A Moscow court has sentenced former investigator Marat Tambiev to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony and imposed a fine of 500 million rubles ($5.2 million) in what is regarded as the largest bribery case in modern Russian history.

His former subordinate, Kristina Lyakhovenko, received a nine-year sentence in a general-security penal colony. Both have been stripped of their ranks and prohibited from holding state positions for 12 and eight years, respectively, after their release.

The judge found Tambiev guilty of "taking a bribe on a particularly large scale" and abuse of authority, while Lyakhovenko was convicted of accepting a bribe, abusing her power, and falsifying evidence. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

When asked by a journalist about his record as the largest bribe-taker, Tambiev quipped, ”If you're going to be something, then be the best!” 

Millions in fines and repayments

Four members of a cybercrime syndicate, who were later sentenced to prison, offered Tambiev and Lyakhovenko about half of the organization's 14 billion ruble ($144 million) fund as a bribe. However, they reported the extortion to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), resulting in Tambiev's arrest in 2022 and Lyakhovenko's arrest in September 2023.

At the time, Russian law enforcement was targeting the Russian branch of the Infraud Organization, an international cybercrime syndicate.

The Infraud Organization was involved in various cybercrimes, including trafficking and unauthorized use of credit card data, personal credit cards, online banking information theft, and the illegal trade of such data.

On Tuesday, the court ordered the defendants to repay 7.8 billion rubles ($80 million) and imposed an additional 277 million ruble ($2.8 million) fine on Tambiev as compensation for his crimes. Tambiev was also fined 500 million rubles ($5.2 million).