Moscow City Court Upholds 10-Year Sentence for Chrono Pay Founder Pavel Vrublevsky in a Case Over 535,000 rubles and 424.2 million rubles in Transfers

Moscow City Court refused to send the criminal case against Chrono Pay founder Pavel Vrublevsky back for a retrial, leaving in place his 10-year prison sentence. For PSP and high-risk merchants, the useful detail is not the courtroom theater but the underlying mechanics: the case centers on card fraud, money laundering, and the allegedly improper circulation of payment instruments.

1. The appeal was heard after months of delays, and the court upheld the original verdict from Moscow’s Khamovnichesky Court dated 27 October 2025. Vrublevsky, along with several other defendants, had been found guilty of large-scale fraud, theft, laundering criminal proceeds, and the unlawful circulation of payment instruments under parts 4 of Articles 159, 158, 174.1, and 187 of the Russian Criminal Code.
2. The case involved 37 Sberbank customers and 535,000 rubles allegedly stolen through websites that promised earnings for participating in surveys, quizzes, and lotteries. The alleged scheme worked by charging users for registration or for a “commission” tied to the promised reward, with money debited from bank cards.
3. Investigators also alleged that 424.2 million rubles were processed in 2019–2020 through the settlement accounts of ООО “Vangud” using forged payment documents. The defendants denied involvement, but the court found the evidence sufficient to convict.
4. The sentences were set at four years for Matvey Vedyashkin, eight years each for Alexey Belyaev and Nadezhda Akimova, and 10 years for Pavel Vrublevsky. On appeal, Vrublevsky asked the judges to take into account his conduct during the proceedings and described spending four years and seven months in detention centers including “Butyrka,” “Kremlyovsky Central” (SIZO No. 99/1), and “Kapotnya.”
5. Vrublevsky also said he spent about three years in “Kremlyovsky Central,” including roughly six months in solitary confinement and a period in a block for life-sentenced prisoners. He used his final statement to describe his detention conditions in emotional terms, but the appeal court did not change the verdict.

For payment companies, the practical takeaway is plain: when a case reaches the level of card-linked fraud, forged payment paperwork, and large transaction flows through settlement accounts, courts tend to treat it as more than an operational dispute. That is the risk surface PSPs, acquirers, and banking partners actually price.