The Russian footballer was jailed for egregious fraud. He “broke” Zapashny too!

Famous athletes often become victims of scammers and thieves. Only in England, judging by the news, robberies of star footballers occur almost weekly. Last year, a Russian footballer from Chelsea was among the victims of the criminals. True, it was not a British gangster who robbed her at all, but a fellow countryman and … a colleague in the trade.

The former Alania player was caught in the act of fraud. The athlete even brought up Edgar Zapashny himself! The Russian failed to get out of prison.

He ended his career at 19

Taimuraz Karatsev’s career can hardly be called successful. The future athlete was born in South Ossetia and began his professional football career in one of the largest clubs in the region – Alania from Vladikavkaz. After a year of playing for a local double, the striker received an invitation to the main team, then called Alania-D: he became the successor of the club of the same name, which was dissolved due to bankruptcy.

If in the youth championship Karatsev performed well, at the adult level he was no longer able to prove himself. At the end of the season, as part of Alania-D, which was then included in the PFL, Taimuraz scored only one goal in 21 games – the statistics for the forward are depressing. The footballer did not get a new chance at the club – in 2014 the team was disbanded in order to revive the main Alania, where the player was no longer invited.

The last place of work of Karatsev was the “Pearl”, where the player moved to the status of a free agent. On the field as part of the Yalta club, the striker spent about 400 minutes, but did not score with goalscoring actions. Already in winter Taimuraz terminated the agreement with the team, after which, at the age of only 19, he hung up his boots.

Five years for five stars

It seems that Karatsev could not find a worthy occupation outside the football field. After the end of his career, Taimuraz re-established himself five years later, but the striker hardly dreamed of such glory. Surprising news has been making the rounds in the sports media: a former footballer has been arrested for … fraud involving stars.

The athlete was arrested in the fall of 2020 in Moscow. According to the Moscow prosecutor’s office, Karatsev acted together with two accomplices – Murat Khinchagov and Aslan Lyanov. Three criminals deceived five people, taking a total of 435 thousand rubles out of them. Among the victims of the trinity are only stars: former Rubin goalkeeper Ilie Cebanu, CSKA basketball players Semyon Antonov and Kyle Hines, as well as Edgar Zapashny and Alsu Gabdulina of Chelsea.

Photo source: Chelsea FC

In the spring of that year, the famous trainer said that he had become a victim of WhatsApp scammers. Unknown persons deceived him for 50 thousand rubles, writing in a messenger on behalf of UFC fighter Alexei Oleinik: the athlete allegedly asked Zapashny to lend him money, citing financial problems. Having already given the money to the criminals, Edgar contacted Oleinik and realized that he had made a mistake.

Photo source: RIA Novosti

Soon Edgar turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where several similar statements had already been registered by that time. Law enforcement agencies immediately went on the trail of Karatsev’s “gang”: as it turned out, the scammers wrote to the stars on behalf of their close friends, creating fake accounts. As a result, the whole trinity was found guilty under the article on fraud, and Taimuraz himself received a decent prison term – five years.