Former Melbet CEO Igor Lyapustin’s 8-Year Sentence and 4.5 Billion Ruble Asset Forfeiture Upheld by Moscow City Court

Moscow City Court has left in force the conviction of former Melbet CEO Igor Lyapustin, meaning the prison term is now legally binding. For high-risk operators, the important part is not the courtroom drama; it is that this dispute sits inside a control fight over a Russian-facing gambling asset and a very large money claim.

1. In April, Tushinsky District Court in Moscow sentenced Igor Lyapustin to 8 years in prison and a 700,000 ruble fine in a case involving embezzlement on an especially large scale, abuse of authority, and money laundering.
2. The Moscow City Court has now upheld that judgment, so the sentence has entered into legal force.
3. The case is tied to a 50% stake in Melofon, the company that owns the ru Melbet brand. According to the report, Alexander Gradulenko temporarily transferred the asset to a partner because of his own legal problems, but later Lyapustin refused to return it.
4. The court also ordered the confiscation of Lyapustin’s property worth 4.5 billion rubles and said he must pay more than 6 billion rubles under Gradulenko’s claim.
5. Lyapustin says his legal problems were ordered by 1xBet founder Roman Semiokhin from Cyprus, and that Semiokhin pushed Gradulenko to accuse Lyapustin of stealing 50% of the company.

For PSPs, acquirers, and banking partners, the takeaway is straightforward: where ownership, control, and criminal claims are tangled up in the same structure, counterparty risk does not stay theoretical for long.