of the Darvol jewelry house. She received seven years in a general regime penal colony under the article on fraud on an especially large scale.

The defense asked to give the defendant a reprieve from punishment, since Spiridonova is raising a minor child who, according to her, has cancer. But the court refused this request.

The businesswoman was detained in February 2023. According to investigators, she presented herself as the owner of a jewelry house, received more than 200 million rubles from 19 victims, promising in return exclusive jewelry with diamonds. However, as a result, she "abused the trust of clients in order to make a profit," the Moscow prosecutor's office said.

"The defendant did not fulfill her obligations, and she did not return the money," said a representative of the supervisory authority.

On social media, Spiridonova offered her clients only one-piece items. "Darvol jewelry house creates custom jewelry. We bring the best stones from different parts of the world, and our craftsmen create unique sketches with these stones," the company said on its pages.

According to the victims, Spiridonova offered clients not only to buy the brand's products, but also to sell or restore their personal jewelry. All this is supposedly at a bargain price.

At first, she fulfilled her obligations. People trusted Spiridonova with their jewelry, among other things, thanks to her friendship with representatives of show business.

Darvol's star fans were Elena Letuchaya and singer Valeria, who went on stage with Spiridonova at a party dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the house of Darvol. Daria even starred in one of Valeria's music videos, for the song "Give me Back Hope."

"I am an artist of my genre, precious, quite sincere and difficult,— Daria Spiridonova said about herself, speaking at a social party. — Every woman who trusts me with her jewelry, every man who trusts me with his investments and investments, you have an incredible influence on me. You're influencing my brand, my personality, who we've become."

According to the victims, Spiridonova's success lay in the ability to "hang out beautifully" in the circles of wealthy people and in the good promotion of the Darvol brand on social networks. The photo on her page shows earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings with precious stones priced from $ 2 thousand to $70 thousand.

What the victims said

The first statements from victims began to be received by the police in the summer of 2022. However, there was another unexpected turn in the case: a policeman, who was contacted by Spiridonova's clients, extorted 10 million rubles from them for a positive decision on the initiation of a criminal case.

In December 2023, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow found former policeman Stanislav Asyutin guilty of attempted fraud on an especially large scale and sentenced him to three and a half years in prison.

The model Yasmina Muratovich first contacted the law enforcement agencies. Spiridonova promised her to deliver a 3.23 carat diamond for 4 million rubles, but the girl never received this stone. Another client, coach Svetlana Fandeeva, paid more than 100 million rubles for a diamond, but was also left without money and without a stone.

Veronica jewelry collector (name changed. In 2021, she asked Daria Spiridonova to help with the sale of jewelry. The deal was concluded on my word of honor. Spiridonova took the jewelry, but the woman never received the money for them.

"We started looking for jewelry in pawnshops ourselves, and we found most of it,— the victim told Izvestia. — They were mortgaged not even at half the cost, but at one tenth.

Another Darvol owner received a yellow diamond ring for 13 million rubles and a stone for almost 10 million rubles from one of her clients. The hostess did not wait for the end of the "restoration".

One of the victims told Izvestia that he gave Spiridonova 8 million rubles for a necklace with emeralds, which he never received. The second client gave her diamond earrings worth 4.6 million rubles for repair. The third signed a contract with Darvol for the purchase of a diamond for $ 65,000.

"She started disappearing for weeks, promising that the stone would be there in a week, a month, three, five," the woman said. "And when she found out that I had contacted the police, she stopped contacting me," she said.

What Spiridonova said

On social media, Daria explained her debts either with family difficulties, or with scary stories — allegedly unknown intruders abducted her and beat her.

Then she published a letter that she called "Sincere." "God forgive me for what I've done. You gave me everything. And I didn't appreciate it. Forgive me, my parents, for being such a bad daughter.… I'm sorry to anyone I've told lies to. How many mistakes could have been avoided by telling the truth...", she wrote.

In court, Spiridonova pleaded guilty to all the episodes, but disagreed with the amount of damage in five cases. According to the defendant's defense, the examination conducted as part of the investigation overestimated it by 91 million rubles.

In addition, Spiridonova disputed a number of claims in civil lawsuits, considering the claimed compensation amounts to be excessive. She asked the court to reduce the amount of material damage to a "reasonable amount."

The defendant was listed as the CEO of Jewelry House LLC with an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles. The company was established in 2017, and declared bankrupt in February 2024, according to the SPARK database. She provided false information to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, in particular, a fictitious legal address.

Spiridonova, as an individual, is also currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. In court, the "queen of diamonds" repeatedly stated that she had no property and her bank accounts were empty. At one of the meetings, the victims asked Spiridonova how, in the complete absence of money, she could rent apartments in one of the towers of Moscow City.

"I completely repent, I want to smooth out the situation gradually, I want a fair verdict," Spiridonova said during her last words.

During the debate between the parties, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the accused to nine years in a penal colony. The trial stopped at seven years. The civil claims of the victims for 172.3 million rubles were also satisfied, and Spiridonova herself was deprived of the right to engage in managerial activities in commercial organizations for a period of three years.

Where do the diamonds come from

According to open sources, Spiridonova's company was in a difficult financial situation, Igor Pastukhov, an adviser to the YUST law firm, drew the attention of Izvestia. In 2019, the loss of the Jewelry House amounted to 33 million rubles, in 2021 — 2.5 million rubles.

"There were episodes of both large—scale and especially large—scale fraud in the accusation of Spiridonova," the lawyer noted. — The punishment imposed by the court cannot be called too severe, since it does not exceed a possible ten years for one episode of fraud on a particularly large scale. Obviously, the court took into account the presence of her sick child.

The term of punishment requested by the prosecutor was within the limits of the sanction, said Alexander Redkin, senior partner at Criminal Defense Firm.

"However, given the defendant's remorse and the fact that she has a young child, the court apparently considered such a period unnecessary," the lawyer said.

The lawyers agreed that a suspended sentence for Spiridonova was unlikely.

One of the victims, who asked not to be named, told Izvestia that, in his opinion, the precious stones for Spiridonova were being smuggled.

"According to our information, Spiridonova transferred funds into cryptocurrency and transferred them abroad through third parties," the man said. — she had a business partner, Alexey Semuka, the former founder of the Jewelry House. The investigation involved Semuka as a witness, but he did not appear in court.

According to another victim, Tatiana S., Spiridonova used fake certificates for precious stones.

By a government decree dated March 31, 2022, precious stones, pearls and products made from them are classified as strategically important goods and resources, the lawyers interviewed by Izvestia recalled. When transported across the border, they are subject to mandatory declaration if their value exceeds € 10,000 or 1 million rubles.

It is also necessary to pay customs duties for imported jewelry and provide a certificate of their origin. Violation of these rules is criminalized under the article on the smuggling of strategically important goods (art. 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, so far Spiridonova has not been charged under this article, the lawyers noted.

Spiridonova's defense told Izvestia that it would appeal the court's decision.