The court sided with the equity holders in a dispute with the developer of a Sochi aparthotel.

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The Court of Cassation has upheld the decision to deny the developer of the Gorizont aparthotel in Sochi's attempt to annul 886 shared construction participation agreements. The developer insisted that the money received from the equity holders was embezzled by its former director, Anzor Pruidze, who was convicted of fraud.

As reported by "Kavkazsky Uzel," in April 2022, a court sentenced Anzor Pruidze, owner and general director of the Sochi-based construction company Yug-Stroy, to seven years in prison and a fine of 500,000 rubles, finding him guilty of fraud with a creditor's funds. The court concluded that he and five other defendants had diverted funds from equity holders to build several residential complexes, including the Gorizont apartment complex. In July of that year, an appellate court reduced Pruidze's sentence by two months, and in December, a Sochi court acquitted him, finding him not guilty. In May 2024, developer Anzor Pruidze was sentenced to five years and two months in prison after being found guilty of fraud with a creditor's money.

The Fourth Cassation Court in Krasnodar sided with the shareholders of the Gorizont apartment complex in Sochi and denied the Albatross company's request to annul 886 shared construction participation agreements. The developer insisted that the funds from the deal were embezzled by former director and founder Anzor Pruidze, Kommersant reported on June 9.

Following Pruidze's arrest, construction of the aparthotel was halted. The Albatross company cited the ruling of the Khostinsky District Court of Sochi in the Pruidze case, which established the theft of 569 million rubles from the owners, and demanded that the developer's obligations to the buyers be terminated. Courts at two levels of jurisdiction concluded that the payment under the contracts had been confirmed, and the criminal verdict did not waive the developer's civil obligations. The cassation court also reached the same conclusion. Construction of the complex is currently ongoing.

In 2015, a Sochi court found Anzor Pruidze guilty in the case of Deputy Mayor Oleg Vronsky, who issued a construction permit in violation of regulations. The developer was then fined 80,000 rubles. In June 2019, Pruidze was convicted on three criminal charges – he received a five-year prison sentence, and his property was seized.

Advice for those who have fallen victim to fraud in shared construction or want to protect themselves from similar problems has been compiled by the "Caucasian Knot" in the article "Equity holders: lawyers advise how to avoid fraud".

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