25.08.2014 11 101 19 Reading time: 48 min.
Today I decided to cover a rather interesting and controversial topic: Sergey Mavrodi and MMM, financial pyramid, created by him, existed and exists, so to speak, in different eras. In my opinion, this structure in its scale can be called without exaggeration the absolute leader among many similar ones, and its creator and manager Sergei Mavrodi is undoubtedly a financial genius, which corresponds to the theme of this site. But what kind of genius: good or evil - this is a very controversial question, which is quite difficult to answer unequivocally.
Opinions about the personality of Sergei Mavrodi are diametrically opposite. Some consider him a terrible swindler for whom the prison cries, others - a fighter against global financial injustice and an ideological inspirer. Who is Sergey Mavrodi in reality, and what is the MMM financial pyramid - you will learn about all this from this publication.
I must say right away that everything that you will read here is my vision, my position, I may be wrong in something, and my opinion may not coincide with yours. However, my opinion was not formed from scratch and not from the media, trusting which is not respecting yourself. I tracked the activities of the modern MMM from 2011-2012, at one time I even took part in this structure. That is, I know about it not only from "public opinion", but also from within. So, first things first.
MMM-1994
The history of MMM goes back to 1994 - the time of perestroika, hyperinflation and lawlessness in all spheres, including financial. This year only the official annual inflation rate was about 215%, and in the previous year, 1993 - 840%. people were melting before our eyes, and those who had them were preoccupied with finding a tool that would help at least save money from inflation.
And so, against the background of this, financial pyramids began to appear. Moreover, in a variety of forms - these were banks, and all kinds of societies and other organizational forms with sonorous and then incomprehensible names. Then few people knew, people were not interested in how the structure that accepts deposits manages their money. They believed in the TV commercials that were just coming out. For them, the main thing was one thing: that they should pay more interest, and that this should cover inflation.
It was then that the MMM financial pyramid appeared for the first time, the founder of which was Sergey Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav and Olga Melnikova. Sergei Panteleevich himself claims that the other two founders were needed solely for formalities; he was solely responsible for creating the pyramid and conducting business.
From February 1, 1994, shares of JSC MMM (the so-called "MMM tickets"), with a par value of 1,000 rubles, went on sale. The points of sale and repurchase of these shares were opened, the rate of which increased twice a week. The principle “tomorrow is always more expensive than yesterday” was in effect, so MMM shares quickly began to be in demand, and when everyone saw that this principle was in effect, MMM's popularity began to grow rapidly. In addition, MMM's advertising, which went down in history of the most successful commercials, greatly contributed to attracting attention: everyone still remembers Lenya Golubkov, his boots and a fur coat for his wife and the famous phrase said to his brother: “I’m not a freeloader, I’m a partner!” ...
The popularity of JSC MMM grew rapidly, the network of points of sale of shares also grew, and literally in a matter of months, the number of MMM depositors, according to various estimates, reached 10-15 million, and in the system, according to Sergei Mavrodi, an amount equivalent to a third of the Russian budget was already concentrated.
And at some point, an active campaign against MMM began on the part of the state. Moreover, the initiative to terminate the company's activities began to come even directly from President Yeltsin. In the news of the central TV channels, they began to regularly tell that MMM is a financial pyramid, and its founder, Sergei Mavrodi, is a fraud, that people cannot get their money back. Against this background, investors began to actively sell their MMM shares, queues lined up at the reception points, there was not enough money for everyone, all this was covered by central TV channels. Perhaps, certain problems with payments began before that, now it is difficult to judge what was primary, but, in any case, such active anti-propaganda played not in favor of MMM.
At the end of July 1994, Sergei Mavrodi, by his order, reduced the value of shares of JSC MMM by 127 times - to the initial thousand rubles, thus restarting the pyramid. This measure made it possible to stabilize the situation to some extent, and again there appeared a large number of people willing to buy MMM tickets “on the cheap”.
However, already on August 4, Sergei Mavrodi was demonstratively arrested in his apartment (the storming of his home by special forces was broadcast on all central TV channels), and on the same day, also with the help of riot police, the officers tax office broke into the central office of the MMM JSC in Moscow on Varshavskoe highway, having organized a search there. During the assault, MMM investors demanded to stop arbitrariness and leave the company alone, but they could not prevent the armed and trained special forces. Later, on August 19, depositors staged a large-scale protest near the White House, demanding the release of Sergei Mavrodi so that he could return their invested savings. After some time, Mavrodi was released from custody due to a change in the preventive measure, but by that time it was no longer possible to restore the MMM.
Thus, the activities of JSC MMM were terminated by a forceful decision by the state. The exact number of affected depositors is unknown, however, it can be assumed that it was in the millions. About 50 depositors, who invested everything they had in MMM and realized that they could no longer return it, committed suicide.
After that, Sergei Mavrodi managed to be a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and even submitted documents to run for president, but the CEC rejected them. In fact, despite the fact that the state was promoting the idea of “MMM deceived depositors” in every possible way, Mavrodi already had many supporters who supported his position and believed that only he could return the money to them.
Success financial pyramid MMM spawned the creation of many other pyramids: the Russian House of Selenga, Vlastilina, Khoper-invest, Tibet, etc.
Interestingly, Sergei Mavrodi was arrested not for fraud, as it was reported in the media, but for tax evasion. Moreover, as he himself explains, taxes were paid, but from the wrong account - this was the reason for the arrest. He was charged with fraud as early as 2003, when he was arrested again. And the guilty verdict was passed 4 years later, on April 28, 2007, all this time the investigative process was going on, and Sergei Mavrodi was in prison. At the same time, he was sentenced to 4 years 6 months in prison, of which 4 years and 5 months by that time he had already served. Thus, after the verdict was passed, Sergei Mavrodi “sat out” for only 1 month and was released on May 22, 2007.
Where did the MMM money go?
After the activity of the MMM pyramid was actually terminated in this way, many still have a reasonable question: "Where did the MMM money go?" Many documentaries and films have already been filmed on this topic, many official and unofficial investigations have been carried out, new publications and TV programs continue to appear to this day. Nevertheless, there are probably no unambiguous and proven facts.
Sergei Mavrodi himself, speaking about the reasons that prompted him to open JSC MMM, calls out his desire to oppose the illegal privatization of state property that took place in those years. Formally, privatization provided for the acquisition of state property by everyone for a song, but in fact all the money was concentrated in the hands of oligarchic structures close to the authorities. Therefore, he decided to create a mechanism to concentrate money in the hands of the people, so that there was an opportunity to carry out an honest and fair privatization. It is for this reason, according to him, that the state fought against the MMM, since it could interfere with their "carve-up" of state property.
This statement shows that Sergei Panteleevich was not indifferent to privatization. And in the materials of the MMM criminal case, it is said that Sergei Mavrodi, using the money collected from depositors, bought shares of the largest Russian enterprises through dummies: Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel, SurgutNeftegaz, UAZ, AvtoVaz, etc. In addition, the people involved in the investigation believe that some part of the money was withdrawn to foreign accounts. At the same time, no direct evidence of this has yet been identified.
Sergei Mavrodi himself, speaking about where MMM's money went, likes to mention 17 KAMAZ trucks with money taken out only from the central office. These KAMAZ trucks were allegedly accompanied and operated by officers of the police special forces, to which there is eyewitness testimony, including those under oath in court. Even the prosecutor Amaliya Ustaeva, who was in charge of his case, mentioned these KAMAZ trucks. She said that it was in no way possible to prove that these were precisely the employees of the special services: “So what if they were in uniform? Have you checked their documents? " Thus, we can say that she recognized the very fact of the existence of KAMAZ trucks. However, no photo and video materials testifying to them are in the public domain. Sergei Mavrodi claims that the situation was similar with other offices of the MMM JSC: some chief general came and confiscated all the money, actually taking it for himself. After all, funds were not particularly taken into account anywhere and it was almost impossible to control this.
Sergei Mavrodi never showed any signs, rather the opposite. He always appeared in public in a simple tracksuit or T-shirt, never owned any expensive property. It is logical to assume that if there was something like that, it would have long been discovered by the special services, arrested and sold at an auction in order to pay off the claims of depositors. Mavrodi created for himself the image of a simple man in shabby sweatpants and, in my opinion, corresponds to him. That is, I would not say that this person is an underground billionaire and somewhere he is hiding money stolen from gullible investors.
In favor of Mavrodi is the fact that if such a huge amount of money were hidden somewhere, then after some time it would have necessarily “surfaced” somewhere. However, this never happened.
Thus, the most probable, in my opinion, is the version that the MMM money remaining in the company at the time of Mavrodi's arrest was divided between the officials involved in this operation. At the same time, it is possible that before that some part of the funds was actually spent on the purchase of shares in large Russian companies, but this was not done directly by Mavrodi, but someone else.
Stock Generation
After JSC MMM, Sergei Mavrodi, being wanted (while he was hiding in Moscow), organized another financial pyramid - Stock Generation, which worked as a gambling game (moreover, had the appropriate license). It offered to buy virtual securities, which grew in price by 100% per month. Stock Generation participants were predominantly citizens of Western Europe and the United States.
This pyramid lasted about a year: when delays in payments began (according to Mavrodi, they were caused by banking problems, nevertheless, they lasted for weeks or even months), the US Securities and Exchange Commission blocked the company's accounts. Later in the Boston court, it was proved that there were no signs of fraudulent activity in the activities of Stock Generation (there was a license, and all players made their contributions voluntarily, being familiar with the rules), however, at that time, this financial pyramid, due to the blocking of accounts, already finally collapsed. The number of victims, according to various estimates, ranges from 275 thousand to several million people.
MMM-2011
And now, several years after his release from prison, Sergei Mavrodi creates a new financial pyramid under the old MMM brand - MMM-2011. Sergey Panteleevich announced its start in his blog. MMM-2011 initially assumed investments by transferring funds to electronic wallets, but soon after the launch, it began to support bank transfers and any other methods of transferring money, up to "in person."
The conditions for participation in MMM-2011 were as follows: by entering the system, the participant acquired a certain amount of virtual currency Mavro, the sale and purchase rate of which increased twice a week (by analogy with MMM-1994 tickets). Then he could sell his Mavros at a higher rate at any time. Different currencies had their own different Mavros, that is, the participant bought Mavro in the currency that was more convenient for him.
Initially, the Mavro grew in price by 20% per month, and a preferential rate of 30% was offered for pensioners and disabled people. Then the so-called. "Deposit" Mavro, that is, those that were frozen on a certain period by analogy with, and the rates on them were even higher. Moreover, there were supposed to be 2 types of deposit Mavros: those that were recalculated at the rate of the current Mavros during the early sale, and those that were returned at the purchase price (at par) during the early sale. In the first case, rates on "deposits" reached 50% per month, and in the second - 75% per month with a deposit for a year.
So 1000 monetary units, issued at the highest rate, taking into account compound interest, could turn into 825,000 monetary units in a year. Of course, this attracted many who were ready to risk a small amount for such a significant gain.
Financial flows in MMM-2011 were based on following principle... All participants were divided into dozens, each of them was headed by the so-called. foreman. The top ten did not necessarily include exactly 10 people, there could be more or less of them, this was a very conditional concept. The ten's manager opened a current or card account in his name in any bank, which was considered the system's account and to which the ten participants transferred money. About 10 dozen united in a hundred, at the head of which was a centurion. About 10 hundred - in a thousand, with a thousand at the head. At the head of 10 thousand there was a ten-thousander - temnik. Each participant obeyed his ten's manager, the foreman - the centurion's manager, and so on. Communication between the participants could take place through personal accounts, via e-mail, by phone, skype and by any other means of communication. When an application for payment was received, the ten's manager made a payment to the participant from the dozens' account, if there was not enough money there, he turned to the centurion's manager, etc.
The slogans of MMM-2011 were the decoding of the abbreviation MMM - We can a lot and We Change the World... In addition, at some point, the slogan "Everyone pays for everything!" Began to unfold, hinting that everyone here gets their payments. And, indeed, we must admit that initially it corresponded to reality. In the first year and the beginning of the second year of the existence of MMM-2011, everyone really paid for everything and many, especially those who joined the system closer to the beginning of its launch, were able to get good money "out of thin air."
In addition, great emphasis in the MMM-2011 system was placed on ideology. Sergei Mavrodi promoted this system as a way to combat global financial injustice. He claims that all the world's financial systems (states, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, currencies, etc.) - these are financial pyramids in which subsequent participants are paid at the expense of the previous ones. And if suddenly all at the same time apply for their "contributions" to the pyramid - it will collapse. This can be seen especially clearly in the example of an insurance company:
- many members make insurance premiums;
- at the expense of their contributions, payments are made to those who have an insured event;
- if the insured event occurs simultaneously for all policyholders - Insurance Company will not be able to pay them all refunds.
Sergei Mavrodi argued and asserts that the MMM-2011 system was created with the aim of destroying the unjust global financial system, fighting “snickering bankers” and redistributing financial resources to those who need them most. He imagined MMM-2011 as a kind of common piggy bank, a "bedside table" from which everyone could always take as much money as they need. That the situation, when some people produce money, while others actually turn into the modern and are forced to earn it, is unfair. Thus, he sought to devalue money (his main enemy was the dollar - the main financial pyramid). And, since he believed that "only another dragon can defeat a dragon," Mavrodi created a new "dragon" - MMM-2011, which, in his opinion, could fulfill this task.
MMM ideology, in combination with real work this system (people did receive payments) attracted more and more new participants. Undoubtedly, ideology played an important role, because Mavrodi said really correct things that the participants in the system were imbued with. Many watched documentaries like "The dollar is a pyramid of debts" and sincerely believed that, since the bankers "ripped off" them on loans, and just like Sergei Panteleevich, they wanted to contribute to the fight against such injustice.
The release in April 2011 of the feature film "PiraMMMida", in which famous Russian actors Alexei Serebryakov and Fyodor Bondarchuk played, also contributed to the advertising of the MMM-2011 system. In fact, the film showed the history of the creation, development and destruction of MMM-1994, and the opposition of its leader to the authorities. Sergei Mavrodi himself acted as a screenwriter for this film, however, as he himself claims, he still has not even watched it. In addition to the film, Mavrodi's book of the same name was also published, which was successfully distributed through the MMM structures.
Sergei Mavrodi himself managed the system through his video messages, which he recorded 1-2 times a week, sometimes more often. For some time he appeared in public (in various TV shows), but at one point, after his next arrest for non-payment of a fine in March 2012, he disappeared, explaining that he was being “hunted” and had to go into hiding. from the authorities, and since then his whereabouts are still unknown. At the same time, Mavrodi's video messages are still being published, in addition, he manages the work of the system through his blog site, on which, in addition to him personally, a team of programmers and moderators is working.
Many are probably interested in the question: how honest and sincere is Mavrodi in his addresses? Is he lying to attract as many depositors as possible, or is he telling the truth? There are different opinions on this matter.
As for me, I believe that Mavrodi still speaks the truth more often. However, there are situations when he hides something or does not say something, but does it in order to improve the system's work, to strengthen it. Indeed, in fact, the stability of MMM largely depends on him personally, any of his words can be perceived as a call to withdraw their funds, which can instantly bring down the system.
There is one more important moment... On his website and in his videos, Sergei Mavrodi repeatedly and constantly informed the participants that MMM-2011 is a financial pyramid, that the contributions of the participants are not invested anywhere, that subsequent payments are made at the expense of the previous ones, and that everyone at any time may not receive your payment and lose everything, that there are no guarantees and obligations here, and the rules can change at any time. Thus, he wanted to show that there is no fraud in his actions: people themselves see what they are participating in and themselves must be responsible for their choice.
Meanwhile, the popularity of the MMM-2011 system has grown steadily. Messages about the number of participants began to appear on the site, which changed upward with a multiplicity of 5 million. For example, “there are already 5 million of us!”, “There are already 10 million of us!”, “There are already 15 million of us!” etc. The last figure, if my memory serves me, was 35 million. The system was actively distributed not only in Russia, but also in other CIS countries, near and far abroad. Of course, there was no way to check this figure, critics argued that it was many times overstated.
I personally can only reason logically: if at the end of the existence of MMM-2011, even in my small town in Crimea, the whole city was already covered with MMM advertising, 2 offices of the structure were opened, in conversations on the streets one could often hear the words "MMM" and "Mavrodi ”, Among my acquaintances there were many participants, the system was actively written about in all local forums and in social networks, the so-called" "Mavromobiles" (cars painted in MMM symbols) - I conclude that there were really a lot of people in it. Most likely tens of millions.
On the website of the system, a separate section “Mutual assistance” was and is being maintained, which includes the so-called “letters of winnings”: when receiving a payment, a person was obliged to write his own review about this fact, and some of these reviews were published on the website. Many supported this with screenshots, photos with money, videos.
With the development of the MMM-2011 system, separate so-called. "Structures". The most famous among them were "Flagships", "Guards MMM", "Phoenix", "Horsemen of the Apocalypse", "Army of Mavrodi" and others. The structure meant a separate "branch" of the system headed by its leader. There was a kind of competitive system between the structures, the best in terms of indicators were noted on the site personally by Mavrodi, which means that they had the opportunity to attract more participants. The official MMM website itself was megapopular at that time, according to the Alexa ranking it was at one time in the TOP-20 sites in Russia in terms of attendance, and even in the TOP-100 world ones. Simultaneously with the official site, separate sites of each structure functioned.
Each leader (foreman, centurion, etc.) was personally interested in attracting new participants, since he received from this so-called. "Management bonuses". The size of these bonuses at different times was different: up to 20% of the attracted amount to the immediate supervisor, and 5-1% to his superiors. Control over the observance of financial discipline in the system was carried out by the so-called "Control and Audit Department" (KRO).
While the system was working, many were really able to get a lot of money there. Moreover, imbued with the ideology of MMM, many people left part of their "winnings" or even all "winnings" free of charge for the benefit of the system, and also actively spent the money they received on. MMM's active charitable activities served as a good advertisement for attracting new members to the system.
And so, around the spring of 2012, the slogan "Everyone pays for everything" began to gradually collapse. Here and there messages began to appear about delays in the payment of "winnings" or stuck requests for payment that had not been executed for a long time. At the same time, the situation around MMM-2011 began to escalate in the media: the scale of the system was already very serious, and the authorities were increasingly paying attention to MMM. At the end of May, messages about non-payments and “scammers” in the system began to appear en masse on the Internet. Many of them, judging by their nature, were clearly custom-made, however, perhaps some of them were really true. On May 29-30, 2012, on all central channels in Russia, Ukraine and other countries, the news that MMM-2011 had collapsed. After that, Sergei Mavrodi announced a two-week “calm” regime, which meant the freezing of any payments, and at the end of this regime, on June 14 he made an appeal in which he announced that a new system was being launched - MMM-2012, and in MMM-2011 all payments would be carried out "as far as possible." According to him, a full settlement with depositors could take place within 2-3 months at the expense of the new MMM-2012 system.
MMM-2012
In this system, it was proposed to start everything "from scratch", including in order to return their contributions from MMM-2011. Again, new Mavro, new courses starting with 1. Many members of the system began to make new investments, but there were definitely much less of them than gathered in MMM-2011.
It would seem that such a massive non-return of "deposits" in MMM-2011 should have caused a stream of applications to law enforcement agencies. However, only a few of them followed. Several criminal cases were initiated against the foremen and centurions of the system, in one of them Sergei Mavrodi himself appeared as an accomplice. However, these cases were soon closed for lack of corpus delicti, since people were really warned about the possibility of losing investments and transferred their funds to the foremen voluntarily, as gratuitous financial assistance. And no general structure where this money would flow, as in 1994, was legally absent. In fact, they could be accumulated and withdrawn through the accounts of top managers. There were also recorded cases when the heads of structures, foremen, centurions, etc. They "ran away" with the system money collected in their accounts. However, legally, they could not be presented with anything in this regard. Law enforcement agencies often began to visit MMM offices in different regions, sometimes demonstrative detentions, confiscation of equipment were arranged, but in fact I did not hear about a single imprisoned leader.
To avoid a similar situation in MMM-2012, as well as not to expose managers to the threat of getting into law enforcement agencies, Sergei Mavrodi decided to completely abolish the accounts of a dozen, hundreds, etc. and introduced new rules. Now all the money in the system was transferred directly between the accounts of the participants. That is, if he wanted to buy a Mavro, the participant received the details of another participant who at that time wanted to sell the Mavro, and it was to him that he had to transfer the money. Moreover, contact information was indicated everywhere: it was possible to call and make sure what kind of person he was.
In MMM-2012, the ideology has also changed slightly. Now the system was officially called not a financial pyramid, but a mutual aid fund. The main emphasis was placed on ideology in the advertising campaign, which now, due to the ban of the authorities, could not be carried out through billboards and offices. New participants were called into the system in order to provide financial assistance to other people who need it, and then expect to receive help from others as well. All talks about getting rich quick, which were present in the MMM-2011, were excluded.
A distinctive feature of the MMM-2012 was the rapid development of the system ... in India. According to Mavrodi, millions of citizens of this country became participants in the system, however, during its stormy dawn, the activities of MMM in India were terminated by the authorities. At the same time, several of its organizers, among whom were citizens of Russia, were arrested and kept in prison for a long time without trial or charge.
When recording his video messages for the MMM-2012 system, Sergei Mavrodi began to repeat the same phrase at the end of each call. "I also think that a financial apocalypse is inevitable."... He adopted this principle from the famous Roman commander, who at one time ended all his speeches with the phrase "In addition, I think Carthage should be destroyed." That is, the idea of a financial apocalypse, by which Sergei Mavrodi understood the destruction and reorganization of the world financial system, was firmly embedded in the ideology of MMM-2012.
With the collapse of MMM-2011 and the opening of MMM-2012, individual leaders began to separate from the system, forming their own financial pyramids and enticing their participants. For example, they promised them that in this way they will be able to quickly return what they lost in MMM-2011. Sergei Mavrodi called such leaders "schismatics", posted their lists on his website and categorically did not recommend cooperating with them. All these schismatics did not last long, and their financial pyramids collapsed after some time.
However, MMM-2012 itself did not live long, but about 3 times less than its predecessor, that is, about six months. Time passed, and the massive return of "deposits" MMM-2011 was not observed. In fact, only hundreds or thousands of participants out of millions were able to return them. Every fact of such a return, of course, was advertised on the site.
Before the new 2013 year, delays in payments began, and after the new year, they became virtually endless. As a result, Mavrodi announced that now each structure will be separately responsible for the return of deposits to its participants and invited everyone to choose their own structure. In fact, this is how the second unspoken restart of MMM took place.
What happened next?
Then it got worse. Of the millions of participants in MMM-2011, the most ideological remained, such a scale was no longer even close. In addition, a series of exposures of theft and embezzlement of money in MMM by its leaders began. Many participants and leaders were dissatisfied with the activities of the KRO, video appeals of the largest leaders of MMM-2011 appeared, in which they told how money was stolen from the system, one of the revelations was the identification of the fact of withdrawing a large amount from MMM-2012 just at the time of its collapse, when participants made investments to save the system. Moreover, this fact, as it turned out, was known to Mavrodi himself, and he justified this by the fact that the funds were needed to pay the programmers and related expenses.
After the second, faster, restart and the publication of many such facts, the overwhelming majority of participants lost confidence in the system and left it forever. During the winter and spring of 2013, MMM experienced several restarts at once, and one of them, according to Mavrodi, was caused by some kind of software glitch.
Then the system began to recover little by little, but the scale was not at all the same. If in MMM-2011 people often invested tens and even hundreds of thousands of monetary units, the average amount of the deposit, voiced by Sergei Panteleevich, was equal to 1000 dollars, then in MMM-2013 they mainly invested the smallest, insignificant amounts that were not a pity to lose, for example, 100 -1000 rubles.
So this system on its small scale existed for about a year and a half, and its restart was announced not so long ago - on August 16, 2014.
We can say that from this moment MMM-2014 is already functioning, however, after MMM-2012, no years have officially appeared in the name. Now it is simply the “International Fund for Mutual Aid MMM”. Interest on "deposits" in MMM-2014 has been reduced to the level of the launch of MMM-2011 - 20% and 30% per month.
Personal experience of participation in MMM
Personally, my wife and I took part in MMM-2011 and MMM-2012. True, they became members of the system quite late - in April 2011, when it was already on the decline. Participated small amounts, which were not a pity to lose, and which did not have any significant impact on ours.
As a result, it turned out that, in general, I received less payments than I invested, and my spouse - about 2 times more. Thus, we managed to gain experience of participation in MMM and form our own opinion about the work of this structure.
After 2012, we did not participate in MMM, because the system had already lost its scale, the risks increased, and participation in super small amounts, in principle, did not promise any financial interest: bank commissions would go more than the possible "winnings".
When I am asked whether it is worth participating in the MMM, I say: “decide for yourself,” I do not call anyone in any case. My opinion about the system is a cross between what people who do not know it from the inside think and the most notorious, ideological mmm-scholars. I am guided by logic and common sense, which is what I advise you. However, if you do decide, be sure to read, and strictly follow these rules.
conclusions
So, let's summarize some of the results of this large publication, which I wrote for several days:
1. MMM - indeed at times it was a very large-scale phenomenon, indeed, with the help of this system, many received a very solid one, but, at the same time, many lost their investments in it. Following the logic of the pyramidal structure, those who lost significantly more than those who received.
2. I personally do not consider Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi a swindler. Rather, he is really that crazy person who wants to change the world, considers himself the messiah, declared war on world financial system... However, it should be admitted that many brilliant people were crazy to one degree or another. In any case, I am sure that he does not appropriate the depositors' money for himself, he does not need it, he has more global, “crazy” goals.
3. What will happen next with MMM - time will tell. The negative experience of people who have lost their investments in MMM-2011 and MMM-2012 has greatly shaken the credibility of this system, and it will be quite difficult to restore it to its previous scale. But, perhaps, Mavrodi will come up with something.
This concludes. I hope that it was interesting for you and that you got a clearer idea of what the MMM financial pyramid is and who Sergey Mavrodi is. If you have something to add and what to argue with - write, I will be happy to hear you in the comments and on.
Stay on and level up financial literacy... Until next time!
Estimate:
What is MMM? This is an abbreviation that has long gone down in history, but is remembered by millions of Russian citizens. Not only to those who bought absolutely useless shares, but to everyone else. Citizens were not allowed to forget about what MMM is, everyday obsessive commercials with the colorful character Lenya Golubkov.
The first financial pyramid
Who is Sergey Mavrodi? What is MMM? These questions will be answered by everyone who has found the nineties. MMM is the largest financial pyramid that has ever existed in our country. Sergey Mavrodi is its founder. In 1989, a cooperative was registered in Moscow, which was subsequently engaged in the purchase and sale of computer technology and other equipment. In those early days, such entrepreneurial activity was considered one of the most promising. However, the company was engaged in the sale of equipment only until 1991.
What does MMM mean?
The pyramid scheme is named after the founder and his companion relatives. MMM are the first letters of the surname of Mavrodi, his brother and wife - Olga Melnikova. However, all decisions related to the activities of the company were made by its founder - a man who later became almost a symbol of the era.
Sergey Mavrodi
The biography of this man is amazing, and he himself is an extraordinary person. At birth, the future creator of the first Russian pyramid was given a terrible diagnosis. Doctors believed that with a serious heart disease, the boy would not live to come of age. However, Mavrodi survived, entered the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, and successfully graduated from it.
It is worth saying that already in his school years he showed unprecedented abilities in the exact sciences. He won all kinds of Olympiads. In addition, he went in for sports. Despite his illness, he became a candidate for master of sports in sambo, he did not lose a single fight.
Sergei Mavrodi was born in 1955 in Moscow. His father was a fitter. Mother is an economist. Already at an early age, he amazed those around him with his phenomenal memory. In addition to the general education school, he also attended an art school, and not an ordinary one, but a legendary one, named after Serov and located on Prechistenka.
In his youth, Mavrodi was fond of poker and playing chess. After graduation, he worked for several years at a closed research institute. Then he quit his job, took up small business activities, namely the sale of video and audio materials. He spent some time in prison for parasitism.
Political activity
MMM Mavrodi was founded in 1989. Several years later, the company's shares went on sale. In August 1994, Sergei Mavrodi was arrested on charges of concealing income. While in prison, he put forward his candidacy for the State Duma. He became a deputy, but it should be said that this title did not seduce him with benefits, an official car and a dacha. Mavrodi was attracted, first of all, by parliamentary immunity. He did not appear at any of the sessions.
Not so long ago, the founder of the MMM company, the essence of which for many citizens is an ordinary fraud, announced his upcoming participation in the presidential elections. According to Mavrodi, he wants to help Russia and knows how to do it.
The history of the pyramid scheme
MMM is a joint stock company that became famous in July 1991. At the time, the company ran a high-profile promotion. Its essence was to provide free travel in the metro to all passengers within one day. According to experts, this action by MMM-Invest cost almost a million dollars.
The following months, the company was exclusively engaged in the sale of computer equipment. In October 1992 she received a legal address. The company was registered on Pirogovskaya Street, at 21.
In 1994 the joint-stock company started selling shares. In total, more than nine hundred equity securities were issued with a par value of one thousand rubles. Stock quotes rose steadily, which boosted sales. It is noteworthy that the value of the shares depended on the opinion of the founder of the company. Only Mavrodi determined how much the securities would cost today. Prices were set on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One could learn about the quotation of equity securities from the media - the information was announced in newspapers, on radio and television. For a month, the cost increased often by 100%.
Success
Mavrodi was doing well. The whole country already knew what MMM was. The owner of the company decided to print the second batch of shares, but did not find support from the Ministry of Finance here. Mavrodi was not given permission to issue securities. Then he put MMM tickets in print. These were papers that outwardly resembled Soviet rubles, but instead of the image of Lenin, they had a portrait of Sergei Mavrodi on them. The company made no distinction between them and stocks. In 1994, more than nine hundred thousand tickets were issued. All of them were bought up by naive citizens who at that time did not yet understand what a financial pyramid was.
Ticket price
The ticket price corresponded to one hundredth of the share price. It was quite a coup. Investors could no longer afford shares by that time. The cost of equity paper has become too high. Moreover, such a maneuver allowed Sergei Mavrodi to avoid restrictions on emissions. The tickets issued by him were not covered by the law on securities... And they, as already mentioned, outwardly resembled Soviet chervonets.
MMM tickets were not securities, but each of them had the necessary protection, that is, watermarks. They were printed at factories where American dollars were made. It is noteworthy that initially the owner of the company did not plan to issue any tickets. He came up with an idea much simpler: to repaint dollars in red. Why spend money on manufacturing own papers if the US government has already done everything? This was the logic of Sergei Mavrodi.
In addition, he did not violate the law in the event of a repainting of the American currency. After all, the dollar would not have lost its properties, becoming red. And the buyer of MMM tickets, therefore, had a choice: to buy goods in a store in American currency, which acquired a fancy shade, or to take it to an exchange office. joint stock company.
Sergey Mavrodi's business was more than profitable. The joint-stock company and its founder took over almost everything for a while financial functions the state. In the early 90s, the ruble was very unstable. He could not provide the Russians with a decent standard of living. The founder of MMM offered the population a profitable and quick way out of a difficult situation.
Lenya Golubkov
The company's success is also due to an effective advertising campaign. Already in the first months of ticket sales, their cost increased more than a hundred times. The number of depositors was at least ten million. Russians have long remembered the image of Leni Golubkov, who, thanks to Mavrodi's company, bought his wife first boots, then a car for himself, and finally a house in Paris.
The plot of the videos was very simple. Nevertheless, the advertisements that were wedged into the most popular Mexican TV series, surprisingly encouraged citizens to take their funds to the exchange office of a dubious company. Lenya Golubkov became the most popular person in Russia. In this he even surpassed President Boris Yeltsin.
Voluntary donations
Law enforcement agencies and the country's top leadership became interested in Mavrodi's activities from the very beginning of MMM ticket issuance. In order not to arouse special suspicion, the founder of the first financial pyramid made the relationship of his enterprise with investors absolutely civil. The company did not carry out sales and purchases. The system of "voluntary donations" was practiced. That is, a citizen gave his savings to Sergei Mavrodi, and he had already used them for the good of Russia.
"PiraMMMida"
This is the name of the film, which is based on the loud history of the MMM company. Mamontov is the main character of the film. She was released on screens in 2011. The entrepreneur, whose prototype is Sergei Mavrodi, is in search of an area in which he could successfully apply his intellect. Mamontov decides to order the production of "securities" with rich ornamentation and watermarks. And, of course, with his own portrait in the center.
The film shows mainly an advertising campaign. Already two weeks after its start, Russians are lining up in queues for tickets, the acquisition of which promises instant enrichment. The main character of the film, played by Serebryakov, is rather a positive character, as evidenced by one of his phrases. “I don’t trade in Russia!” - says Mamontov in the climactic scene.
On the fact of attempted fraud related to the new project of Sergei Mavrodi - MMM-2011. At the same time, the investigation cannot initiate a criminal case against Mavrodi himself, the head of the notorious financial pyramid MMM and the founder of MMM-2011 - there are no grounds.
MMM: the beginning
The largest financial pyramid in the history of Russia MMM was registered in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova in the Lenin Executive Committee of Moscow. Initially, the corporation was positioned as a cooperative and began its activities with the sale of imported office equipment, importing computers and components into the USSR. The first office was located on Gazgoldernaya Street, and in the early 1990s it moved to Varshavskoe shosse, 26.
On October 20, 1992, the Khamovnichesky branch of the Moscow Registration Chamber registered OJSC "MMM" at the legal address: Moscow, st. Pirogovskaya, 21.
Later, the first prospectus for the issue of MMM shares came out. Shares with a par value of 1 thousand rubles, issued in paper form, went on sale on February 1, 1994. Soon after that, Mavrodi introduced MMM tickets into circulation - papers that are not formally valuable. One ticket was equal to one hundredth of the share price.
In addition to lifting restrictions on emissions, this maneuver generally removed MMM securities from the law on securities. Outwardly, the tickets resembled a Soviet chervonets, only instead of a portrait of Lenin, a portrait of Sergei Mavrodi was placed in the center.
In October 1994, Sergei Mavrodi was released, his. However, a year later, the ex-head of the financial pyramid was deprived of his deputy mandate, since he "neglected his duties as a deputy and continued to engage in commercial activities."
On September 22, 1997, the MMM company was declared bankrupt, and Sergei Mavrodi disappeared. In 1998, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation resumes criminal cases against him, adding charges of fraud: Mavrodi is put on the international wanted list.
However, problems with the law do not stop the entrepreneur: being wanted, he is right from his apartment on the Frunzenskaya embankment - Stock Generation (SG). The owner was his wife's sister, 18-year-old Oksana Pavlyuchenko.
The company was a virtual exchange where virtual shares of several virtual companies were bought and sold, their quotes could rise or fall in an arbitrary way. All of this was recorded as gambling... The victims this time were several million participants (players) from the USA, Great Britain, Australia and other countries, mainly Western Europe.
On January 31, 2003, Mavrodi was arrested in a rented apartment where he lived under the name of Yuri Zaitsev. The detainee was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: "Large-scale fraud" and "Organization of document forgery."
On December 2, 2003, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow found Mavrodi guilty of organizing a forgery of a passport and sentenced him to 13 months in prison.
On April 28, 2007, the Chertanovsky court of Moscow sentenced Sergei Mavrodi to serve his sentence in a general regime colony. As an additional measure of punishment, the court established that Mavrodi should be fined in the amount of 10 thousand rubles in favor of the state.
MMM-2011
In 2011, released Sergey Mavrodi announces the creation of a new project:. At the same time, Mavrodi himself in his video blog directly calls his project a financial pyramid and warns future investors about possible loss funds at any time. The organization assumed a monthly profit of 20% (30% for pensioners and disabled people).
Despite the fact that at the beginning of 2011 the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not have supervisory or licensing functions to check the new Mavrodi project, already in February the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia the conclusion of its Expert Council on the development of competition for financial markets where it carries signs of fraud. However, proving this was not easy, not least because of Mavrodi's repeated warnings that depositors risk losing money.
Meanwhile, on May 14-15, information appears in the media that serious problems are brewing in the upper structures of MMM-2011 in the near future. Sergei Mavrodi denies the information, arguing that although MMM-2011 is experiencing "certain problems with unprofitable structures, but they are actively working on their solution." "Everything is fine in our structure, and everyone pays for everything"
Possible collapse of MMM-2011 and start of MMM-2012
On May 21, 2012, Moldovan banks blocked hundreds of accounts of participants in the MMM-2011 financial pyramid. In April, the Moldovan prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Sergei Mavrodi, accusing him of illegal business activities.
On May 29, Sergei Mavrodi, in a video message, admitted that MMM-2011 had serious problems with the issue of money to old depositors.
On May 31, the MMM-2011 central office, located in Kiev, was closed. In an organization that involves limiting payments, but at the same time encouraging contributors to the fact that reports of the collapse may be a provocation.
At the same time, Sergei Mavrodi announced the launch of a new project in the WebMoney system, the so-called MMM-2012, which will work in parallel with the MMM-2011. Regarding the latter, a refutation has been posted on the official website of MMM-2011, which claims that the financial pyramid has undergone a provoked panic. Investors will be able to withdraw their winnings only after June 15th as usual.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti
As the largest financial pyramid. The company was officially registered in 1989 as a cooperative enterprise selling computers, office equipment and components. The founders of the company were Sergey Mavrodi with his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and a certain Olga Melnikova. The name was made up of the first letters of their names.
The head of the company was Sergey Mavrodi. According to him, his brother and Olga Melnik did not take any part in the activities of the MMM and were necessary only for the registration of the enterprise. During the period of its existence, the company has repeatedly changed the scope of its activities - from the originally declared trade in computers to the organization of beauty contests. In October 1992 the firm was registered as an open joint stock company.
A series of videos was broadcast on television, the main character of most of which was a simple working guy, Lenya Golubkov, who very quickly fell in love with the broad masses of the population. The videos were deliberately simple and clear, demonstrating everyday scenes Everyday life an ordinary person... The popularity of the company grew rapidly. The number of the company's depositors increased continuously and by the time of the collapse, according to various estimates, it was from 10 to 15 million people.
For six months of operation, MMM shares have grown in price 127 times. Such a wide popularity can be explained by the fact that MMM actually assumed the functions of the state - in conditions of the instability of the ruble as a currency, MMM shares and tickets looked reliable and stable.Many organizations translated available funds in the action, some of them even paid their employees with pieces of paper with a portrait of Sergei Mavrodi. In fact, MMM worked on the principle of a financial pyramid, that is, a type of monetary fraud, in which payments to the first depositors were provided at the expense of funds received from subsequent participants in the pyramid. Accordingly, such a scheme cannot function for a long time and the repayment of obligations to the last depositors is obviously impossible.
State structures understood the principle of MMM functioning, however, the work of the company was so competently formalized from a legal point of view that for a long time there was nothing to complain about. Instead, a large-scale "anti-MMM" company was launched on television, which, by the way, did not have the desired effect. On July 27, 1994, the company's management issued a decree to reduce share prices 127 times, actually returning them to the initial cost of a thousand rubles. Mavrodi said that the share price will rise twice as fast and its price will increase four times a month. In fact, the system was restarted. This somewhat stabilized the situation. On August 3, an enlarged meeting of the government took place, specially dedicated to the MMM issue.
The invited Mavrodi did not appear at the meeting. On August 4, the businessman was arrested, and the central office of the MMM was taken by assault by riot police. On August 19, a crowd of thousands of defrauded depositors picketed the White House with demands to release Mavrodi and return the deposits. The money was not returned. Mavrodi was soon released and in October of the same year he was elected to
Let's see what does MMM mean? By and large, initially in the first half of the 90s of the twentieth century, at the time when OJSC MMM was created by Sergei Mavrodi, the decoding of these three letters easily consisted of surnames. The owners of this open joint-stock company, formally, were three people, this is Sergei Mavrodi himself, his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova, since the names begin with M now it became clear why MMM.
The authorities did not allow the MMM to simply unfold in the first half of the 90s of the twentieth century for all understandable reasons.
But with today's MMM, everything is otherwise. MMM stands for: We Can Do A Lot! and We Change the World that's all
So, at the end of the MMM in 94, millions of people who lived in that era were finally imprinted in the MMM's memory due to the fact that the scale of what was happening was really enormous. Just based on this, the MMM project easily resumed, thanks to its own reputation, there are real things behind Sergey Mavrodi (at least the fact that in the first half of the 90s of the twentieth century, he collected 1/3 of the country's entire budget for some half a year) well otherwise, that the state destroyed everything and the depositors lost allocated funds, Mavrodi is not to blame for this.
In this case, the pyramid is invulnerable and it will be difficult for its influences to destroy it. Determine how the MMM works. Quite ingenious and simple!
MMM - high profitability... If you really participate in a pyramid scheme and decide on the risks of losing money, then you need to do it "with taste"! Based on this, the answer to the question of why MMM lies in profitability: from 20 to 100% every month, everyone else either promises, or, in addition, do not try to share so drastically with the "carriers" of the financial mass.
Profitability
In this nuance, investment funds and banks are by and large not appropriate: their greed is proportional to the annual "pennies" of depositors. If we are talking about them, then the question, because of what just MMM, is not discussed. Despite the fact that they would have had the opportunity to be ashamed, - about new world full of high-yield offers and paints.
But they have their own "strong point" - the zombification of "clients" through the media and state support for the "public robbery" of citizens from countries.
You are kept in a "dark body" with all sorts of terrible stories on the topic of why MMM is attractive and how scary it is, while they themselves change yachts, limousines, palaces and enjoy the increased comfort and luxury of fate.
DC - a new era of a scam! Literally referred to as a "dealing center". Such an event is positioning itself as "off-guard of the currency exchange" and promises investors "manna from heaven". The question is why MMM will be able to win only by the number of promises, since payments are in question.
“Heavenly manna” in DC offers several types: an investor in the form of a% of a trader's trade, a trader, or trading robots. If you really choose what is attractive to MMM, then it is worth considering all the options for DC. They are monotonous and more than 5%
do not cost a month. All come to the end with a new kosher term "depot drain" or zeroing the balance. Good, no - easily good! - The software does not give all three species any chance of maneuvering.
Despite the fact that there are quite honest ones, which promise from 30%, and pay a stable 5% per month. In general, the sentence “has a place to be”.
In fact, HYIP is a separate type of highly profitable investment funds. In the "people" are called "long scams", do not "nightmare" customers on the subject of what MMM, they pay a little, but for years. Some of them are also overgrown with assets and are very tenacious.
The effect of a money pyramid in the form of "time H" or the termination of payments in one beautiful moment is a characteristic indicator of this proposal.
Global Mutual Aid Fund: 20-100% per month, no "bells and whistles" in the form of "bloated" assets, transparent and predictable pyramid scheme with high-quality software support. It has been paying for more than a year and the question of the advantages of MMM in favor of this project has already been decided by ten million. No inadequate promises, there are calculated growth forecasts as long as the project is well ahead of them.
If it reaches a yield of 100%, then, perhaps, the SG's mechanism of operation checked by the creator will turn on. And one more thing: the "helm" is a genius, in comparison with which all the past "pyramids" pale. The reputation of the creator is impeccable for the participant: he himself lives and does not interfere with the second.
Well, but the law is light: "grandfathers and grandmother Yaga" are against - a swindler, of course, they do not give a license.
In this place, everything depends on the authors of the pyramid. In theory, the risks are monotonous, but depend on the competent management and behavior of the participants in the bosses. Banks and investment funds love to wave “inflated” assets in front of their clients. Only about examples of recoveries from these assets in favor of citizens who were deprived of their money under the “bankruptcy” scheme, history is silent.
If you ask the question, why is it MMM, and not DC, then the answer is obvious: the software in DC is of high quality, but it is not configured in favor of clients' income. Accordingly, the risks are inherent even before attracting clients.
Choosing HYIP or why is it still difficult for MMM in terms of risks. Both offers are profitable, but HYIP loses in profit. The risks are equal, the only drawback of HYIP is its unpredictability. If in the global box office it is possible to look at the statistics of participants and make a forecast, then in HYIP everything ends unexpectedly for the participant.
Proceeding from this, if we evaluate, because of what exactly MMM is in terms of risks. then the proposal is more adequate and predictable. The risk can be “zeroed out”: take the bonus, make an experimental flight and make sure that the answer to the question, because of which MMM is inevitable, is in favor of Sergey Mavrodi's project.
The risks of the global box office are minimal, the profitability is unique, there is money protection and a security system for participants from theft, as well as a favorite "trick" for the removal of 17 KAMAZ trucks in a "little-known" direction. The project is predictable, the creator is a specialist, payments are made, the software is of high quality without "hidden" settings. View, watch, come and do not succumb to the zombie of greedy bankers on the topic of what MMM is.
We are invariably glad to add new members to our multimillion-dollar team!