Artem Chekalin, the ex-husband of Russian blogger Lerchek, was sentenced to seven years in prison for siphoning more than 250 million rubles into accounts in the UAE, our website reports, citing RBC.
Artem Chekalin, the ex-husband of Russian blogger Lerchek (Valeria Chekalina), was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony.
Moscow's Gagarinsky District Court found him guilty of siphoning off more than 250 million rubles to the UAE using forged documents.
As an additional punishment, he was fined 194,5 million rubles. The convict, who was under house arrest before the verdict, was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The Lerchek case
As a reminder, in 2023, bloggers Valeria and Artem Chekalin were charged with criminal offenses and banned from using the internet. The couple was accused of tax evasion and money laundering.
In 2024, a new criminal case was opened against Russian million-follower blogger Valeria Chekalina, known online as Lerchek, and her ex-husband, Artem. Valeria was placed under house arrest.
Last fall, it was reported that the internet celebrity was expecting a child.
Valeria Chekalina's boyfriend, Louis Squicchiarini, recently revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer after giving birth.
After this, Valeria's lawyers stated that she was unable to move independently. Human rights activists filed a motion with the court requesting that the blogger's pretrial detention be amended and that the court proceedings against her be suspended.
In addition, Valeria Chekalina filed a complaint with the Investigative Committee of Russia demanding an investigation into the actions of law enforcement officials in her case.
In March 2026, Valeria Chekalina repaid her multimillion-ruble debt to the Federal Tax Service. During a hearing on March 17, Lerchek's representative, Maxim Kurnosov, presented the court with a document indicating the transfer of 176 million rubles (over 1 billion tenge) to Chekalina's tax account.
That same month, the court dismissed the bankruptcy case against Chekalina.
