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Court sentences 12 pseudo-paranormalists to prison terms on large-scale fraud charges

Overall material damage done to 152 clients from various Russian regions exceeded $1.2 million

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. A Moscow court has sentenced 12 pseudo-paranormalists to prison terms from seven to 16 years on charges of over 75 million ruble ($1.2 million) fraud, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday.

"Moscow’s Kuzminki district court brought in the verdict of guilty on a criminal case against the organizers and members of a community that included residents of various Russian regions aged from 25 to 54," the Office said on its website.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, these 12 people were members of a community of pseudo-paranormalists and parapsychologists in a period from September 2011 to October 2013. To attract clients, they ran their advertisements in various television programs, giving telephone contacts of a call-center, where operators talked potential clients into paying for various sorts of parapsychological rituals. Overall material damage done to 152 clients from various Russian regions exceeded 75 million rubles.

The pseudo-paranormalists were convicted on charges of establishing a criminal community and large-scale fraud committed by an organized group.

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