Penza, 25 December 2015. PenzaNews. Five citizens of Zarechny in the Penza region who acquired property rights on 19 apartments through fraud schemes were found guilty and received prison sentences ranging from 3.5 to 8 years, Yulia Makarova, Senior Assistant Attorney of the region in Media Relations, informed PenzaNews agency.

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People living in Zarechny and Penza cities, as well as other towns of the region, suffered through their schemes, she clarified.

“The guilty paid their victims sums of money notably less than their apartments cost as loans, and took over the real estate property using purchase agreements,” Yulia Makarova explained.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the criminal case on the fraud schemes reached 43 volumes of relevant information, with over 150 witnesses and victims questioned. By the end of the trial, the overall sum of financial damages from the fraud schemes reached over 22 million rubles.