Former FONBET CEO Sergei Anokhin appeals 8-year prison sentence in Russia

Sergei Anokhin, the former head of FONBET, has appealed the 8 years and 2 months prison sentence handed down by the Krasnogorsk City Court. For high-risk operators, the important part is not the celebrity name here; it is the familiar combination of bribery allegations, asset seizure, and cross-border residency details that can turn a betting executive case into a compliance and counterparties headache.

1. Anokhin’s appeal was filed with the Moscow Regional Court on 14 July 2026, according to the court records. The docket does not yet show whether the court has opened proceedings or when the hearing will take place.
2. The same appeal track now includes his lawyer, Valery Yurkin, who was sentenced to 7 years and 2 months in prison and has also challenged the verdict.
3. Anokhin was sentenced to 8 years and 2 months for giving a 60 million ruble bribe to a security service officer. The Krasnogorsk court also imposed a 15 million ruble fine.
4. Authorities detained him in January 2025. The original suspicion was that the payment was made so that criminal proceedings against his friend and investor in Khimki, Tufan Sadygov, would be dropped.
5. During the searches, police seized $2 million. Later, it emerged that Sergei is a Mexican citizen and holds a residence permit in Montenegro. The court also confiscated 32 million rubles and $80,000 for the state.