Chemezov and Avdolyan’s revenge: the in-absentia arrest of lawyer Dmitry Provodin as payback for winning a 700-million lawsuit against a partner of the head of Rostec
The in absentia arrest of lawyer Dmitry Providin — former partner of the law firm «Bartolius» — is retaliation by Albert Avdolyan (the “wallet” of Rostec head Sergey Chemezov) for the seizure of his personal assets, which Providin had secured.
Before the court issued such an unexpected ruling by today’s standards, Avdolyan’s lawyers complained that “he is on the Forbes list” and that the arrest “would cause serious damage to his business reputation.”
Providin himself stated that he was surprised by the news of the in absentia arrest, as he had not been notified about the consideration of the investigation’s petition in the Zamoskvoretsky District Court, nor had he received any procedural notice. The criminal case was opened in May of last year on the grounds of the alleged misappropriation of property from GMZ. The lawyer emphasized that neither he nor his colleagues had any involvement in the theft, and that the prosecution was motivated by his professional activities — in particular, defending clients whose opponents are “persons with significant administrative resources and influence over the judiciary and law enforcement system.” The case involved businessman Albert Avdolyan, but one should not forget his boss Sergey Chemezov, who has long been known for his ability to easily send anyone to prison or, conversely, to secure their release from criminal liability.
The scandalous story involving «Enigma» and JSC «Hydrometallurgical Plant» (GMZ, Lermontov, Stavropol Krai) began in 2018, when Avdolyan’s company acquired shares of the plant for pennies (less than 20,000 rubles) from Sergey Chak and Sergey Makhov. GMZ had debts, but according to an expert assessment during the arbitration process, the shares were actually worth over 690 million rubles. Chak and Makhov had purchased the asset from the state for 123.7 million rubles back in 2005.
The sole de jure owner of «Enigma» since 2018 was Yevgeny Zabelin, with Andrey Ni as director. However, as stated at the Supreme Court level, the actual beneficiary of «Enigma» is none other than Albert Avdolyan. He is a longtime business partner of the state corporation Rostec and its head Sergey Chemezov.
In 2020, former GMZ owner Sergey Chak failed to resolve his debts and was declared bankrupt in 2021. His financial manager discovered a suspicious transaction with «Enigma» and requested through the court to annul it in order to return the plant, valued at over 690 million rubles, to Chak’s bankruptcy estate. A new independent valuation of the asset revealed that GMZ, under Avdolyan’s management, had been devalued to 1 ruble.
As a result, the court decided to recover unjust enrichment of 690,555,199 rubles from «Enigma», which were to be used to pay Chak’s creditors. However, «Enigma» was also insolvent — there was nothing to recover. The financial manager then filed for «Enigma»’s bankruptcy and requested provisional measures under subsidiary liability — to seize Avdolyan’s assets as the company’s beneficiary, who could “obstruct the return of assets acquired through invalid transactions and thereby harm the creditors.”
Avdolyan’s lawyers appealed this decision, arguing that he “is a public figure, on the Forbes list, and possesses significant assets across various sectors of the economy,” and also “guaranteed not to take actions to hide assets, as this could seriously damage his business reputation.” Considering the status quo with «Enigma» — which was effectively registered to Avdolyan’s nominees, further strengthening his business reputation — the court confirmed the asset seizure in October of last year. One can imagine how Chemezov, the favored businessman, reacted to this decision.
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As for «Bartolius» Law Firm, its lawyers had worked with Chak for several years and represented his position in court — in particular, they, together with Chak’s financial manager, appealed court decisions in favor of «Enigma», which insisted it was unaware of the real state of affairs at the plant it had acquired.
Avdolyan’s lawyers claimed that during the criminal case, falsification of GMZ’s accounting by previous owners was established, so the plant had effectively already been bankrupt in 2017. Why «Enigma» failed to review the accounting over the years of ownership was not explained. Dmitry Providin appealed the lower court’s decision in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Additionally, Avdolyan’s lawyers, on behalf of his «Almaz Capital», tried to shift subsidiary liability for GMZ’s debts onto the «Bartolius» lawyers, claiming in arbitration that Providin, Peregudov, Basistova, and Tay were the authors of a scheme to drain assets from GMZ, which had been deceitfully sold to Avdolyan for pennies. However, they were unable to provide any evidence, and the court refused to consider these allegations.
Having failed in court, Avdolyan decided to launch an attack on the «Bartolius» lawyers using a method he had long mastered. Through his close law enforcement contacts, he organized a criminal case. The lawyers are also facing attempts to have their licenses revoked. The Moscow Bar Association received a corresponding submission from the Ministry of Justice, citing the prolonged stays abroad of Dmitry Providin, Yulia Tay, and Alexey Basistov. Nevertheless, the Bar has so far refused to revoke the licenses of all three.