MOSCOW, September 17 (RAPSI) – Seven men have been detained in Moscow on suspicion of having embezzled Gazprom shares in the amount of 500 million rubles (upwards of $15.4 million), RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

The fraud scheme allegedly occurred earlier this year, according to the Russian law enforcement agencies which withheld further details.
The suspects were reportedly detained when they attempted to embezzle shares of the state-controlled Sberbank in the amount of 80 million rubles ($2.4million).

“The gang included Russian citizens who were convicted on a number of occasions for economic crimes and who specialized in the embezzlement of the shares of major Russian issuers partially owned by the state through registrars, and money laundering,” the agency quotes the Federal Security Service press release. The statement explains that various types of businesses were involved in the fraud scheme, including banks, exchange firms, brokerage firms, and registrars.