Not a small proportion: top managers of Rusnano are being tried for fraud with the asset

The trial of two top managers of Rusnano Corporation has begun in Moscow. The investigation believes that in 2020, they, together with the management of the chemical enterprise Akrilan, sold 70% of the company's shares at an undervalued price. The package passed to a controlled company, and the damage, according to the prosecution, amounted to 768 million rubles. In November 2025, the court declared the transaction invalid and ordered the buyer to return the asset to the state corporation. The lawyers of the defendants insist that there is no damage. Who is accused of fraud and how the first hearing went — in the Izvestia article.

What formed the basis of the criminal case

Oleg Kuzin, CEO of Akrilan LLC, and Tatiana Shadeeva, former head of the company's legal department, were arrested in January this year. In April, the court sent Sergei Vakhterov, former senior managing director for investment activities at Rusnano, to jail, and Ivan Gonchar, manager of the same division, in June. All four are charged with fraud on an especially large scale committed by a group of individuals (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation, in April 2020, Rusnano sold a 69.93% stake in the authorized capital of Vladimir-based Akrilan LLC, a major Russian manufacturer of aqueous polymer dispersions. The cost of the agreement was 800 million rubles. At the same time, the investigation found. that the buyer, VladAkril, received 450 million rubles as a property contribution and 150 million rubles as a loan from the selling company before the transaction. The prosecution also believes that the market value of the asset sold was almost twice as much — 1.58 billion rubles.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Ilya Pitalev

According to the case file, Kuzin, Shadeeva, Vakhterov, Gonchar, as well as other defendants whom the investigation did not identify, provided Rusnano with false results of the company's assessment. As a result of these actions, the state corporation suffered damage in the amount of 768 million rubles.

VladAkril LLC, according to data from the Spark system, was founded in August 2019. Oleg Kuzin was the only founder of the company. In May 2020, LLC Akrilan with a share of 99.9% and Oleg Kuzin with 0.1% became co-owners of Vladakril.

In November 2025, the Arbitration Court of the Vladimir Region declared the sale of the Rusnano stake invalid, satisfying the claim of the regional prosecutor's office. The buyer was obliged to return the acquired share, while there was no question of refunding the funds that the state corporation received. According to Spark, Rusnano has been listed as a co-owner of Akrilan since November 28.

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The trial

The Gagarin District Court began considering the case on October 8. Relatives and friends came to support the accused. As one of the listeners stated, "good citizens of Russia" were in the dock.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Ilya Pitalev

During the meeting, it became known that Ivan Gonchar fully admitted his guilt and testified. At the same time, he stated that the sale at an undervalued price was not due to mercenary intent, but because of an incorrect forecast of further growth and profit of the asset. The assessment, as noted by the lawyers, has changed several times.

In addition, the defense insists that it is impossible to talk about damage in this case: Rusnano returned the asset, and the corporation did not file civil lawsuits.

— The main thing that we would like to draw attention to is the absence of real damage to the state. The share of Rusnano JSC in the authorized capital of Akrilan LLC in the amount of 69.93% was returned by an effective decision of the Arbitration Court of the Vladimir Region. The funds received under the deal also remained at Rusnano's disposal. Thus, the property rights of the Russian Federation have been fully restored, and no material damage has been caused to the budget," Svetlana Vorontsova, Sergey Vakhterov's lawyer, commented to Izvestia.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vladimir Song

On the first day of the hearing, the court considered the issue of extending the arrest of the accused. The prosecutor's office insisted on their continued detention in jail, and the lawyers asked to change the measure of restraint to a more lenient one. The defendants supported the defense. Tatiana Shadeeva said that her 10-year-old daughter had not seen her mother for nine months. However, the court did not change the chosen measure and kept the accused in custody until March 14.

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The case of 2014

In parallel with the case being considered by the Gagarin Court, CEO Oleg Kuzin and lawyer Tatiana Shadeeva are accused in another criminal case related to the Vladimir Akrilan and the sale of part of the business.

According to investigators, in 2014 Kuzin and Shadeeva convinced another co—owner of the company, Alexander Kournikov, head of the offshore company Trimdon Management Ltd, to sell his stake. However, the entrepreneur never received the money for it. The damage exceeded 150 million rubles, and both defendants were charged with fraud on an especially large scale.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Kirill Zykov

The episodes concerning Shadeeva were separated into a separate production. In August, the Moscow City Court sent the materials for further investigation. Oleg Kuzin's case is currently being considered by the Presnensky District Court behind closed doors.

What could threaten the defendants

Lawyer Alexander Burchuk noted that in cases with this amount of damage, the prosecutor's office usually requests a penalty close to the maximum. According to the article "Fraud on a particularly large scale", the perpetrator may face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

According to the lawyer, the recognition of the transaction as invalid, most likely, will not be a mitigating circumstance. The prosecution, on the contrary, will insist that the crime ended at the time of the agreement in 2020. At the same time, Burchuk stressed that the purchase and sale agreement was terminated at the request of the prosecutor's office, and the court will probably take this circumstance into account.