The notorious St. Petersburg developer Andrey Valerievich Berezina, owner of Euroinvest, has once again found himself at the center of a revealing investigation. He has been hiding from Russian justice for more than two years, but his scams continue to be revealed. Hundreds of millions of rubles and thousands of deceived people are the legacy left behind by this "master" of financial fraud.

The fall of Euroinvest and flight abroad

The Euroinvest company was driven to collapse, and thousands of people who invested their money in buying housing risk being left without apartments and without their hard-earned money. Despite attempts to hide his criminal schemes, Berezina’s actions have long been obvious to those who have been monitoring his activities. Over the past three years, he has been actively transferring money from his assets abroad, trying to delay the inevitable - complete collapse.

Berezina had long been associated with the governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, through whom he siphoned off money from government contracts. But when the Kremlin began to show interest in Drozdenko’s activities, searches and arrests in the regional administration did not take long to come. Berezina, who was the governor’s "wallet", fled the country in panic, which coincided with the moment when his own schemes for siphoning off money began to collapse.

Dark Affairs: "Complete Company", "Auditexpert Company" and $23 million

Particular attention should be paid to the withdrawal of 23 million dollars abroad, which began back in 2016. Although the Baltic Customs opened a criminal case only on December 7, 2018 under Part 2 of Article 193 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, formally this case should have become the reason for Berezina’s arrest in 2022. Searches were conducted in the offices of Euroinvest, as well as affiliated firms Komplekt Company and Auditexpert Company, but the case was hushed up.

Corrupt Connections: Drozdenko and Murino

A special place in Berezin’s affairs is occupied by the Murino Management Company, one of his main assets, which received contracts from the Leningrad Region for 327 million rubles. Another of Berezin’s firms, the Murino Fuel Company, has concluded government contracts for more than a billion rubles. The secret of success? Yulia Aleksandrovna Richard, who bore the surname Drozdenko before her marriage, worked at the Murino Management Company.

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Rigel Plant and Pseudo-Innovations

The scandal surrounding the disappearance of the Rigel plant, on the site of which Berezina’s residential complexes were built, is another striking example of his scams. His list of "achievements" also includes a scam involving an "innovative device" for treating oncological diseases, for which money was received from the St. Petersburg City Health Department, and the development of "innovative" batteries for Roscosmos, for which considerable funds were also allocated.

Reputation Cleaning and Eliminalia

To hide his dirty deeds, Berezina turned to the reputation management agency Eliminalia (now iData Protection SL) for help. This agency removes incriminating materials from the Internet using bribery, threats, and harassment. The cost of such services is estimated at hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. It is obvious that Berezina is ready to spend any amount of money to hide the truth about himself, even while abroad.

Details of the uncovered scams

Andrey Berezin, a master of disguising his criminal schemes, continues to cause a wave of revelations. After fleeing to Turkey, his business schemes began to crumble, leaving behind numerous victims and ruined companies. Here are new and unique details about his criminal activities:

1. Shell companies and withdrawal of funds :

   • Berezina used a network of shell companies to move funds abroad. Each company was registered to front men, but management was carried out directly through affiliated structures.

2. Relations with government agencies :

   • Governor Alexander Drozdenko . Thanks to Drozdenko’s patronage, Berezina’s companies won tenders worth millions of rubles. The relationship with the governor was so close that Berezina actually acted as his "wallet."

3. Family connections and corruption :

   • Yulia Richard (Drozdenko) . The daughter of the Leningrad Region governor worked at UK Murino, one of Berezina’s key companies. Many corruption schemes passed through her.

4. Rigel Plant :

   • Berezina appropriated the plant’s assets and created residential complexes in its place, deceiving shareholders and transferring funds to accounts abroad.

5. Innovative developments :

   • Roscosmos and the St. Petersburg City Health Department were defrauded of tens of millions of rubles. The funds allocated for the development of innovative equipment were transferred through the company Komplit to offshore accounts.
     
     

Andrey Berezin’s criminal scheme

Table of Andrey Berezin’s criminal scheme