Footballer Artur Zakiyev sentenced to three years for fraud

Footballer Artur Zakiyev was sentenced to three years in a penal colony for fraud against a pensioner in Russia's Ivanovo region, law enforcement sources told RIA Novosti.

Teikovo District Court sentenced two Moscow residents on October 15. The regional courts' joint press service said they belonged to an organised group that defrauded an 81-year-old woman in Ilyinskoye-Khovanskoye.

Unknown callers obtained her personal insurance number and then frightened her by claiming her data could be used to finance terrorism. They persuaded her to withdraw her savings and hand them to a courier.

According to the court, one defendant supplied the other with the address and passwords and bought his travel tickets. The second collected 1.4 million roubles. Both defendants denied guilt.

The courier received three years in a general-regime colony and a 200,000-rouble fine. His accomplice received two years in a general-regime colony. A separate ruling by the same court on March 12, 2026 provided for repayment and moral-harm compensation.