25.08.2014 10 823 19 Reading time: 48 min.
Today I decided to highlight a rather interesting and controversial topic: Sergei Mavrodi and mmm, pyramid scheme, created by him, existing and existing, so to speak, in different eras. In my opinion, in terms of its scale, this structure can be called without exaggeration the absolute leader among many similar ones, and its creator and manager, Sergei Mavrodi, is undoubtedly a financial genius, which corresponds to the theme of this site. But what kind of genius: evil or good - this is a very controversial question, which is quite difficult to answer unambiguously.
Opinions about the personality of Sergei Mavrodi are diametrically opposed. Some consider him a terrible swindler, for whom the prison is crying, others consider him a fighter against global financial injustice and an ideological inspirer. Who is Sergey Mavrodi really, and what is the financial pyramid MMM - you will learn about all this from this publication.
I must say right away that everything you read here is my vision, my position, I can be wrong about something, and my opinion may not coincide with yours. However, my opinion was not formed from scratch and not from the media, trusting which is not self-respect. I have been following the activities of modern MMM since 2011-2012, at one time I even took part in this structure. That is, I know about it not only from “public opinion”, but also from within. So, first things first.
The history of MMM has its roots in the distant 1994 - the times of perestroika, hyperinflation and lawlessness in all areas, including the financial one. This year, only the official annual inflation rate was about 215%, and in the previous year, 1993, it was 840%. people were melting before our eyes, and those who had them were preoccupied with finding a tool that would help at least save money from inflation.
And so, against this background, financial pyramids began to appear. Moreover, in the most different forms- these were banks, and all kinds of societies and other organizational forms with sonorous and then incomprehensible names to anyone. Then few people knew, people were not interested in how the structure that accepts deposits manages their money. They believed the TV commercials that were just coming out then. For them, the main thing was one thing: to pay more interest, and to cover inflation.
It was then that the financial pyramid MMM first arose, the founder of which was Sergey Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav and Olga Melnikova. Sergei Panteleevich himself claims that the other two founders were needed solely for formality, he was solely involved in the creation of the pyramid and the conduct of business.
On February 1, 1994, shares of JSC MMM (the so-called "MMM tickets"), with a face value of 1000 rubles, went on sale. Points of sale and repurchase of these shares were opened, the rate of which changed upwards twice a week. The principle “tomorrow is always more expensive than yesterday” was in effect, so MMM shares quickly began to be in demand, and when everyone saw that this principle was in effect, MMM's popularity began to grow rapidly. In addition, MMM advertising, which went down in the history of the most successful commercials, greatly contributed to attracting attention: everyone still remembers Lenya Golubkov, his boots and fur coat for his wife and the famous phrase said to his brother: “I am not a freeloader, I am a partner!” .
The popularity of JSC MMM grew rapidly, and the network of points for the sale of shares grew, and literally in a matter of months the number of MMM depositors reached, according to various estimates, 10-15 million, and, according to Sergey Mavrodi, an amount equivalent to a third of the Russian budget was already concentrated in the system.
And at some point, an active campaign against MMM began on the part of the state. Moreover, the initiative to terminate the company's activities began to come even directly from President Yeltsin. In the news of the central TV channels, they began to regularly say that MMM is a financial pyramid, and its founder Sergey Mavrodi is a scammer, that people cannot return their money. Against this background, investors began to actively sell their MMM shares, queues lined up at the reception points, there was not enough money for everyone, all this was covered by central television channels. It is possible that certain problems with payments began even before that, now it is difficult to judge what was primary, but, in any case, such an active anti-propaganda played not in favor of MMM.
At the end of July 1994, Sergei Mavrodi, by his order, reduced the value of JSC MMM shares by 127 times - to the original thousand rubles, thus restarting the pyramid. This measure made it possible to stabilize the situation to some extent, and again a large number of people wishing to buy MMM tickets “on the cheap” appeared.
However, already on August 4, Sergei Mavrodi was demonstratively arrested in his apartment (the storming of his home by special forces was broadcast on all central television channels), and on the same day, also with the help of riot police, officers tax office broke into Main office AO MMM in Moscow on the Varshavskoe highway, having arranged a search there. During the assault, MMM investors demanded to stop arbitrariness and leave the company alone, but they could not prevent the armed and trained special forces. Later, on August 19, depositors staged a large-scale protest near the White House, demanding the release of Sergei Mavrodi so that he could return their invested savings to them. After some time, Mavrodi was released from custody due to a change in the preventive measure, but by that time it was no longer possible to restore the MMM.
Thus, the activities of AO MMM were terminated by a forceful decision by the state. The exact number of affected depositors is not known, however, it can be assumed that they were in the millions. About 50 investors who invested everything they had in MMM and realized that they would not be able to return it, committed suicide.
After that, Sergei Mavrodi managed to visit a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and even submitted documents to run for the presidency, but the CEC rejected them. In fact, despite the fact that the state promoted the idea of “MMM deceived depositors” in every possible way, Mavrodi already had many supporters who supported his position and believed that only he could return the money to them.
The success of the financial pyramid MMM gave rise to the creation of many other pyramids: the Russian House of Selenga, Vlastilina, Khoper-invest, Tibet, etc.
Interestingly, Sergei Mavrodi was arrested not for fraud, as was reported in the media, but for tax evasion. Moreover, as he himself explains, taxes were paid, but from the wrong account - this was the reason for the arrest. He was charged with fraud as early as 2003, when he was arrested again. A guilty verdict was issued 4 years later, on April 28, 2007, all this time the investigation process was going on, and Sergei Mavrodi was in prison. At the same time, he was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison, of which he had already served 4 years and 5 months by that time. Thus, after the verdict was passed, Sergei Mavrodi "spent" only 1 month and was released on May 22, 2007.
After the activity of the MMM pyramid was actually terminated in this way, many people still have a reasonable question: “Where did the MMM money go?”. A lot of documentaries and films have already been shot on this topic, many official and unofficial investigations have been carried out, new publications and TV programs continue to be released to this day. However, there are no unequivocal and proven facts, perhaps.
Sergei Mavrodi himself, speaking about the reasons that prompted him to open JSC MMM, calls his desire to counteract the illegal privatization of state property that took place in those years. Formally, privatization provided for the acquisition of state property by everyone for a pittance, but in fact all the money was concentrated in the hands of oligarchic structures close to power. Therefore, he decided to create a mechanism that would allow money to be concentrated in the hands of the people, so that a fair and fair privatization would be possible. It was for this reason, according to him, that the state fought against the MMM, since it could interfere with their "sharing" of state property.
From this statement it is clear that Sergei Panteleevich was not indifferent to privatization. And the materials of the MMM criminal case say that Sergei Mavrodi, using the collected money of depositors, bought up the shares of the largest Russian enterprises: Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel, SurgutNeftegaz, UAZ, AvtoVAZ, etc. In addition, the people involved in the investigation believe that some part of the money was withdrawn to foreign accounts. At the same time, no direct evidence of this has yet been found.
Sergei Mavrodi himself, speaking about where the MMM money went, likes to mention 17 KAMAZ trucks with money taken out only from the central office. These KAMAZ trucks were allegedly escorted and driven by members of the police special forces, which is evidenced by eyewitnesses, including those given under oath in court. Even the prosecutor Amalia Ustaeva, who was in charge of his case, mentioned these KAMAZ trucks. She said that it was impossible to prove that these were precisely the special services: “So what if they were in uniform? Have you checked their documents? Thus, we can say that she recognized the very fact of the existence of KAMAZ trucks. However, there are no photo and video materials testifying to them in the public domain. Sergey Mavrodi claims that the situation was similar with other offices of JSC MMM: some general manager came and confiscated all the money, actually taking it for himself. After all, the funds were not particularly taken into account anywhere and it was almost impossible to control this.
Sergei Mavrodi never showed any signs, rather, on the contrary. He always appeared in public in a simple tracksuit or T-shirt, never owned any expensive property. It is logical to assume that if something like this existed, it would have been discovered long ago by special services, arrested and sold at auction in order to pay off the claims of depositors. Mavrodi created for himself the image of a simple man in worn sweatpants and, in my opinion, corresponds to it. That is, I would not say that this person is an underground billionaire and hides money stolen from gullible investors somewhere.
In favor of Mavrodi is the fact that if such a huge amount of money was hidden somewhere, then after some time it would definitely “surface” somewhere. However, this never happened.
Thus, in my opinion, the most likely version is that MMM's money, which remained in the company at the time of Mavrodi's arrest, was divided among the officials involved in this operation. At the same time, it is possible that before that some part of the funds was actually spent on the acquisition of shares of large Russian companies, but this was not done directly by Mavrodi, but by someone else.
After JSC MMM, Sergei Mavrodi, being on the wanted list (while he was hiding in Moscow), organized another financial pyramid - Stock Generation, which worked in the form of a gambling game (moreover, it had an appropriate license). It offered to buy virtual securities, which grew in price by 100% per month. Stock Generation members were predominantly citizens Western Europe and USA.
This pyramid lasted about a year: when delays in payments began (according to Mavrodi, they were caused by banking problems, however, continued for weeks and even months), the US Securities and Exchange Commission blocked the company's accounts. Later, in the Boston court, it was proved that there were no signs of fraudulent activity in the activities of Stock Generation (there was a license, and all players made their contributions voluntarily, being familiar with the rules), however, at that time this financial pyramid, due to the blocking of accounts, already finally collapsed. The number of victims, according to various estimates, ranges from 275 thousand to several million people.
And now, a few years after his release from prison, Sergei Mavrodi creates a new financial pyramid under the old MMM brand - MMM-2011. Sergey Panteleevich announced its launch in his blog. MMM-2011 initially assumed investments by transferring funds to electronic wallets, however, soon after the launch, it began to support and bank transfers, and any other ways of transferring money, up to "personally in hand."
The conditions for participation in MMM-2011 were as follows: by entering the system, the participant purchased a certain amount of the Mavro virtual currency, the sale and purchase rate of which increased twice a week (by analogy with MMM-1994 tickets). He could then sell his Mauros at any time at a higher rate. For different currencies different Mavros operated, that is, the participant bought the Mavro in the currency that was more convenient for him.
Initially, the Mavro grew in price by 20% per month, and a preferential rate of 30% was offered for pensioners and the disabled. Then soon appeared the so-called. "Deposit" Mavros, that is, those that were frozen for a certain period by analogy with, and the rates on them were even higher. Moreover, there were 2 types of deposit Mavros: those that were recalculated at the rate of current Mavros in case of early sale, and those that were returned at the purchase price (at face value) in case of early sale. In the first case, the rates on "deposits" reached 50% per month, and in the second - 75% per month with a deposit for a year.
So 1000 monetary units, designed to fit high stakes taking into account compound interest could turn into 825,000 monetary units in a year. Of course, this attracted many who were willing to risk a small amount for such a significant gain.
Financial flows in MMM-2011 were built according to the following principle. All participants were divided into dozens, each of them was headed by the so-called. foreman. The top ten did not necessarily have exactly 10 people, there could be more or less of them, it was a very arbitrary concept. A ten's manager opened a current or card account in his own name at any bank, which was considered an account of the system and to which the ten's participants transferred money. About 10 dozen united into a hundred, headed by a centurion. About 10 hundreds - in a thousand, headed by a thousand. At the head of 10 thousand was a ten-thousand man - a temnik. Each participant was subordinate to his foreman, foreman to centurion, and so on. Communication between the participants could take place through personal accounts, through email, by phone, skype and any other means of communication. Upon receipt of an application for payment, the foreman made a payment to the participant from the ten account, if there was not enough money there, he turned to the centurion, etc.
The slogans of MMM-2011 were the decoding of the abbreviation MMM - We can a lot and We are changing the world. In addition, at some point, the slogan “Everyone gets paid!” began to circulate, hinting at the fact that everyone here receives their payments. And, indeed, it must be admitted that initially this corresponded to reality. In the first year and the beginning of the second year of the existence of MMM-2011, indeed, everything was paid to everyone, and many, especially those who joined the system closer to the start of its launch, were able to get good money out of thin air.
In addition, great emphasis in the MMM-2011 system was placed on ideology. Sergei Mavrodi promoted this system as a way to fight global financial injustice. He argues that all the world's financial systems (states, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, currencies, etc.) - these are financial pyramids in which subsequent participants are paid at the expense of the previous ones. And if all of a sudden everyone simultaneously applies for their “contributions” to the pyramid, it will collapse. This can be seen especially clearly in the example of an insurance company:
Sergey Mavrodi argued and continues to argue that the MMM-2011 system was created with the aim of destroying the unfair global financial system, combating "snickering bankers" and redistributing financial resources to those who need them the most. He presented MMM-2011 as a kind of common piggy bank, a “bedside table”, from which everyone could always take as much money as he needs. That the situation when some produce money, while others actually turn into the modern and are forced to earn it, is unfair. Thus, he sought to devalue money (his main enemy was the dollar - the main financial pyramid). And, since he believed that “only another dragon can defeat a dragon,” Mavrodi created a new “dragon” - MMM-2011, which, in his opinion, could fulfill this task.
MMM ideology, combined with the real work of this system (people really received payments) attracted more and more new participants. Definitely, ideology played its important role, because Mavrodi said really the right things that the participants in the system were imbued with. Many watched documentaries like “The Dollar is a Pyramid of Debts” and sincerely believed that, since the bankers “ripped off” them on loans, and just like Sergei Panteleevich, they wanted to contribute to the fight against such injustice.
The release in April 2011 of the feature film "PiraMMMida", in which famous Russian actors Alexei Serebryakov and Fyodor Bondarchuk played, also contributed to the advertising of the MMM-2011 system. In fact, the film showed the history of the creation, development and destruction of MMM-1994, and the opposition of its leader to the authorities. Sergei Mavrodi himself acted as a screenwriter for this film, however, as he himself claims, he has not even watched it yet. In addition to the film, Mavrodi's book of the same name was also published, which was successfully distributed through MMM structures.
Sergey Mavrodi himself managed the system through his video messages, which he recorded 1-2 times a week, sometimes more often. For some time he appeared in public (in various TV shows), but at one fine moment, after his next arrest for non-payment of a fine in March 2012, he disappeared, explaining that he was being “hunted” and he was forced to hide from the authorities, and since then his whereabouts are still unknown. At the same time, Mavrodi's video messages still continue to be released, in addition, he manages the work of the system through his blog site, on which, in addition to him personally, a team of programmers and moderators is working.
Many people are probably interested in the question: how honest and sincere is Mavrodi in his appeals? Is he lying to attract as many investors as possible, or is he telling the truth? There are different opinions about this.
As for me, I think that Mavrodi more often still tells the truth. However, there are situations when he hides something or does not say anything, but does it in order to improve the operation of the system, to strengthen it. Indeed, in fact, the stability of MMM largely depends on him personally, any of his words can be perceived as a call to withdraw his funds, which can instantly bring down the system.
There is another important point. On his website and in his videos, Sergey Mavrodi repeatedly and constantly informed the participants that MMM-2011 is a financial pyramid, that participants' contributions are not invested anywhere, that subsequent payments are made at the expense of previous ones, and that everyone at any time may not receive your payment and lose everything, that there are no guarantees and obligations, and the rules can change at any time. Thus, he wanted to show that there is no fraud in his actions: people themselves see what they are participating in and must themselves be responsible for their choice.
Meanwhile, the popularity of the MMM-2011 system was constantly growing. Messages began to appear on the site about the number of participants, which changed upwards with a multiplicity of 5 million. For example, “we are already 5 million!”, “We are already 10 million!”, “We are already 15 million!” etc. last digit, if my memory serves me, there were 35 million. The system was actively distributed not only in Russia, but also in other CIS countries, near and far abroad. Of course, there was no way to check this figure, critics argued that it was many times overestimated.
I personally can only reason logically: if at the end of the existence of MMM-2011, even in my small town in the Crimea, the whole city was hung with MMM advertising, 2 offices of the structure were opened, in conversations on the streets one could often hear the words “MMM” and “Mavrodi ”, there were quite a few participants among my acquaintances, the system was actively written about on all local forums and social networks, the so-called traveled around the city. "Mavromobiles" (cars painted in MMM symbols) - I conclude that there really were a lot of people in it. Most likely tens of millions.
On the website of the system, a separate section “Mutual Aid” was maintained and maintained, where the so-called “letters of winnings” fall: when receiving a payment, a person was obliged to write his own review about this fact, and some of these reviews were published on the site. Many supported this with screenshots, photos with money, videos.
With the development of the MMM-2011 system, separate so-called. "structures". The most famous among them were “Flagships”, “MMM Guards”, “Phoenix”, “Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, “Army of Mavrodi”, etc. The structure meant a separate “branch” of the system, headed by its leader. There was a certain competitive system between the structures, the best in terms of indicators were noted on the site personally by Mavrodi, which means they had the opportunity to attract more participants. The official MMM website itself at that time enjoyed mega-popularity, in terms of traffic, according to the Alexa rating, at one time it was in the TOP-20 sites in Russia, and even in the TOP-100 of the world. Simultaneously with the official site, separate sites of each structure functioned.
Each leader (foreman, centurion, etc.) was personally interested in attracting new participants, since he received from this the so-called. "management bonuses". The size of these bonuses at different times was different: up to 20% of the attracted amount to the direct manager, and 5-1% to his superior. Control over the observance of financial discipline in the system was carried out by the so-called "Control and Audit Department" (KRO).
While the system worked, many were really able to get big money there. Moreover, imbued with the MMM ideology, many people left part of their “winnings” or even all of their “winnings” free of charge for the benefit of the system, and also actively spent the money they received on. Active charitable activities of MMM served as a good advertisement for attracting new members to the system.
And so, somewhere in the spring of 2012, the slogan “Everyone is paid for everything” began to gradually collapse. Here and there, reports began to appear about delays in the payment of "winnings" or stuck requests for payment that were not executed for a long time. At the same time, the situation around MMM-2011 began to be escalated in the media: the scale of the system was already very serious, and the authorities were paying more and more attention to MMM. At the end of May, messages began to appear on the Internet about non-payments and “scam” in the system. Many of them, judging by their nature, were clearly custom-made, however, it is possible that some of them were really truthful. On May 29-30, 2012, the news that MMM-2011 had collapsed blared through all the central channels of Russia, Ukraine and other countries. After that, Sergey Mavrodi announced a two-week “calm” regime, which meant freezing any payments, and at the end of this regime, on June 14, he made an appeal in which he stated that a new system was being launched - MMM-2012, and in MMM-2011 all payments would be carried out "as far as possible". According to him, a full settlement with depositors could occur within 2-3 months at the expense of new system MMM-2012.
In this system, it was proposed to start everything "from scratch", including in order to return their contributions from the MMM-2011. Again new Mavros, new rates starting from 1. Many participants of the system started to make new investments, but there were clearly much fewer of them than gathered in MMM-2011.
It would seem that such a massive non-refund of "deposits" in MMM-2011 should have caused a flood of applications to law enforcement agencies. However, they were followed by only a few. Several criminal cases were initiated against foremen and centurions of the system, in one of them Sergei Mavrodi himself appeared as an accomplice. However, these cases were soon closed due to the lack of corpus delicti, since people were indeed warned about the possibility of losing investments and transferred their funds to foremen voluntarily, as gratuitous financial assistance. And there was no legal structure where this money would flow, as in 1994. In fact, they could be accumulated and withdrawn through the accounts of senior leaders. Cases were also recorded when the heads of structures, foremen, centurions, etc. "escaped" with the system's money collected in their accounts. However, legally they could not show anything about this. Law enforcement agencies began to frequently visit MMM offices in different regions, sometimes demonstrative detentions were arranged, equipment was confiscated, but in fact I did not hear about a single leader who was imprisoned.
In order to avoid such a situation in MMM-2012, and also in order not to expose the leaders to the threat of getting into law enforcement agencies, Sergey Mavrodi decided to completely abolish the tens, hundreds, etc. accounts. and introduced new rules. Now all the money in the system was transferred directly between the participants' accounts. That is, if they wanted to buy a Mavro, the participant received the details of another participant who at that time wanted to sell the Mavro, and it was to him that he had to transfer the money. Moreover, contact details were indicated everywhere: it was possible to phone and make sure what kind of person it was.
In MMM-2012, the ideology has also changed a bit. Now the system was officially called not a financial pyramid, but a mutual benefit fund. Ideology was the main emphasis in the advertising company, which now, due to the prohibition of the authorities, could not be carried out through billboards and offices. New members were called into the system to provide financial assistance to other people who needed it, and then expect to receive help from others as well. All talk about getting rich quick, which was present in MMM-2011, was excluded.
A distinctive feature of the work of MMM-2012 was the rapid development of the system ... in India. According to Mavrodi, millions of citizens of this country became participants in the system, but during its stormy dawn, MMM activities in India were stopped by the authorities. At the same time, several of its organizers, among whom were Russian citizens, were arrested and kept in prison for a long time without trial or charges.
When recording his video appeals for the MMM-2012 system, Sergey Mavrodi began to repeat the same phrase at the end of each appeal “I also believe that the financial apocalypse is inevitable”. He adopted this principle from the famous Roman commander, who at one time ended all his speeches with the phrase "Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed." That is, the idea of a financial apocalypse, by which Sergei Mavrodi understood the destruction and reorganization of the global financial system, was tightly integrated into the ideology of MMM-2012.
With the collapse of MMM-2011 and the opening of MMM-2012, individual leaders began to separate from the system, forming their own financial pyramids and luring their participants along. For example, they promised them that in this way they would be able to quickly return what they lost in MMM-2011. Sergei Mavrodi called such leaders "schismatics", posted their lists on his website and categorically did not recommend cooperating with them. All these schismatics did not exist for a long time, and their financial pyramids collapsed after some time.
However, the MMM-2012 itself did not live long, but about 3 times less than its predecessor, that is, about six months. Time passed, and the mass return of "deposits" MMM-2011 was not observed. In fact, only hundreds or thousands of participants out of millions were able to return them. Each fact of such a return, of course, was advertised on the site.
Before the new year 2013, delays in payments began, and after the new year they became virtually endless. As a result, Mavrodi announced that now each structure will be separately responsible for the return of deposits to its participants and suggested that everyone choose a structure for themselves. In fact, this is how the second unspoken restart of MMM took place.
Then it got worse. Of the millions of participants in MMM-2011, the most ideological remained, such a scale was not even close. In addition, a series of revelations of theft and misappropriation of money in MMM by its leaders began. Many participants and leaders were dissatisfied with the activities of the KRO, there were video appeals of the largest leaders of MMM-2011, in which they told how money was stolen from the system, one of the revelations was the revelation of the withdrawal of a large sum from MMM-2012 just at the time of its collapse, when participants made investments to save the system. Moreover, as it turned out, Mavrodi himself was aware of this fact, and he justified this by saying that the funds were needed to pay for the labor of programmers and related expenses.
After the second, faster restart and the publication of many such facts, the vast majority of participants lost confidence in the system and left it forever. During the winter and spring of 2013, several restarts took place at MMM at once, and, according to Mavrodi, one of them was caused by some kind of software failure.
Then the system began to gradually recover, but the scale was already completely different. If in MMM-2011 people often invested tens and even hundreds of thousands of monetary units, the average amount of the deposit announced by Sergey Panteleevich was 1000 dollars, then in MMM-2013 they mainly invested the smallest, insignificant amounts that it was not a pity to lose, for example, 100 -1000 rubles.
So this system on its small scale lasted about a year and a half, and its restart was announced not so long ago - on August 16, 2014.
It can be said that from that moment MMM-2014 is already functioning, however, after MMM-2012, no years are officially included in the title. Now it's just "MMM International Mutual Fund". Interest on "deposits" in MMM-2014 has been reduced to the level of the launch of MMM-2011 - 20 and 30% per month.
Personally, my wife and I took part in MMM-2011 and MMM-2012. True, they became participants in the system quite late - in April 2011, when it was already on the decline. We participated in small amounts, which it was not a pity to lose, and which did not have any significant impact on ours.
As a result, it turned out that, in general, I received less payments than I invested, and my wife received about 2 times more. Thus, we managed to gain experience of participating in MMM and form our own opinion about the work of this structure.
After 2012, we did not participate in MMM, since the system had already lost its scale, the risks had increased, and participation in super-small amounts, in principle, did not promise any financial interest: banking fees it would take more than the possible "wins" would be.
When they ask me whether it is worth participating in MMM, I say: “decide for yourself”, I do not call anyone in any case. My opinion about the system is something between what people who do not know it from the inside think and the most notorious, ideological mmm-schiks. I am guided by logic and common sense, which I advise you. However, if you decide, be sure to read and strictly follow these rules.
So, to sum up some results of this great publication, which I have been writing for several days:
1. MMM - indeed, at times it was a very large-scale phenomenon, indeed, with the help of this system, many received very solid, but at the same time, many lost their investments in it. Following the logic of the pyramidal structure, those who lost significantly more than gained.
2. I personally do not consider Sergey Panteleevich Mavrodi a fraudster. Rather, he is really that madman who wants to change the world, considers himself the messiah, declared war on the world financial system. However, it must be admitted that many brilliant people were crazy to one degree or another. In any case, I am sure that he does not appropriate the depositors' money for himself, he does not need them, he has more global, "crazy" goals.
3. What will happen next with MMM - time will tell. The negative experience of people who have lost their investments in MMM-2011 and MMM-2012 has greatly shaken the trust in this system, and it will be quite difficult to restore it to its previous scale. But perhaps Mavrodi will come up with something.
I end with this. I hope that you were interested, and you got a clearer idea of what the MMM financial pyramid is and who Sergey Mavrodi is. If you have something to add and something to argue with - write, I will be happy to listen to you in the comments and on.
Stay on and level up financial literacy. Until we meet again!
Estimate:
How does MMM work? Perhaps the question is the most voluminous and the most important for many people! And when creating this wonderful system, it was taken into account in the best possible way! Simplicity and convenience, convenience and simplicity, should be clear to everyone. The main principle of work - Everyone pays for everything! The system pays and will pay - this is the main condition, otherwise its life will end.
All payments in the System are made between its participants, no common storage accounts, piggy banks and other massive accumulations of money that usually exist in conjunction with the temptation to pocket them. All Money transfers only between participants, and participants can communicate with each other and make sure that these are real people, and not fake accounts. You can always ask to see the screen Personal account and check the legitimacy of receiving money. However, of course, it is better to let the leaders of the System deal with this. But if you really want to, then please.
So, everything is clear with transfers, there is one more point, participation in the project involves the purchase of a virtual currency - Mavro (it's like dollars, but it only works in the MMM community) from one of the participants and its subsequent sale to other participants in the System (if any there are), but at a different rate, the growth of which is expected at a rate of 20 to 100% per month, it all depends on the chosen program, the operation of any of the programs at the current time and your readiness. By and large, that's all!
Let's look at an example: You want to participate in the System in the amount of 10,000, for example, 5 rubles on the current date. Thus, you buy Mavro 30% from another System 2000 participant (for example, of course, you can also Mavro 50% and more risky, depending on the programs currently running). For a month, the rate of your Mavro increases by 30% (maybe, or maybe not, that's how things go. Do not forget that we participate in and anything can happen), so Mavro costs 6.50 rubles already. You sell them to another member of the System, of course, if there is one, and you get 13,000 rubles. I think it's pretty bad, don't you think?
For example, in a bank interest rate 10% per annum, 13,000 will run into you only after 3 years, and inflation will eat all these 3,000 and will not choke! However, of course, the choice is always ours, but in order to choose, you need to carefully understand the options offered.
On the fact of attempted fraud associated with the new project of Sergei Mavrodi - MMM-2011. At the same time, against Mavrodi himself, the head of the notorious financial pyramid MMM and the founder of MMM-2011, the investigation cannot yet initiate a criminal case - there are no grounds.
mmm: start
The largest financial pyramid in the history of Russia MMM was registered in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova in the Leninsky Executive Committee of Moscow. Initially, the corporation positioned itself as a cooperative and began its activities with the trade in imported office equipment, importing computers and components into the USSR. The first office was located on Gazgoldernaya Street, and in the early 1990s it moved to Varshavskoe shosse, 26.
On October 20, 1992, the Khamovnichesky branch of the Moscow Registration Chamber registered JSC "MMM" at the legal address: Moscow, st. Pirogovskaya, 21.
Later, the first prospectus for the issue of MMM shares came out. Shares with a nominal value of 1 thousand rubles, issued in paper form, went on sale on February 1, 1994. Shortly thereafter, Mavrodi introduced MMM tickets into circulation - papers that are formally not valuable. One ticket was equal to one hundredth of the share price.
In addition to removing the emission limit, this maneuver generally removed MMM papers from the law on valuable papers Oh. Outwardly, the tickets resembled a Soviet chervonets, only instead of a portrait of Lenin, a portrait of Sergei Mavrodi was placed in the center.
In October 1994, Sergei Mavrodi was released, his. However, a year later, the ex-head of the financial pyramid was deprived of his parliamentary mandate, because he "neglected his duties as a deputy and continued to engage in commercial activities."
On September 22, 1997, the MMM company was declared bankrupt, and Sergey Mavrodi disappeared. In 1998, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation resumed criminal cases against him, adding charges of fraud: Mavrodi was put on the international wanted list.
However, problems with the law do not stop the entrepreneur: being on the wanted list, he is right from his apartment on Frunzenskaya Embankment - Stock Generation (SG). The owner was his wife's sister, 18-year-old Oksana Pavlyuchenko.
The company was a virtual exchange, where virtual shares of several virtual companies were sold and bought, their quotes could rise or fall arbitrarily. All this was registered as gambling. The victims this time were several million participants (players) from the USA, Great Britain, Australia and other countries, mainly Western Europe.
On January 31, 2003, Mavrodi was arrested in rented apartment, where he lived under the name of Yuri Zaitsev. The detainee was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: "Fraud on an especially large scale" and "Organization of forgery of documents."
On December 2, 2003, the Khamovniki Court of Moscow found Mavrodi guilty of organizing a forgery of a passport and sentenced him to 13 months in prison.
On April 28, 2007, the Chertanovsky Court of Moscow sentenced Sergei Mavrodi to serve his sentence in a penal colony. As an additional measure of punishment, the court established a fine of 10,000 rubles from Mavrodi in favor of the state.
MMM-2011
In 2011, Sergei Mavrodi, who was released, announces the creation of a new project:. At the same time, Mavrodi himself in his video blog directly calls his project a financial pyramid and warns future investors about the possible loss of funds at any time. The organization assumed a monthly profit of 20% (30% for pensioners and the disabled).
Despite the fact that at the beginning of 2011 the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not have controlling or licensing functions to check the new Mavrodi project, already in February the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia the conclusion of its Expert Council on the development of competition on financial markets, where bearing the signs of fraud. However, this has not been easy to prove, not least because of Mavrodi's repeated warnings that savers risk losing money.
Meanwhile, on May 14-15, information appears in the media that serious problems are brewing in the upper structures of MMM-2011 in the near future. Sergei Mavrodi refutes the information, arguing that although MMM-2011 is experiencing "certain problems with unprofitable structures, they are actively working on their solution." "Everything is great in our structure, and everyone is paid for everything"
Possible collapse of MMM-2011 and start of MMM-2012
On May 21, 2012, Moldovan banks blocked hundreds of accounts of participants in the financial pyramid MMM-2011. In April, the Moldovan prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Sergei Mavrodi, accusing him of illegal business activities.
On May 29, Sergei Mavrodi admitted in a video message that there are serious problems in MMM-2011 and for issuing money to old investors.
On May 31, the MMM-2011 Central Office, located in Kyiv, was closed. In an organization that suggests limiting payments, but at the same time setting up depositors that reports of a collapse may turn out to be a provocation.
At the same time, Sergei Mavrodi announced the launch of a new project in the WebMoney system, the so-called MMM-2012, which will work in parallel with MMM-2011. Regarding the latter, a refutation was posted on the official website of MMM-2011, which states that the financial pyramid was provoked by a panic. Depositors will be able to collect the winnings only after June 15 in the usual way.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti
MMM 1994 as it was. Joint-stock company "MMM", a company that was created back in the USSR, and existed at the turn of the two states until 1994. The organizer of the society was. The founders of the company were: Sergey Mavrodi, Vyacheslav Mavrodi (brother of Sergey Mavrodi) and Olga Melnikova. Thus, the name of the company became an abbreviation of the first letters of the names of its founders. JSC "MMM" is a classic and largest financial pyramid in the history of the USSR and Russia. According to various estimates, from ten to fifteen million depositors participated in MMM JSC.
It is no longer a secret for anyone that it was purposefully destroyed by the relevant government bodies: “In the criminal case there are reports from the governors to President Yeltsin on how the “operation to collapse the MMM” is going on
Since 1989, the company has been different types activities depending on what the rapidly changing situation in the country dictated.
In 1993, MMM OJSC issued 991 thousand shares with a par value of one thousand rubles, which began to be sold on February 1, 1994. After the introduction of "two-sided quotations", the shares began to sell "like hot cakes". After such a success, another 991 thousand shares were issued, which were sold with even greater success.
The current situation has led to the fact that Sergei Mavrodi puts into circulation "MMM tickets", which are not formally securities. The ticket price was one hundredth of a share, by analogy with rubles and kopecks. This turned out to be very convenient for savers as well, as share prices were already very high. MMM tickets were similar to the Soviet "top ten", but instead of a portrait of Lenin, a portrait of Sergei Mavrodi was placed in the center. Also, tickets had all degrees of protection and were printed in the same place as US dollars.
Rates of tickets and shares were set by means of "self-quotes" and changed twice a week. Thus, on average, investments grew by 100% per month. What was reported in in large numbers print media, radio and TV.
Until August 4, 1994, the day when Sergei Mavrodi was arrested from the moment the shares went on sale, their prices increased 127 times, and the number of MMM depositors ranged from 10-15 million, according to various sources. There was so much money that they did not have time to count and measured the number of "rooms". Thus, in Moscow alone, MMM depositors brought in about $50 million a day.
The first clashes with the authorities at MMM began in April 1994. Then, in front of thousands of people standing in line, several buses with tax inspectors arrived at the central office, accompanied by masked special forces with machine guns. They went to the office in order to give notice of the start of the "planned tax audit". In response, Mavrodi promised to convene a nationwide referendum on confidence in the current government. He promised to collect a million signatures to initiate a referendum within a week. Taking into account millions of his depositors, the authorities did not doubt the positive outcome of this operation for Mavrodi, but taking into account economic situation in the country and in the outcome of the referendum. The authorities had to declare that everything that had happened was a "misunderstanding."
The next step was taken by the authorities in July 1994, a campaign against MMM was launched in the media. Videos with "anti-MMM" propaganda were shown on TV, officials of all ranks spoke, who explained that MMM was a scam and it was urgent to take money from there. Of course, this provoked panic among investors.
“Let one of the officials declare publicly that Sberbank is a scam. There will be no stone left unturned from Sberbank tomorrow! And about MMM, this was constantly talked about for at least two weeks in all the media. Everyone, absolutely, who had at least some influence on the masses, in fact top level up to the premier and the president. And then they said: “The MMM pyramid collapsed!” Yes, not the pyramid collapsed, but you ruined everything! (Sergey Mavrodi).
After July 27, Sergei Mavrodi restarted the system, announcing that the value of shares is returning to par, but the price for them will grow twice as fast, that is, increase four times in a month.
Such a move completely turned the situation around, and queues lined up at MMM again to buy tickets and shares at face value.
On August 3, Mavrodi was invited to the White House for an extended meeting of the government dedicated to the “MMM issue”, which, of course, he did not attend.
"What for? I didn’t need anything from them, but we still wouldn’t be able to agree. And what is this "question"? Everything had already been decided by now. Me, without their participation. And why "extended"? As far as I know, even Foreign Minister Kozyrev and Defense Minister Grachev were present there! Do they have anything to do with it? As in a gang, in short. Collective responsibility. So that everyone is up to their ears. For the decision to “wet!” (Sergey Mavrodi).
On August 4, 1994, Sergei Mavrodi was arrested in his apartment on Komsomolsky Prospekt "for tax evasion." The storming of the apartment (special forces descended to the balcony of the eighth floor from above along the cables) was shown live on all TV channels. The activities of the MMM were suspended, and Sergei Mavrodi announced his intention to run for the State Duma and began an election campaign in Mytishchi.
On the same day - August 4, 1994, employees of the Moscow tax inspectorate, with the help of OMON, stormed the central office of MMM, conducted a search there and announced that they "revealed gross violations tax legislation”, ordering to recover 49.9 billion rubles to the budget. Mavrodi himself subsequently repeatedly pointed out the absurdity of this accusation:
“If MMM is a pyramid scheme, then why were they going to collect taxes? From the pyramid? You have to choose one thing: either a pyramid scheme or taxes.” And further: “And how did they “reveal” the violations? During a search? In two minutes? Like a tin can? They probably read on the ceiling and immediately arrested me and rushed off. On the same day, without delay. It's a matter of haste! In general, tax violations are usually detected during a tax audit. More or less long. And by no means during a half-hour search. But here, of course, is a special case. Archenemy! The law is not written for him. No stupid formalities there! Or does anyone doubt that he is a criminal?!"
A huge number of depositors gathered at the MMM office, they were concerned about what was happening and demanded that the authorities return their savings. Having been refused, people tried to occupy the building of the MMM headquarters in the hope of returning the deposits, but it was too late.
Witnesses who confirmed at the trial under oath that from the back door of the MMM office seventeen (!) KAMAZ trucks of cash were taken out by special services. But when this fact surfaced at the trial, prosecutor Amalia Ustaeva calmly stated: “How do you know that they were intelligence officers? So what if they were in uniform? Have you checked their documents? And, oddly enough, this argument was accepted by Judge Nadezhda Markina as irrefutable. Thus, the issue with the disappeared KAMAZ trucks was closed.
On August 19, 1994, thousands of MMM depositors came to the White House and demanded the release of Sergei Mavrodi. All the media claimed that Mavrodi was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
“MMM was artificially destroyed by the authorities. All the other pyramids collapsed on their own. In my criminal case, there are reports from the governors to President Yeltsin on how the “operation” to destroy the MMM is going. Where is it next? What about 8% of Gazprom's shares? And the oil industry? Nevertheless, this is in the case file, it is not a fairy tale. Here they are, the assets! So what kind of pyramid is this?”… And one more thing: “MMM did not violate the laws. Not one letter. It is no coincidence that I was arrested on a completely stupid charge of tax evasion. (That is, logically, it turns out that everything was great, but only I didn’t share it.) It’s just that the authorities didn’t know under what pretext to put me in prison, and they couldn’t come up with anything smarter. Because there was nothing to plant! They say: “bypassed the law!.. found holes in the legislation!..” Well, so what? What?! It is a crime? No. Amend the law, patch up the holes - but plant something for what? And all your moral assessments: “who will seduce these little ones” - keep to yourself. Who are you to judge me? Gods? I myself will deal with my conscience and answer for myself at the Last Judgment.” “The main lie that the authorities usually resort to (and not only them!), Speaking about MMM:“ The first managed, but all the rest! .. “Lies!!! Promotions and tickets could always be returned completely freely. Any time! Throughout the six months the company was in operation. Until I got arrested. Items were on every corner. Go and give up. Without any questions and exactly at the price that was announced by me at that time. So there are also millions of winners. Like the losers. Only they keep quiet. As usual everything. Good is sluggish and passive, while evil is vigorous and active.
Today it is built in a different way, this time Sergey Mavrodi bypassed the entire clumsy system of legislation, find out starting from 2011 and everything will become clear to you.
