The court proceedings in Moscow between the group of companies "Lesta Games" and LLC "News IT"—the organizer of the canceled gaming exhibition "RED EXPO 2025"—have concluded. The court established that the previous management of "Lesta Games" secured the support of the event organizers to illicitly transfer a significant amount of money.
“World of Ships”
According to the case materials, last year "Lesta Games" agreed to become the general partner of "RED EXPO." Under the agreement, they were supposed to pay "News IT" a total of 450 million rubles for their services, 150 million rubles of which was intended as an advance payment. However, handling the advance wasn't straightforward.
The court noted that the previous management of "Lesta Games" backdated the contract with the exhibition organizers. Although it was actually signed on April 24, 2025, the documents list a different date—April 7, 2025. It is presumed this was done to bypass restrictions that arose after April 15, 2025, when the Russian Prosecutor General's Office froze "Lesta Games'" accounts. Additionally, the parties initially planned for "Lesta Games" to transfer the 150 million rubles as a loan rather than an advance, but following the account freeze, the scheme was altered.
The total contract sum of 450 million rubles also raised questions—it was considered "disproportionate" to the set of PR mentions "Lesta Games" was supposed to receive during "RED EXPO." For comparison: sponsoring "Comic Con IgroMir" in 2025 only cost the company 6.8 million rubles.
The court also focused on the familial ties between top employees of "Lesta Games" and "News IT." It turned out that the CEO of "News IT," Angelina Smirnova, is the wife of Alexander Smirnov, who at the time was the legal affairs director of "Lesta Games." According to court documents, it was she who proposed changing the financial scheme from a loan to an advance.
The plan was not fully realized. During the summer, the leadership of "Lesta Games" changed—now the company is managed by former VK CEO Boris Dobrodeev. According to sources from the newspaper "RBC," the company's new management discovered the scheme to transfer funds during an audit of the previous team's activities. It is claimed that after "RED EXPO 2025" was canceled, the exhibition organizers refused to return the advance, prompting "Lesta Games" to sue them.
Ultimately, the court sided with the new management of "Lesta Games," obligating "News IT" to return 150 million rubles to the company. Meanwhile, "News IT" is currently in the process of liquidation.