Alleged Russian Spy Charged…With Running A Gambling Mafia

Colombia’s attorney general charged Russian national Sergein Vagin and six other people last week, including a member of the attorney general’s own CTI investigative police, with aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, non-consensual transfer of assets in mass mode, and abusive access to computer systems. Vagin was arrested last month in Bogotá under suspicion of funding civil unrest and riots in Colombia to destabilize the government.

The attorney general says Vagin came to Colombia in 2017 on a tourist visa, and never left. Instead he ran a criminal organization that convinced locals to rent their personal data to him to create accounts with virtual bookies and Colombian banks. Then Vagin’s collaborators in Europe would wire money into these rented accounts to make fraudulent bets on various sporting events, as directed by collaborators in Russia.

Of those arrested, Giovanna Edilma Gutiérrez Gómez, Mauricio García-Herreros Borda and Ana María Gutiérrez Gómez have already admitted their crimes, while Vagin, Gina Paola García-Herreros Borda, Cristian Leonardo Reyes Muñoz and Jorge Antonio Casas León are fighting the charges. All are in prison except for Ana María Gutiérrez Gomez, who is under house arrest.

Estas personas, capturadas por el #CTI, con apoyo de @COL_EJERCITO, fueron imputadas como presuntas responsables de los delitos de: concierto para delinquir agravado, transferencia no consentida de activos en modalidad masa, y acceso abusivo a sistemas informáticos. pic.twitter.com/WQvDJp1IKi

— Fiscalía Colombia (@FiscaliaCol) April 8, 2022