Basketball: Russia’s former president sentenced to imprisonment

The former president of the Russian Federation (RFB), Julia Anikeeva, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Monday. Anikeeva had embezzled 44 million rubles (approx. 650,000 euros) within the association. This is reported by the Russian news agency R-Sport.

Anikeeva, which is sought by the authorities, did not appear on Monday in the Moscow court. In the association, she had set up a system of false contracts with employees who spent their time as entrepreneurs and paid her the money back.

Earlier this year, an accountant of the association had already been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for embezzlement.

The Russian Federation had been suspended by FIBA at the end of July 2015 due to “persistent institutional and legal problems”. Former NBA star Andrey Kirilenko was then unanimously elected President of the Russian Basketball Association and successor to Anikeeva just two months after his career ended.