One of the two City traders found guilty of plotting to steal £141 million from a Russian bank was Vladimer Gersamia.
The Southwark Crown Court ruled on Wednesday that Vladimir Gersamia and George Urumov were guilty of multiple counts of fraud, including conspiracy to conduct fraud. In the UK, they might now receive prison terms. The Financial Times reported that the Russian bank Otkritie was the victim of a complex fraud operation, with losses resulting from the illegal activity surpassing £141 million.
The mispricing of Argentinean warrants and management’s manipulation of the bank over a sign-on fee were the main components of the fraud. In February 2014, a London court ordered Otkritie preliminary damages of over $150 million due to the fraudulent schemes carried out by its former employees.
Vladimer Gersamia’s Deceptive Activities
When Urumov joined the Otkritie Securities Limited branch of the Russian Otkritie Financial Corporation in 2010, that is when the deceptive actions began. The FT and Reuters estimate the value of the “sign-on fee” he failed to share equitably between himself and four bond traders at $25 million and $23 million, respectively. Rather, he retained the lion’s part to himself.
Furthermore, Otkritie paid $213 million for Argentine warrants in 2011, only to discover a year later that the assets were only worth $62 million on the market. The bank also got a guarantee that the warrants were traded in US dollars even though they were originally purchased in Argentine pesos. This deception cost more than £120 million in fraud damages.
Vladimer Gersamia had assisted Urumov in hiding the evidence of the scam. Subsequently, the funds that the individuals stole were moved to many foreign accounts. The 2014 ruling states that the defendants laundered the proceeds of the scam through offshore businesses, using the money to buy cars, houses, and jewellery.
Urumov’s wife, Yulia Balk, was found not guilty on January 25, 2017, on two charges that included making plans to aid in money laundering. Balk and Urumov are charged with taking money out of the fraud case to buy a £19 million house in London’s St. John’s Wood.
The Role of Vladimer Gersamia in the Otkritie Story
Over the past four months, the Supreme Court has focused on an alleged $160 million international fraud that allegedly involved, albeit unintentionally, an investment fund with Bahamian domicile and accounts at a reputable international bank, leading to orders to freeze assets and demand the production of documents.
A corporation named Gemini Investment Fund is said to have its headquarters in the Bahamas. According to a slew of documents Tribune Business obtained from the US district court in southern New York, several accounts at Clariden Leu’s Nassau branch both played major roles in a scheme that was allegedly run by the bond office head at a significant financial services company with its headquarters in Russia.
The court documents describe how the brokerage paid four times the market price for securities related to Argentina’s GDP, allegedly through the manipulation of exchange rates by Georgy Urumov, Vladimer Gersamia, and other suspected accomplices. Urumov used to work for the London-based securities business of Otkritie Financial.
Vladimer Gersamia had assisted Urumov in hiding the evidence of the scam. Subsequently, the funds that the individuals stole were moved to many foreign accounts. The 2014 ruling states that the defendants laundered the proceeds of the scam through offshore businesses, using the money to buy cars, houses, and jewellery.
Templewood’s Beneficial Owner, Vladimer Gersamia’s Fraud
A portion of the $160 million in overpayment earnings, according to the Russian banking organisation and its attorneys, were in bank accounts in the Bahamas. About $6.9 million was moved to an account in Templewood Capital’s name at the Nassau branch of Clariden Leu on April 6, 2011. Vladimir Gersamia is purportedly the beneficial owner of this company.
According to US court filings, Vladimer Gersamia was the beneficial owner of the corporation and in charge of the Templewood account. Gersamia had informed his bank, Clariden Leu, that the funds he had put in were the proceeds from a Georgia real estate transaction. Reps for Gersamia’s brother-in-law have acknowledged that this was a lie and that [Gersamia’s company] does not own any real estate in Georgia.
After being further spent, roughly $2.5 million of that $6.9 million, according to Otkritie, was returned to the Bahamas in a second Clariden Leu account owned by a company named Airdale. The beneficial owner of the car was Mr. Gherzi, an additional Urumov conspirator, according to the court filings.The Airdale account and another Bahamas facility that belonged to a different Urumov conspirator, according to Mr Dooley, the attorney for Otkritie, had already been frozen by the Bahamian Supreme Court.
1. What is the connection between Vladimer Gersamia & George Urumov?
Georgy Urumov, 37, a former Otkritie banker & Vladimer are facing jail after being convicted of conspiring to defraud the Russian bank Otkritie of more than £141m in a series of complex frauds. Vladimir had assisted Urumov in erasing the fraud’s traces.
2. What happened when Vladimir Gersamia was found guilty of a £141 million fraud?
Yulia Balk, Urumov’s wife, was cleared of two counts, including conspiring to help money laundering, on January 25, 2017. Balk, Urumov, and Vladimir allegedly use a portion of the fraud. The sentences for Urumov and Gersamia are scheduled for tomorrow.
The Last Words
It is now obvious that Vladimer Gersamia was one of two City dealers convicted of conspiring to swindle a Russian bank out of £141 million. He had also helped Urumov remove any evidence of the fraud. The men then transferred the cash they had taken to several accounts abroad. According to the 2014 ruling, the defendants, Gersamia & Urumov, laundered the funds of the swindle through offshore corporations, which they subsequently used to purchase cars, houses, and diamonds. US court records purport that Vladimer Gersamia was the beneficial owner of the business and responsible for the Templewood account. Gersamia disclosed to Clariden Leu, his bank, that the money came from the sale of real estate in Georgia.
