ST. PETERSBURG, March 23 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – A criminal case against businessmen charged with embezzling funds of banker Boris Rotenberg  has reached the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg for consideration, the United press service of the city’s courts has told RAPSI.

Defendants are the top managers of Neva Constructor (Nevsky Stroitel) the company Georgy Grigoryev and Dmitry Maslennikov.

According to case filings, in 2012, the company became a contractor for the conversion of a building in St. Petersburg owned by Rotenberg. The banker placing confidence in the entrepreneurs transferred advances in the amount of 16 and 24 million rubles (about $500,000 in total) to them.

The defendants in turn transferred the funds to the accounts of outside organizations and then cashed them. To cover the crime, they transferred 3.5 million rubles (over $43,000) the logistic company Trakstroy in repayment of expenses of the victim and his representative during the works execution. The rest of money was stolen.