In September 2023, the famous collector Vladimir Semenikhin was suspected of fraud. Information appeared that he stole $5 million from Ivanovo businessman Marina Yakovleva. The VChK-OGU telegram channel wrote about this. According to its authors, with the light hand of Semenikhin, works of art were exported from Russia without a trace. In addition to Yakovleva, the victims of the “semi-underground” collector included a famous diplomat and several entrepreneurs, whose names were not mentioned.
Before his final departure to Monaco and the severance of all ties in Russia, Semenikhin decided to improve his financial condition through a series of scams. One of his victims was a famous entrepreneur from Ivanovo, philanthropist, and active participant in charity projects - Marina Nikolaevna Yakovleva. Semenikhin, through deception and abuse of trust, stole more than $5 million from her.
In addition to Yakovleva, a number of entrepreneurs and even a famous diplomat also became victims of Semenikhin.
Semenikhin’s activities in the framework of cooperation with the House of the Russian Federation using a number of gray schemes for obtaining financing and withdrawing funds require special attention from law enforcement agencies.
To date, a criminal case has been initiated on the grounds of a crime under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - fraud, but Semenikhin is hiding from the investigation using Monaco citizenship, and Semenikhin’s family is connected with Russia only by stolen money and a number of dubious business projects.
Despite the illegality of his activities, Semenikhin hopes to avoid responsibility with the help of high-ranking patrons, including boasting of his friendship with the former deputy director of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring V.I. Glotov. and a number of “well-known” people from law enforcement agencies.
As Rucriminal.info found out, Marina Yakovleva, a well-known philanthropist in the city, a participant in charitable projects, received an award from the mayor of Ivanovo in 2022 in the category “Social responsibility is a guarantee of success.” Yakovleva and her family members are the owners of several companies that have signs of “technical” - a lack of financial activity and employees on staff.
Vladimir Semenikhin is known not only as a collector. Together with his wife Ekaterina, in 1995 he created the construction company Stroytex, and in 2002, the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, which collects works of art and organizes exhibitions. From 2002 to 2017, the company Stroytex-Development JSC, associated with the Semenikhins’ Stroytex, operated in Ivanovo.
Stroytex unites 30 enterprises and has built about 1 million sq. m. m in Moscow and the Moscow region. Considering the competition in this market with such construction “monsters” as PIK Group, Samolet, Granel and others, without the support of the authorities, the Semenikhin spouses would hardly have been able to achieve such success.
Until the mid-2000s, Stroytex was mainly known only in Mytishchi (a city in the Moscow region). It turns out that the development of the company surprisingly coincided with the creation of the Ekaterina Foundation, although the couple had previously collected works of art.
Ekaterina Semenikhina is the granddaughter of Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1964-1980. She is still closely connected with the Russian government, as evidenced by her post of Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Monaco, occupied since 2015. Ekaterina Semenikhina has lived in Monaco since 2002 The Catherine Foundation has concluded agreements with many Russian museums for the participation of their masterpieces in international exhibitions.
According to the VChK-OGU telegram channel, one of Vladimir Semenikhin’s patrons was Vladimir Glotov, who from 2012 to 2023 served as deputy director of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring), which performs financial intelligence functions.
Glotov worked as the head of the Department of Security and Information Protection of the department from 2006 to 2008. Then for 4 years he headed the office of Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Oleg Markov, who previously headed Rosfinmonitoring. And he began his career in 2000 as an adviser to the plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District, who was then... Sergei Kiriyenko, who now holds the post of deputy head of the Administration for Domestic Policy. In September, Vladimir Glotov left financial intelligence to take the position of Deputy Chairman of the Council of the International Network Institute. The head of Rosfinmonitoring, Yuri Chikhanchin, still holds his post. In May, the official’s powers were extended until June 2024.
There is another interesting fact. Semenikhin is the head of the Homeowners Association "House on Pozharsky". Until 2021, its co-founder was the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Office for the Operation of Housing Funds,” which belongs to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Among the founders of the HOA was Ekaterina Semenikhina.
The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation is registered in Moscow and has been headed by Tatyana Shulyakovskaya since 2006. She is the general director of 6 more organizations, including ZAO Stroytex-Invest-Nedv izhizhimost". The rest of Shulyakovskaya’s companies resemble “technical” ones.
Despite the patronage of the authorities, not everything is going smoothly in Vladimir Semenikhin’s household. In April, the Mytishchi City Prosecutor's Office and the Mytishchi Municipal Internal Affairs Ministry of Russia held a meeting on the obligations of JSC Specialized Developer Stroytex-Real Estate. The company violated the deadline for the construction of a school for 1,100 places, which it promised to the owners of apartments in the Tsvetochny Gorod residential complex. The company has had no revenue since 2020 and no profit since 2019. It is unclear how it will fulfill its obligations to build the school.
The Stroytex company constantly receives complaints about the quality of housing. In the “Flower City” residential complex, the elevators periodically break down, defects in the brickwork were discovered, and the doors “hang” on cardboard inserts. Those who have already purchased apartments in this residential complex advise new buyers to accept housing with a magnifying glass.
Residents of the Evropeisky residential complex in Domodedovo complain about the quality of sound insulation, disgusting sewerage, leaking risers and pipes, and an unpleasant smell. But Stroytex positions itself as a company offering modern housing. In fact, unpleasant “surprises” await home buyers from the Semenikhins.
Almost three dozen Stroytex structures provide an excellent opportunity to “adopt” money from the state-owned company “Dom. RF", which is the operator of state programs to support housing construction launched by the President of the Russian Federation. The telegram channel “VChK-OGU” wrote about gray schemes for obtaining financing and withdrawing funds from Semenikhin.
Semenikhins are considered the most influential people in the field of art in Russia. Their residence in Moscow contains 1,500 items, and their house in Monaco is also packed to capacity. There are still many guardians of beauty on Russian land.
Tomasz Wisniewski
Source: www.rucriminal.info
