Shemanskaya Svetlana Vladislavovna

Biography

2026: Sentence - 4.5 years in prison for embezzlement of 217 million rubles

On March 10, 2026, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow sentenced Svetlana Shemanskaya, former chairman of the board of the Bank for Trade Finance (BTF). She received 4.5 years in prison as part of a large-scale embezzlement case (part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to investigators, Shemanskaya and a former member of the board of directors of BTF Vagan Brutyan developed a criminal scheme related to the purchase of real estate in the center of Moscow. For half of the building in Kazachy Lane, the bank, according to TASS, paid 431.7 million rubles, while the market value of the asset was 214 million rubles. As a result, the credit institution suffered damage in the amount of 217 million rubles. In addition, BTF issued a deliberately bad loan in the amount of 22 million rubles, of which only 1 million rubles were returned.

𝓲

Фото: iStock

The prosecutor requested nine years in prison for Shemanskaya, but the appointed term was half as much. The defendant's lawyer Yulia Bondarenko said that the defense intends to appeal this decision.

The court sentenced my client to 4 years 6 months in a general regime colony on an episode for issuing an allegedly non-refundable loan. We will appeal this part of the sentence. My client was acquitted of the main episode of the charge - under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for the alleged theft of bank funds in the amount of 217 million rubles, - said the lawyer.

In September 2018, the Bank of Russia revoked the banking license from BTF. The regulator said that the business model of this credit institution was largely focused on serving the interests of its shareholders and related persons. The loan debt of companies directly or indirectly related to the ultimate beneficiaries of the bank was about 45% of the loan portfolio. Lending to these borrowers led to the formation on the balance sheet of a significant amount of non-performing assets, including real estate, recorded at inflated value.^[1]

Notes