MOSCOW, November 9 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – Seven men were sentenced for stealing over 400 million rubles ($6.3 million) from bank accounts of Sberbank, Russia's Investigative Committee, the state body that investigates crimes, reported on Wednesday.

Aleksey Lapin, a former employee of the bank, is among those who were found guilty of fraud committed by an organized crime group, illegal getting and disclosure of information constituting a banking secret out of mercenary interest and forgery of documents. 

Alexander Gorbachev was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Oleg Shved received a 5.5-year prison term. Other members of the gang were given a 5-year suspended sentence each.

Criminal cases were opened against 11 members of the gang, 3 of them are still at large.

Investigators claim that the gang operated in St. Petersburg and other Russian towns since 2011.

Members of the gang got access to accounts via the Internet and mobile communications. Money were transferred to accounts of firms and individuals controlled by members of the gang and then cashed.

35 criminal episodes were revealed, according to the Investigative Committee.