Sergei Mavrodi, the notorious mastermind of the 1990's MMM pyramid scheme, was taken to hospital from a detention facility where he served his five-day administrative arrest, a police source said on Monday.
A Moscow magistrate court ordered the arrest on Wednesday, citing Mavrodi’s refusal to pay a 1,000 ruble ($33) fine for an unspecified administrative offense.
“He suddenly fell ill in custody and doctors decided to send him to a Moscow hospital,” the source told RAPSI news agency.
“My client has been hospitalized, but I refuse to comment until I see his medical report,” his lawyer Alexander Molokhov said.
A decision on whether Mavrodi should be released will be made after a health examination.
The collapse of Mavrodi's 1990s MMM pyramid scheme cost millions of Russians their life savings. The scam attracted between two and five million investors who lost around $1.5 billion when it collapsed. He served a four-and-a-half-year sentence and was released in May 2007.
In 2011, Mavrodi unveiled a new scheme, which uses the online payment system, WebMoney, to allow investors to buy tickets that work like shares, but have no real value. He promised investors returns of 20-30 percent per month.
