Law No. 176-FZ has tightened liability for money mules

Formally, Law No. 176-FZ is aimed at financial fraud (handing cards over to money mules ("drops"), buying account details, and so on).

But we see serious "side effects" for the market in "grey" financial services, and especially for schemes to cash out funds through shell companies. The risks rise sharply for everyone in such a chain:

1. For the organisers of cashing-out (those who provide the service):

Direct criminal liability (parts 5 and 6 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code). Buying the cards or the account details of nominees, and carrying out transactions through them, is now a separate offence. The punishment is up to 6 years in a penal colony, plus a fine of up to RUB 1 million. That is substantially stricter than under the old "registration" articles (Articles 173.1 and 173.2 of the Criminal Code).

2. For the client companies (those who use cashing-out services):

A new risk under part 4 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code. If your management or your accountant, for gain (a saving on tax), instructed the bank to transfer money to a shell company's account with no real grounds, this may now be an "unlawful transaction". The punishment is up to 3 years' imprisonment for the director or the accountant, on top of the risks under the tax articles.

3. For the nominees (the people in whose names the shell companies are registered, and whose cards are used):

A risk under parts 3 and 4 of Article 187 of the Criminal Code. Handing one's card, or access to it, to the organisers for money, or carrying out transactions on their instructions for a reward, is now an offence in its own right. The punishment is up to 3 years' imprisonment. Nominees previously often got away with an administrative penalty, or were not prosecuted at all. Their key act now falls under the Criminal Code.

The law strikes not only at telephone fraudsters but also at the infrastructure of "grey" cashing-out. The risks of taking part in such schemes, even as a client, have grown by an order of magnitude. What is now dangerous is not only the end point, a tax audit, but the very movement of money through doubtful accounts and cards. Directors and accountants of companies that use cashing-out are in the sights of a new offence. Sergei Pivovarchik, managing partner of Consul Group, comments.

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