The Moscow Department of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the popular Instagram blogger Valeria Chekalina (ler_chek) and her husband Artem. They are accused of evasion and complicity in tax evasion from an individual (Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The house of the spouses was searched.
According to the investigation, in 2020-2022, Chekalina, registered as an individual entrepreneur and using a simplified taxation system, earned significantly more than the limit of 150 million rubles a year established for such cases. Not wanting to switch to the general taxation system and pay more, the blogger began to transfer money to accounts opened on the IP of her husband and other relatives. According to the UK, in this way Chekalina evaded taxes totaling more than 300 million rubles.
Chekalina currently has 10.4 million followers on Instagram. The blogger runs fitness marathons, sells sports training programs and healthy eating plans. She also owns the cosmetic brand Letique Cosmetics. In 2020, Forbes included Chekalina in the list of 15 Instagram bloggers with the highest advertising revenue. The magazine estimated her earnings at $610,000.