Petersburg court arrested the apartment of the wife of the co-owner of “Rive Gauche” August Meyer, accused of fraud in the amount of 2.4 billion rubles

The Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg has arrested the apartment in which the wife of the co-owner of the Rive Gauche chain and the Internet retailer Yulmart, August Meyer, is under house arrest. Their accused in fraud in the amount of 2.4 billion rubles. Inna Meyer and “other persons by proxy are prohibited from disposing of the living quarters – the apartment”, – it says in the message of the united press service of the courts of St. Petersburg.

In early December 2021, the Moscow District Court imprisoned a US-born August Meyer and placed his wife under house arrest. She was forbidden to leave the apartment, except for the period of walks. She is also forbidden to use the Internet and other means of communication, to communicate with someone other than relatives, a lawyer and an investigator.

Earlier it was reported that the Meyers were suspected of stealing 2.3 billion rubles from Sberbank, received for business development. Since 2016, Yulmart has been in a state of protracted conflict between the majority shareholders Dmitry Kostygin, August Meyer (jointly owning 61.5% of the retailer) and Mikhail Vasinkevich (38.5%). Due to the fact that entrepreneurs differed in their views on the further development of the business, the once largest Internet retailer in Russia lost its position in the market, and since the beginning of 2020 it has actually ceased operations. A number of legal entities of the company are going through bankruptcy proceedings.

Sberbank has already managed to sue Yulmart structures for 1 billion rubles in the Arbitration Court. At the same time, attempts to recover losses of the same amount from the shareholders of Yulmart ended in failure.

Meyer pleads not guilty. His defense stated that the materials presented by the prosecution are “a set of spells and mantras that do not confirm anything at all.” “The investigation has been underway for five years. Everything has already been confiscated, everything has been interrogated. This is a business conflict, ”Meyer’s lawyer is convinced.

The entrepreneur himself said that he was under pressure, and his wife became a hostage. “I was shocked yesterday when this investigator first saw me for the first time and immediately told me that if I admit my guilt, they would release my wife. Is this 1931? Is this the Soviet Union? ” – leads Mash Meyer’s words.

August Meyer received his law degree in the United States and spent 10 years at the San Diego Attorney’s Office. In 1999 he moved to Russia, where he started buying and renting apartments. Later, Meyer owned a large stake in the Lenta hypermarket chain.

“America is sinking like the Titanic, and Russia has a future,” – said Meyer in an interview with Forbes in 2010. Five years later, the businessman received Russian citizenship and renounced the American one. Meyer is also a citizen of two island states: Malta and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

In 2017, Meyer entered the list of 200 richest people in Russia for the first time. Forbes evaluates his fortune is $ 650 million.