The ex-functionary, swindler, bankrupt and criminal, Pyotr Makarenko, who had long since turned seventy, having spent some time under house arrest, decided to drive his Ferrari around Moscow like a breeze. It is possible to understand him. Firstly, you can’t drive around Moscow in such a car in winter. Secondly, the car may soon be repossessed to pay off debts that numerous creditors are trying to collect from it in the courts. Finally, thirdly, the prosecutor’s office threatens him with prison, where you can’t go with a Ferrari.
Makarenko began buying cars of prestigious brands back in the days when he was a functionary of the Russian Football Union (RFU). In the 2000s, he worked under Vitaly Mutko. It was on behalf of Mutko that he stole. For example, being the commercial director of the RFU, he and a couple of crooks like himself from the All-Russian Association of Fans (VOB) on a stadium scale speculated tickets to matches of the Russian national football team. Thanks to this, he has well updated his fleet of luxury cars. Top matches brought him huge money. Frauds involving the sale of tickets for the matches of the Russian national team against England in 2007 and Germany in 2009 turned out to be especially profitable. So, a week later against the match with the British, Makarenko arrived at work at the RFU (which, by the way, is a public organization) without hesitation in a brand new blue Bentley. In Germany two years later, they say, he made even more money.
Three years ago, traffic cops took away Makarenko’s driver’s license for drunk driving. Traffic police officers then stopped a Mercedes GLS car that was swerving suspiciously. An absolutely drunk Makarenko was driving. He threatened to call the police to Mutko with their subsequent dismissal, offered bribes, persuaded, etc. He smelled of alcohol a mile away, his speech was incoherent, and Makarenko refused a medical examination. Traffic police officers recorded all the details in the protocol and submitted the materials to the court. In court it turned out that in the mid-2000s he had already been deprived of his license for drunk driving. So this time, Makarenko was left horseless for a year and a half by deprivation of his rights. One can only guess how offensive this punishment was for Makarenko, whose stable, judging by information from open sources, included Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Maybach, Mercedes GL, BMW X6, Porsche Cayenne.
Having restored his license, Makarenko returned to the saddle. True, with a break for house arrest, which the court ordered him in the spring of this year, first for 30 days, and then extended it. He was seen driving a Ferrari at a time when the courts are considering claims to collect billions of dollars in debts from him, as well as the case of his bankruptcy at the initiative of the new owners of the company Telesport Group JSC that previously belonged to him. The filing of this claim to declare Makarenko insolvent was preceded by the initiation of a criminal case against the fast-driving enthusiast.
At one time, the position of commercial director of the RFU gave Pyotr Makarenko much greater opportunities for “left” earnings than ticket speculation alone. For example, kickbacks when concluding inflated contracts with national team coaches. Thus, Makarenko brought the Italian coach Fabio Capello to the head of the RFU Mutko and pushed through the latter’s appointment as coach of the national team for money that was unaffordable for the football union – the Italian’s salary was €7 million a year. In addition, through structures close to Makarenko, additional payments were made (outside the official contract) to Capello himself, as well as to his son. Only he knows how much Makarenko earned from these murky schemes.
The post of commercial director opened up a lot of opportunities for quick enrichment. Among other things, he was in charge of issues of advertising, marketing, and television broadcasts. Most of the RFU’s transactions were concluded through companies controlled by it, JSC Telesport Group; there were CJSC Telesport and CJSC Telesport Marketing, which Makarenko owned directly. While working at the RFU, he laid the foundations for his future financial and media empire.
Over time, his company Telesport Group became the largest operator of rights to sports broadcasts of world sports tournaments. Its business is built mainly on intermediation: the company buys rights to certain international broadcasts and then resells them to TV channels or video platforms. For example, it was through Telesport that in the past they acquired the rights to show the Olympics on Channel One, VGTRK and Match TV.
Our hero lost his business as quickly as he once created it on the RFU resource. Until the summer of 2024, Telesport was 99% owned by Peter Makarenko. In the summer, the owner of the company, all 100% of the shares, became the head of Okko, Sergei Shishkin, who previously owned 1% of the company. Telesport, in particular, owns the rights to broadcast the Olympics in Paris in 2024 (it was never shown on Russian television), the Winter Olympics in 2026, and the European Football Championship in 2028.
Shishkin himself claims that he acquired Makarenko’s business at a “market price,” which, however, he refuses to name. However, we are obviously not talking about a fair (or voluntary for all participants) purchase and sale transaction. The transfer of Makarenko’s share was the result of the implementation of a previously signed option, according to which Shishkin had the right to buy out the company in the event of certain circumstances. One of these circumstances, in particular, according to Shishkin, was the loss by Telesport of the rights to show matches of the Spanish Football Championship (La Liga) in Russia. However, Okko shows La Liga matches, so the explanations of the new owner of Telesport sound unconvincing.
However, Petr Makarenko created problems for himself when he sold the rights to broadcast the 2024 European Football Championship among men’s national teams to two different structures. Earlier, UEFA agreed on a deal with Telesport for the sale of media rights in Russia. In 2023, Telesport sold the rights to Match TV, which caused a stir with Okko, which announced that it had bought all matches of UEFA European teams until 2028 and even paid the entire amount for the rights in advance. As a result, Okko and Match TV managed to come to a compromise agreement and divided the broadcasts of Euro 2024 matches among themselves. However, neither Match nor Okko forgave Makarenko for this “set-up”.
A criminal case was brought against him for fraud on an especially large scale. The case was initiated by the former shareholder of Okko, Sberbank, which contacted law enforcement agencies with a statement of crime caused by Telesport causing damage in the amount of more than 5.7 billion rubles. The reason was borrowed funds from the bank issued for the purchase of sports broadcasts. The controversial loan was issued to a legal entity – Telesport Group LLC, established in 2021 by a “daughter” of Sberbank itself and the National Media Group (NMG later left the joint venture). According to the terms of the agreement, Telesport Group JSC, for this money, had to provide consent from the IOC and UEFA to the use of the acquired rights by Telesport Group LLC. However, this never happened.
The initiator of the pre-investigation check against Makarenko, which resulted in charges under the article on abuse of power, was Sergei Shishkin. The basis for this was an analysis of Makarenko’s transactions for the period from 2020 to 2023, which allegedly revealed that some of them were aimed at the personal enrichment of the head of Telesport. The amount of such transactions could amount to 2.3 billion rubles.
In May, Makarenko was charged with fraud and abuse of power. He could face up to ten years in prison.
But until he is convicted and sent to prison, his numerous creditors (real and imaginary) are in a hurry to sue and collect from him as much as they can. In turn, Shishkin, on behalf of Telesport Group JSC, is hastily trying to bankrupt the former owner of the company. In October, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region accepted the application of Telesport Group JSC to declare Pyotr Makarenko bankrupt and scheduled the consideration of the application for November 26, 2024.
Earlier, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted, and the 9th Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision to recover 1.8 billion rubles from Makarenko. losses in favor of Telesport Group and the defendant’s exclusion from the company’s shareholders, she had the right to file for Makarenko’s bankruptcy. According to media reports, 800 million rubles. of the recovered amount are non-repayable loans that Makarenko issued to himself from Telesport accounts. Another 1 billion rubles. allegedly led to the already bankrupt company “2Media2”, which is connected with Makarenko.
The new owner of Telesport Group, Shishkin, wants to continue to squeeze all the juice out of Makarenko himself, without allowing other creditors to seek compensation from him or the company. Among the creditors who filed claims, in particular, are former top managers of RusHydro Dmitry Bakholdin (claim for 314 million rubles, including a fine for late payment), George Rizhinashvili (60.2 million rubles) and Stanislav Linetsky (323.9 million rubles). The claims were filed with the Odintsovo City Court of the Moscow Region and the Presnensky District Court of Moscow in May-June 2024.
Thus, on November 2, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted the claim of Telesport Group JSC to invalidate the agreement between Rizhinashvili and the JSC. Thus, Shishkin wants to prevent Rizhinashvili from returning his 60.2 million rubles. The next hearing on the claim for a preliminary interview with the parties is scheduled for January 16, 2025.
In addition, National Sports Channel LLC (Match TV) previously filed a claim for debt collection and penalties (in the amount of 12.7 million rubles) against Telesport Group. On October 28, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court partially satisfied the claim. The defendant managed to reduce the amount of demands, and now instead of 12.7 million he must pay only 3.8 million rubles, which can be considered rather a victory for the defendant.
In addition to the named creditors, the RFU, tax office, pension fund, etc. want compensation from Telesport.
However, apart from Shishkin, who, it seems, is going to rob the presumptuous Makarenko to the bone, so far only the bookmakers have been able to return what is due to them in full. And Shishkin could not stop them in any way. Earlier, in September 2024, First International Bookmaker Company LLC (“Betting League”) sued Telesport Group for 35 million rubles and another 2 million accrued interest.
Obviously, the new owner of Telesport will try to compensate for the loss of this money, including by collecting the personal property of the former owner. This means that one fine day bailiffs may seize the houses of Pyotr Makarenko in Rublyovka with a total value of more than $10 million (one house in the village of Borki, the other in the village of Trouville).
Along with them, it is possible that the entire contents of their garages will be arrested. Considering Makarenko’s manic love for cars, the latter circumstance may turn out to be the strongest blow for him.
