A Vilnius court has sentenced Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, the former owners of the now liquidated Snoras Bank who are hiding in Russia, to 10.5 years in prison for embezzlement of the bank’s high-value assets.
Vilnius Regional Court issued the verdict on Tuesday, having heard the criminal case referred by the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2019 after a pre-trial investigation that took just over seven years to complete.
Antonov and Baranauskas were sentenced to prison for eight intentional crimes, and Antonov was also convicted as the mastermind of the crimes.
According to Vilnius Regional Court Judge Gintaras Dzedulionis, Antonov and Baranauskas appropriated assets worth around 509 million euros, caused damage to Snoras and its creditors worth around 460 million euros, and embezzled a further 14.5 million euros.
The prison sentences were in line with those requested by the prosecution service.
The Lithuanian government nationalised Snoras Bank in 2011 after discovering suspected mismanagement and embezzlement. Antonov and Baranauskas fled to the UK where they fought Lithuania’s extradition requests.
In 2015, UK courts ordered that Antonov and Baranauskas be handed over to Lithuania, upon which they left London for Russia and were granted asylum there.
In March 2018, Lithuanian prosecutors informed the Russian prosecution service of the charges brought against Antonov and Baranauskas as they were set to stand trial in absentia, but Russia refused to extradite them.
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