Lawyer defrauded military in Odesa region

The police served a notice of suspicion of fraud to an employee of a law firm who defrauded eight employees under the guise of providing legal services.

This was reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa region.

According to the investigation, the victims learned about the activities of a law firm that provides various services to the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from ads posted on various social networks. When they contacted the firm, the defense lawyers were contacted by its representative, who was responsible for communicating with clients and providing consulting services.

After the consultation, the lawyer, instead of referring people to other colleagues who were directly responsible for providing legal services without entering into any contracts, told clients the amount of legal support, although this was not his responsibility, and for the convenience of payment, he provided his relatives' card numbers instead of the company's official bank account.

In this way, the defendant defrauded eight defenders of Ukraine over three months, receiving from each of them from UAH 7 to 39 thousand. The total amount of damage caused to them amounted to UAH 137,899, which the offender cashed in and spent on his own needs.

After the illegal enrichment, the legal adviser did not stop communicating with the deceived citizens, but assured them that the provision of services in the military field continued, only longer than usual. One of the victims filed a statement with the police, and the rest were identified by law enforcement.

According to the investigator in the case, Alina Ustuyanova, the man was notified of being suspected of taking possession of another's property by deception, i.e. fraud, in particular, repeated fraud. If proven guilty, the man faces up to three years in prison. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing under the supervision of the Dobroslav District Prosecutor's Office.

Кирило Бойко