07/10/2003 - 9:31 PM ET

Seymour Finance President Greg Tanner. Criminal or Victim?

Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com

The Russian/Ukrainian gang that destroyed The Big Book last winter with their embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars and other acts of sabatoge have now retained the services of a prominent Vancouver based Criminal lawyer for all of them.  Based on opinions of 911 legal analysts, this appears to be an attempt by ringleader Vika Zazoulina and husband Yure to make sure that the less culpable do not get independent legal advice.  This is great for Vika in that it lets her have an unhealthy level of influence over the proceedings and makes it unlikely that junior conspirators will break ranks and cut a deal to save themselves at her expense.  She quite likely has offered to pay for their legal bills as a means to keep them all under one umbrella to maintain this control.

Unfortunately for these potentially less culpable members such as Seymour Finance President Greg Tanner and other suspected juniors such as Vladimir (Walter) Ousatiouk and Oleksandr (Alex) Zarud, by all of them using the same lawyer they are creating an inference of collusion that will make it a lot more difficult for them to then argue at some point in the future that they were also victims of misrepresentations by gang leader Vika Zasoulina, which is going to be necessary in order to entirely absolve themselves of any guilt in this sordid affair.  If they were to break ranks now they would have the strongest arguments for cutting a deal to entirely remove themselves from this entire process.

Additionally, at some point it may be necessary for the one lawyer representing the entire gang be bound by his professional ethics to suggest that these individuals get separate council if it becomes apparent that there is conflicts of interest, than at this point separate lawyers will have to be retained meaning that the original argument of saving money is in fact not even accurate.  The persons in question will still have to pay for independent council.  But the good news would be that at least they would have a much better chance of cutting a deal, keeping the bill small and stopping from getting criminal records that would be devastating to any future career opportunities if they are forced to take this path. 

No matter what happens though, none of the individuals involved in what appears to be some sort of "disorganized crime" will be welcome to be processing any money for anyone in the international gaming business any time soon.  The one and only time they have done this in the past they could not keep their paws out of the cookie jar, who would want to see if they have all suddenly become virtuous by testing them with your own money?   For Vika Zazoulina and other top level conspirators such as husband Yure and Tatiana (Tanya) Kostiouk this is the least of their worries, they are more concerned with keeping their freedom.  The question now on everyone's mind watching this drama unfold is at what point does Vika lose her destructive control over the rest of her gang?  

Gang breaks up before end of July        -250
Gang goes down together                  + 220    

911 will cover this story as it unfolds including copies of all documents submitted to the courts by both sides and new pictures of the defendants as they enter court.  The next document is expected to include details on all embezzled funds. 

For the entire background story on this case
click here.

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