Instead of being charged with fraud, former intelligence officers faced accusations of large-scale bribery.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, through its Main Investigative Directorate, reclassified the charges against ex-FSB officers Sergey Bespalov and Evgeniy Sviridov from attempted fraud to receiving an especially large bribe.
They had previously been accused of trying in 2019 to obtain $1 million from banker Ilya Kligman, who was hiding in Germany, allegedly in exchange for terminating his criminal case. Investigators have now added another similar episode dating back to 2014–2016, when the defendants were still active security officers and the same $1 million figure appears.
Meanwhile, the Moscow City Court eased Bespalov’s preventive measure, releasing him from pretrial detention to house arrest, taking into account his state awards and five dependent young children. Sviridov remains in custody.
The criminal case involving Bespalov, a major in the 2nd Service of the 9th Directorate of the FSB, and Sviridov, a former operative of the economic security service of the Moscow regional FSB, was opened on May 16, 2022, under articles related to attempted large-scale fraud. The trigger was a complaint by Sergey Gerasimenko, a representative of banker Ilya Kligman, who is accused of embezzling 7 billion rubles from Agrosoyuz Bank and had fled abroad.
According to case materials, in autumn 2019 former international-fund executive Igor Yurasov and ex-president of the Ryss hockey club Bashir Kushtov contacted Gerasimenko and claimed that for $1 million they could secure Kligman’s non-prosecution. They allegedly stated that part of the payoff would go to law-enforcement officials, with Bespalov and Sviridov handling that arrangement.
In December 2019, Gerasimenko transferred the first tranche of $500,000. However, investigators not only failed to drop claims against Kligman but in April 2021 added charges of organizing a criminal community and orchestrating the bank embezzlement. The alleged deception prompted Gerasimenko to contact law enforcement.
Those who first went to trial were Yurasov, Kushtov, and intermediary Andrey Fetisov. All admitted guilt, expressed remorse, and cooperated with investigators. In July, a Moscow court gave each a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for attempted large-scale fraud.
Separately, the case against Bespalov and Sviridov was выделено into independent proceedings in June 2022 and transferred to the central apparatus of the Investigative Committee. Sviridov was detained on June 8, and Bespalov on October 10. Both were initially charged with large-scale fraud, but on May 11, 2023, investigators reclassified the charges to receiving an especially large bribe, now involving two episodes.
In the second episode, dating to 2014, investigators say the officers learned of a criminal case against an unnamed businessman abroad and offered protection from prosecution, assistance with the Central Bank, and broader law-enforcement cover for $1 million. From January 2014 to December 2016, they allegedly received the money in installments but failed to fulfill their promises.
Investigators state that a significant portion of the funds was later transferred by Sviridov through controlled legal entities to foreign companies—Megatrade & Investment Corporation (UAE) and Hybridge Alliance Limited (UK)—registered to close relatives.
