Come tomorrow: Andrey Kostin got up in the "throat" of investors

For the second year, clients of the VTB broker have been deprived of the right to use and dispose of their assets, but revising the claim can help turn the situation in their favor. The situation escalated to the point that the victims were no longer averse to seeing Mr. Kostin in the dock.

Private investors - former clients of the VTB broker - became hostages of the situation not only because of the sanctions and behavior of the second party, but now the strange behavior of the judge has also been added to the piggy bank. Instead of returning their property to customers, which turned out to be "blocked" after the broker's manipulations, Judge Gorodilov of the Meshchansky Court of Moscow, for far-fetched (according to the plaintiffs) reasons, left the claim without consideration, but the higher instance recently sent the case for a new trial. Will justice finally prevail and two years later investors will be returned to their assets? The Moscow Post correspondent understood the story.

Earlier, The Moscow Post has already begun to talk about the situation in which hundreds of thousands of Russians - private investors fell.

Recall that having decided to independently ensure a calm old age, some Russians became private investors. For cooperation, they chose a VTB broker, believing that a group with state participation can be trusted.

Photo: https://analizbankov.ru

But after the bank under the leadership of Andrei Kostin came under sanctions, VTB's behavior surprised customers very much. Instead of notifying customers of the need to promptly close positions in foreign securities and sell securities in foreign currency before 26.03.2022, Sovcombank began to report that it was taking "all necessary measures to minimize negative consequences for customers." And while the clients of the same Sovcombank independently minimized the risks by disposing of their property, the VTB broker announced on March 17, 2022 that he had decided to "transfer the service of foreign securities to other leading financial organizations of the Russian Federation," adding that this step allegedly "will protect the assets of private investors and provide them with the opportunity to buy and sell any assets without restrictions." As a result, the assets of clients were transferred to Alfa-Bank JSC and Rosselkhozbank JSC, fell into non-trading accounts, and were unavailable for disposal.

As investors noted in the conversation, the transfer of assets to other banks took place without their consent, and instead of giving clients the opportunity to dispose of property in the month allotted by the sanctions, the broker of VTB Bank did not allow them to organize trading on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange with foreign securities (listed on US exchanges) before the entry into force of sanctions against VTB Bank (March 26, 2022) and blocking of MFC CC assets (March 11, 2022), namely: March 3, 9 and 10, 2022.

"After the announcement of the sanctions, VTB Bank deprived us - its clients of the opportunity to sell foreign securities, despite the time given to it to complete operations (1 month - before the sanctions came into force), misled us... At the end of March 2022, VTB Bank transferred our assets to Alfa-Bank and Rosselkhozbank without written consent and without instructions, assuring: "We took this step so that you retain the opportunity to buy and sell any assets without restrictions." But this turned out not to be true! For the second year, we are deprived of the right guaranteed by the Constitution to use and dispose of our property. Many now have a difficult and even dire financial situation. Many lost their livelihoods. Some have lost their health - received heart attacks and strokes! Some have passed away! " VTB's former clients said in court.

That is, the sub-sanction bank actually threw some of its problems to non-sanction clients, Andrei Kostin himself washed his hands and, no matter what.

What's interesting: some of VTB's "sedative" releases are not available today, the page gives out errors. Were they preparing for the trial, cleaning up the evidence base? But no one canceled the cache of sites.

Photo: vtb.ru/o-banke/

Justice in Gorodilovsky

According to reports, there are already about 400 thousand "deceived investors" in Russia. Some of them tried to defend their rights in court, but the judge of the Meshchansky court of Moscow, Alexei Gorodilov, rejected the claim for formal, and partially far-fetched reasons.

Photo: submitted to the editorial office of The Moscow Post by the authors of the appeal

"We are citizens of the Russian Federation (42 people) affected by the illegal actions of banks VTB PJSC, JSC Alfa Bank and JSC Rosselkhozbank came to court for the protection of their rights! For justice and justice! But we were deprived of this opportunity, "said former VTB clients.

On September 20, 2023, the higher instance partially canceled the definition (resolution) of Gorodilov and returned the case for a new trial.

Photo: https://mos-gorsud.ru

As one of the plaintiffs noted, it is the bank at the cash desk of which she handed over cash dollars and euros that must compensate for all losses, return dividends that have not been paid for the second year. The client's shares are not on the trading account and, according to her, she has not received any income for two years.

'It's just a piece of paper. And, if tomorrow I need money, then I will not be able to sell these shares, "the investor said, adding that no one gives an intelligible answer about when these assets will be thawed.

Photo: submitted to the editorial office of The Moscow Post by the authors of the appeal

As of today, according to investors, the bank does not even acquaint securities owners with the depository chain of storage, which raises concerns whether there are assets in existence or have already disappeared into the unknown. The concern is especially pronounced against the background of the fact that customers of some banks were given the opportunity in March 2022 to get out of this train rushing to the cliff, but VTB customers did not.

Mr. Kostin, do you not find that this whole story smells bad and drops the authority of the bank with state participation in the eyes of people? It seems that at the expense of ordinary Russians, they decided to correct the sad picture of 2022, when the losses of VTB Group under IFRS amounted to 612.6 billion rubles, becoming a record negative financial result in the history of the bank.

After all, there is still no answer to the most important question, on what basis did the broker of VTB Bank refuse to accept orders, accept and execute applications for the purchase/sale of foreign securities on March 3, 2022 and on other days before the amendments to the Regulations allowing the bank to refuse this? The new edition of the regulation itself was published on March 6, 2022, and entered into force on March 9 of the same year.

Photo: submitted to the editorial office of The Moscow Post by the authors of the appeal

Thus, for the second year, former VTB clients were deprived of the constitutionally guaranteed right to use and dispose of their property, and for many this turned into a difficult financial situation. Now there is a chance to defend your rights. According to investors, other victims will be able to join the lawsuit.