The key facts
- On October 21, the Moscow City Court rejected Artyom Chekalin's appeal
- Verdict: 7 years in a general-regime colony and a fine of 194.5 million rubles
- The court found the guilt in illegal currency operations proven
Appeal Rejected
On October 21, the Moscow City Court considered appeals against the verdict of Artyom Chekalin, the former husband of blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek), and left it unchanged. The judicial panel for criminal cases found no grounds for mitigating the sentence. According to Life.ru, the appeals were denied, and the verdict officially entered into legal force.
The Essence of the Case
On April 13, 2026, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Chekalin to seven years in a general-regime colony and a fine of 194.5 million rubles, finding him guilty of illegal currency operations using forged documents. According to the investigation, Chekalin, together with his former spouse and business partner Roman Vishnyak, transferred more than 251 million rubles obtained from the sale of fitness marathons to the UAE. The convicted man was taken into custody in the courtroom, after which the defense appealed the verdict.
The Lerchek Case
Valeria Chekalina was involved in the same criminal case. In March 2026, proceedings against her were suspended due to a detected oncological disease; later, the process was resumed. On July 31, the court sentenced her to five years of suspended imprisonment, a fine of 763.5 million rubles, and a three-year ban on administering websites. Lerchek did not admit guilt; her lawyers appealed the decision, while the prosecution demanded the sentence be increased to six years suspended. Earlier, cases of tax evasion and money laundering had been opened against the Chekalins, which were dropped after the debt was repaid.
The Missing Jewelry
According to media reports, Lerchek refused to take a polygraph test in connection with the disappearance of jewelry worth 14.4 million rubles. The jewelry was seized during a search in the case of Chekalina and her former husband, but by the end of the preliminary investigation it had disappeared from the case materials.
