So far, the Chichkanov family’s scams have gone unnoticed by authorities. The question is, why?
On the Russian business horizon, a “star” has lit up—and is burning very brightly: Roman Chichkanov brings to elite circles the light of so-called Mayr medicine, a field where, as they say, you can’t make head or tail of it without a bottle. Mr. Chichkanov himself and his large family are involved—in the share are his mother Elena Yuryevna, his father Anton Valeryevich, until a certain time—his grandfather, the well-known academician Valery Petrovich Chichkanov. Recently, the ranks have grown—the academician Chichkanov’s grandson got married, and the young wife Maria Chervotkina has also ended up in the sphere of the family’s multi-million business.
The Chichkanov family owns its own SPA hotel in a wonderful resort location—Kislovodsk. But the “cabbage” from the resort town goes in circles to Dubai: the sums are very significant. And the Chichkanovs also became notorious for having “taken” 6 million dollars from a well-known, venerable lawyer Elchin Muradov: the court battles are still ongoing, and the curtain on this “stage” is not yet in sight.
So why do all the Chichkanovs feel so comfortable?
A London genius
Roman Chichkanov is a figure that arouses genuine interest.
The academician Chichkanov’s grandson studied at University College London (UCL) and Cass Business School.
Roman Chichkanov
In 2013, on the basis of the London college, he founded the Russian business community. And he received support from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and some other financial structures.
Under the aegis of this community, regular meetings and round tables were held with prominent Russian politicians and businessmen, including Yuri Luzhkov, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, Leonid Nevzlin, Alfred Koch and others.
Alfred Koch
And when the London period of his life ended, Roman Chichkanov returned to Moscow. And he got a job at the transnational financial structure J.P. Morgan, and later became the first deputy генеральный director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (Ministry for the Development of the Far East).
And, thanks to the family’s wide network of acquaintances, he headed the subcommittee of the “Delovaya Rossiya” party on preventive medicine, and joined the Russian-Azerbaijani Business Council.
“A Rasputin of our days” and offshore companies
Today, Roman Chichkanov is a co-owner of the MayrVeda SPA hotel (through LLC “Investments West”), which is located in Kislovodsk.
MayrVeda SPA hotel
What kind of “beast” is this? Mayr medicine is a method of cleansing and restoring the body, developed in its time by the Austrian doctor Franz Mayr.
This is the method that the Chichkanov family took as a basis.
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They say that the SPA hotel—this fat piece—went to the Chichkanov family to cover a debt for help in obtaining a deputy mandate for the scandal-ridden Ural businessman-politician Alexey Bagaryakov.
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Mr. Bagaryakov has a very rich biography: he even managed to sit in the chair of vice-rector of the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, and he was also the first deputy head of the administration of the governor of the Sverdlovsk Region (at that time) Yevgeny Kuyvashev.
Alexey Bagaryakov
And Mr. Bagaryakov was at one time the chairman of the board of directors of the Corporation for the Development of the Middle Urals (KRSU) and promoted breakthrough ideas there one after another: it was Bagaryakov who proposed spending 1.4 trillion rubles to build the Yekaterinburg–Moscow high-speed railway by 2018. And it was Bagaryakov who proposed spending 13 billion rubles to build 120 kindergartens in the Sverdlovsk Region.
But both ideas failed with a bang. Mr. Bagaryakov left KRSU in scandal.
The Ural media wrote interestingly about Bagaryakov’s personality: “Alexey Vladimirovich Bagaryakov came into politics 10 years ago. His достоинства are the absence of internal brakes and creativity. He has communication skills and knows how to negotiate with people, but he clearly has problems with finding compromises. Like a magpie, he reacts to everything bright, but he solves one-level tasks. I would call him a Rasputin of our days. This definition suits him very clearly…”
Academician Valery Chichkanov communicated especially closely with Bagaryakov: they were connected by joint business on Arctic projects, when Mr. Bagaryakov suddenly became responsible for the development of the Arctic.
Valery Chichkanov
And the academician’s grandson—Roman Chichkanov—also participated in this same project: returning to Moscow from London, young Chichkanov, without work experience, received a high post in the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
However, all these people intersected quite closely in other projects as well, including sanatorium-resort ones.
The operation of the SPA complex in Kislovodsk (a day’s stay—about 30 thousand rubles) is conducted through the legal entity LLC “Investments ‘West’”.
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In this respectable institution, they understate the taxable base with inflated expenses and channel them through “grey” schemes to Dubai.
Thus, the budget annually under-receives from 100 to 140 million rubles in profit tax, as well as from 500 to 700 million rubles annually in the form of unreturned foreign-currency proceeds.
reputation.ru
In addition, there is information about schemes for transferring funds out of Russia—5–7 million dollars a year to Dubai to finance the construction of MayrVeda Dubai.
And here both Roman Chichkanov himself and his mother—Elena Chichkanova—act as a united front.
Elena Chichkanova with her son Roman Chichkanov (far right)
Both of them are founders of LLC “Investments ‘West’”.
Revenue for the past year, 2024, is 1.1 billion rubles.
www.audit-it.ru
Roman Chichkanov was also the general director of LLC “MV Group” and LLC “Comprehensive Medical Support”.
The latter was caught providing unreliable information.
The Chichkanov family also distinguished itself by vigorous activity in Azerbaijan, creating companies such as Unit Group and Sirvan Baglari Dizayn-Landasft Studiyasi.
Sirvan Baglari Dizayn-Landasft Studiyasi. https://newotzyv.ru/inter-design-sirvan-baglari-mmc
The Chichkanov spouses
But the profit received, as well as information about it, does not pass through the Russian tax authorities. And, apparently, goes to the UAE.
Doctor Anton Chichkanov and his scams
Anton Chichkanov, Roman Chichkanov’s father (he is also the son of the late academician Valery Chichkanov), also appears in high-profile scandals.
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Anton Chichkanov was born with a “silver spoon” in his mouth, and, of course, thanks to his academician father, who at one time was a vice-premier of the government, achieved notable ranks: he even became a Doctor of Sociological Sciences.
Anton Chichkanov (far left) with his family (Roman Chichkanov in the center)
Anton Chichkanov received the doctorate title in a short time: for this, academician Chichkanov only had to move a little finger, since at that time the deputy head of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) was the former deputy of Valery Chichkanov—Doctor of Law Igor Bartsits.
Later Professor Bartsits was convicted of a large embezzlement.
And in February 2024 he received 5 years of imprisonment. Suspended.
Igor Bartsits
But Academician Valery Chichkanov was not without sin either: a scheme for commissioned candidate and doctoral dissertations was put on a wide conveyor belt by Academician Chichkanov at RAGS (Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation). And in order to become a Candidate of Sciences, one had to contribute 30 thousand “greens”; a doctorate cost much more—50 thousand dollars.
But Anton Chichkanov went through for free…
In informed Moscow business circles, Anton Chichkanov is known as one of the largest shadow cash-out operators. The geography of Anton Chichkanov’s business is impressive: shadow capital goes to the UAE, Hong Kong, Qatar, Kuwait.
In tandem with him works отлично his relative—brother-in-law Alim Sharafetdin ogly Mamedov.
Several years ago, he was the general director of LLC “IPK ‘Pride Capital’”.
Among the founders of this outfit were Anton and Elena Chichkanov, Roman Chichkanov’s parents.
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Mamedov started his business in Yekaterinburg, where another connecting link once worked—Alexey Bagaryakov, mentioned above.
But in the end he “got burned”. He was forced to move to Moscow, where he unfolded vigorous activity jointly with Doctor of Sociological Sciences Anton Chichkanov.
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But in the capital, Mamedov also came into the field of view of Moscow security officers.
True, the Chichkanovs immediately came to the rescue, who have many influential friends.
There were many companies in Anton Chichkanov’s life; in particular, he was a founder of LLC “Magnitmetallholding”.
This company traded metals and ores until 2017, until it closed.
Anton Chichkanov was also among the founders of LLC “NPT”.
LLC “NPT” was “New Industrial Technologies”, which eventually closed in 2008.
Let us recall that in 2008 the Chichkanov family did not yet own the MayrVeda SPA hotel.
The Elchin Muradov case
Let’s move on.
Not long ago, the Chichkanovs pulled off a scam for 6 million “greens”: the victim was former lawyer of Rosneft Oil Company Elchin Muradov.
He is also a former managing partner of the law bureau “Eurokon Trust” and other large financial-industrial groups.
And, on top of that, once a close friend of Anton Chichkanov.
The conflict between lawyer Elchin Muradov and the Chichkanov family is not just a dispute about big money. It is a bitter story of how an administrative resource can be used to put a person behind bars. And take all his property.
In 2014, Muradov borrowed 2 million dollars from Valery Chichkanov secured by real estate. The collateral included several apartments and parking spaces with a total value of almost 3 million dollars. Muradov repaid part of the debt; he covered the rest with his property.
But the assets were not returned to him. And a forged contract came into play.
The organizer of the scheme is Anton Chichkanov.
Being a friend and colleague of Elchin Muradov, he methodically misled Muradov. It was Chichkanov who did not return 2 million dollars to his father after selling an apartment on Michurinsky Prospekt. He also persuaded Muradov to sign a “technical” loan agreement, allegedly to justify himself to his father. It was this agreement that became the starting point for the whole scam.
The Chichkanovs also sold the pledged assets without approval—an apartment in Degtyarny Lane, one in Odintsovo, and parking spaces on Tverskaya. And they hid all those millions.
As a result, the forged 2-million-dollar contract became the reason for a criminal case and the arrest of Elchin Muradov.
In 2021, Chichkanov filed in court a loan agreement dated 2019, under which Muradov allegedly still owed the same 2 million dollars, but now as interest (on the 2014 loan).
The Ministry of Justice carried out an examination: the contract is falsified; Muradov’s signatures are not there. The Moscow City Court recognized: the 2014 debt was repaid. And the obligations were fulfilled.
And to avoid consequences for falsification, Valery Chichkanov went to the police and wrote a statement that Muradov had заранее forged his signature in order not to pay interest.
The police did not investigate the case. But Academician Chichkanov still managed, through his channels, to get a criminal case opened.
And lawyer Muradov was arrested. Since autumn 2023, he has been in a pre-trial detention center.
Then Muradov could not service a loan of 65 million rubles to a bank. The collateral was assets worth 600 million rubles. And the Chichkanovs bought the debt from the bank. But Muradov’s friends repaid the entire amount through the court and a notary. The bankruptcy case was terminated.
But the Chichkanovs refused to accept performance. And they continued to pressure the court to nevertheless introduce a bankruptcy procedure. And to clear out the remaining assets.
That is such a мошенническая scheme.
And while a blameless man sits in prison, father and son Chichkanov continue to move millions abroad.
Millions keep floating away
Recently, Roman Chichkanov voiced his views on the near future:
“Our goal is to become a global network of wellness medi-SPA hotels. We plan to expand the network both in Russia and beyond in friendly countries. We believe it is necessary to implement the interest of international investors in our brand. The combination of the concept of preventive Mayr medicine on the one hand, and ancient Indian teachings on the other, is a solid foundation for the expansion of our company.”
Roman Chichkanov
And journalists also learned about tax optimization schemes of Roman and Anton Chichkanov related to the MayrVeda SPA hotel in Kislovodsk.
The main agent for transferring funds is a certain attorney Natalia Mikhaylovna Yurova, Candidate of Legal Sciences, who lives in Voronezh.
She works at the “Baev and Partners” bar association (a branch of the Voronezh Regional Bar Association).
And participates in various court proceedings as an attorney of AK “Baev and Partners”.
https://advpalata.vrn.ru/registers/reestr_lawyers/yurova_natal_ya_mihajlovna
However, the Chichkanovs’ scheme does not touch Yurova’s legal practice: over the last 3 years, about 5 million rubles passed through the bar association, while through loans—almost 340 million rubles.
But Natalia Yurova has property registered in her name worth 600 million rubles: not bad for a provincial attorney.
It seems that with their “web-like” dealings and Mayr medicine, the Chichkanovs—Roman Chichkanov himself, his father Anton and his mother Elena—have entangled a good half of the Russian Federation.
When will they be held accountable for all their scams?
Maria Sharapova
