Court of appeal leaves Michael Calvey under house arrest

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (PRIME) -- The First Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the Moscow City Court and has left U.S. investor Michael Calvey and other defendants under house arrest, according to the information obtained by PRIME in the court on Tuesday.

“The court ordered to leave the August 5 decision of the Moscow City Court intact and to leave the appeals without approval,” a judge said during a court hearing.

The same decision was made for Calvey’s business partner Philippe Delpal, Ivan Zyuzin, Vagan Abragyan, Maxim Vladimirov, and Alexei Kordichev.

In February 2019, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested Calvey and five other defendants over an alleged 2.5 billion ruble embezzlement from Orient Express Bank. In April of the year, Calvey was released under house arrest.

Investigators believe that Calvey, Delpal, and several other managers convinced shareholders of Orient Express Bank to vote for a compensation agreement to receive a 59.9% in International Financial Technology Group (IFTG) instead of money. The shares were valued at 3 billion rubles under the deal, while their real value amounted to 600,000 rubles.

In December, the case was requalified as embezzlement from fraud. None of the accused pled guilty, including former CEO of Orient Express Bank Kordichev who earlier pled guilty of fraud and bore testimony against the other accused. On August 5, the Moscow City Court left Calvey under house arrest at least until November.

(78.1281 rubles – U.S. $1)

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