MOSCOW, February 1. TASS/. Michael Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund, had his suspended sentence mitigated by the Second Cassation Court by two months after fully admitting his guilt to charges of embezzling 2.5 bln rubles ($27.7 mln), the court's press service told TASS.

"The Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction, taking into account additionally established mitigating circumstances, the full admission of guilt, and repentance for his deeds, has mitigated the sentence of Calvey M.J. in the form of imprisonment by two months - to four years and four months suspended," the court ruling said.

On February 13, 2019, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the embezzlement of 2.5 bln rubles ($27.7 mln) from the Vostochny Bank following a complaint by Serzod Yusupov, a minority shareholder in Vostochny Bank, filed with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Michael Calvey was the key defendant in the case.

According to the initial version of the investigation, Calvey and his accomplices put together a scheme, whereby the "First Collection Bureau," under their control, waived its right to a 59.9% stake in a Luxembourg-based company called the International Financial Technology Group (IFTG), to the Vostochny bank to pay it back for a 2.5 bln-ruble debt. Before the deal, IFTG’s shares were valued at 3 bln rubles. However, the investigation is examining another estimate of 600,000 rubles (according to a Cyprus-based company’s valuation). That said, the Central Bank claimed that the price of these shares was close to zero, the investigator noted. The defense later challenged that appraisal of shares referring to a lack of results from the financial investigation. Calvey denied the charges and called the prosecution against him an illegal attempt of the Vostochny bank minority shareholders to solve a corporate dispute.