Moscow court cuts blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov's fraud sentence to six years

The appeals instance of the Moscow City Court reduced the sentence of blogger and business coach Ayaz Shabutdinov by one year, TASS, RIA Novosti, RBC, Vedomosti, Kommersant and vc.ru reported. Kommersant and vc.ru said he is now to serve six years instead of seven, with Kommersant specifying a general-regime colony. RBC cited a TASS correspondent in the courtroom. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]

Shabutdinov was sentenced to seven years in October 2025 by Moscow's Presnensky district court in a fraud case, according to Vedomosti and Kommersant, which cite the charge as part 4 of article 159 of the criminal code. Vedomosti, citing TASS, said the court found that 113 citizens were harmed by the actions of the blogger and a group he organised, which sold what the court treated as false educational programmes, and that total damage exceeded 57 million rubles. Kommersant likewise reported 113 counts of fraud and damage above 57 million rubles. [ 3 , 5 , 6 ]

Vedomosti, citing TASS, reported that the court took into account compensation of the damage to victims and the defendant's repentance. Kommersant described those points instead as part of the defence's appeal, in which lawyer Kaloy Akhilgov argued that his client had compensated most victims, had a family including minor children in his care, had no previous convictions, was characterised positively while in pre-trial detention and had admitted guilt. Kommersant also said the defence cited Shabutdinov's health and that of family members. [ 5 , 6 ]

Lawyer Dmitry Grigoriadi said Shabutdinov can already apply for conditional early release, Vedomosti reported. Neither the documents nor the outlets say whether an application has been filed or whether either side will appeal further. [ 5 ]

The outlets differ on the price of the courses at issue: Vedomosti says clients paid from 60,000 to 12 million rubles for the programmes, while Kommersant says the courses cost from 150,000 to 350,000 rubles. Kommersant reported that, according to the investigation, the blogger sold educational courses on building a profitable business but clients did not get the promised result, and that the prosecution's case was built on knowingly false information about the courses posted on controlled internet resources. [ 5 , 6 ]

Kommersant traced the proceedings to Shabutdinov's detention in November 2023 and placement in pre-trial detention, and said he admitted guilt and apologised in April 2025 for expectations from the programmes that were not justified. Speaking at his trial, Kommersant quoted him as saying he had “come to entrepreneurship with a sincere desire to help people, to teach them to earn and to reveal their opportunities”, adding that he recognised his mistake and wanted to correct it. [ 6 ]