MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling to seize assets in a Liechtenstein bank belonging to ex-Vneshprombank president Larisa Markus sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for embezzling 113.5 billion rubles (about $2 billion), and her brother Georgy Bedzhamov charged with large-scale fraud, a court source has told RAPSI.

Earlier, Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court seized 8 bank accounts of Bedzhamov and one account of Markus. The ruling therefore took effect.

In May 2017, Markus was sentenced to 9 years in prison for embezzling 113.5 billion rubles and later was declared bankrupt on the request of VTB24 bank. In August, her sentence was reduced by 6 months.

Investigators believe that Markus along with her brother Georgy Bedzhamov, who once co-owned Vneshprombank, created an organized crime group to siphon money from the bank. The group including former vice-president of the bank Yekaterina Glushakova allegedly granted loans to sub-companies and did not refund money to Vneshprombank. Allegedly, from May 2009 to December 2015, conspirators managed to embezzle about 114 billion rubles.

Glushakova has been sentenced to 4 years in prison. Bedzhamov has been put on the international wanted list. An arrest warrant has been issued for him in absentia.