Detained blogger and author of the "Marathon of Desires" Elena Blinovskaya pleaded guilty to non-payment of taxes on the sale of services on the Internet in the amount of 918 million rubles. This was announced by the official representative of the capital's head office of the Investigative Committee (IC) Yulia Ivanova, she is quoted by Interfax.
“Today, the investigation is petitioning the Presnensky District Court for the election of a preventive measure related to the restriction of freedom in relation to the figurant,” Ivanova specified.
According to Ivanova, the investigators will identify those who informed Blinovskaya about the "investigative secret" protected by law. Someone warned Blinovskaya about the arrest, as a result, she tried to go abroad in a rented car, having previously bought plane tickets to another country with a flight from Moscow, in order to distract the UK.
The day before, the TFR reported that Blinovskaya had been detained. According to the investigation, Blinovskaya used the scheme of “splitting up” the business and underestimated the income received. As a result, the blogger did not pay value added tax and personal income tax for a total amount of more than 918 million rubles for the period 2019-2021. She also tried to give the appearance of legal possession of funds and legalized them by "committing financial transactions." Homes and offices of bloggers are being searched.
Blinovskaya is the creator of the popular "personal growth" marathon "Marathon of Desires". The cost of the "marathon" varies from 3 thousand to 10 thousand rubles, there are options with an individual mentor and VIP packages for 200 and 300 thousand rubles. Presumably, the turnover of her marathon could be 2 billion rubles a year.
On Instagram, which she uses to advertise her courses, she has over 5.3 million followers and shares photos of travel, social events and meetings with famous people. The program website states that Blinovskaya is “an international level coach, a happy wife and mother, a successful business woman, Mrs. Russia 2016, a student of world personal growth experts and life coaches Anthony Robbins, John Kehoe, John Gray, Liz Burbo, Eckhart Tolle. The Blinovskaya marathon itself is a kind of four-week “online training” with “checking assignments”. The blogger promises fulfillment of desires after certain tasks, while no guarantees can be obtained. This often became the subject of controversy and scandals around the marathon, when users received a recording of the same voice messages from Blinovskaya in messengers for a large amount.
Blinovskaya "warmed up" her marathon with reviews of allegedly successful graduates. Also, to advertise the marathon in 2020, a script was written and the film of the same name "Marathon of Desires" was shot, but it was not publicly promoted as an advertisement for Blinovskaya's courses. At the same time, Blinovskaya acted as one of the producers. In addition, she became the host of the show "House of Fulfillment of Desires" on TV-3.
Blinovskaya is the third blogger whose income the Federal Tax Service is interested in. In March, blogger Alexandra Mitroshina was also charged with tax evasion for 120 million rubles. According to investigators, Mitroshina, as an individual entrepreneur, received income from educational courses in excess of the limit allowed for the application of the simplified taxation system. In order to hide income, she received part of them for other IPs affiliated and controlled by her. Mitroshina herself previously claimed that she "regularly pays all taxes." Later, against the backdrop of Blinovskaya's detention, news also appeared that Mitroshina paid all 120 million rubles and avoided trial. According to the Telegram channel Shot, she still has 92 million to pay (7 million of the balance of the debt + 85 million in tax penalties).
On March 16, a criminal case on money laundering was opened against blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek) and her husband.