Konstantin Yukhantsev, who worked as a cashier from 1873 to 1878 in the Mutual Land Credit Society, stole 2 million 530 thousand rubles from the treasury.

At the end of the 19th century one kilogram of beef cost 50 kopecks, veal - 70 kopecks, a horse - 100 rubles, a good cow - 60 rubles, and the estate from 6 thousand rubles to 30 thousand rubles.

How can you squander that kind of money? Yukhantsev spent money in restaurants, including with members of the imperial family, drinking champagne on horses, ordering golden horseshoes!!!!

Konstantin Yukhantsev was born into a poor family, his parents assigned him to the Preobrazhensky Regiment as a junker. Having received the rank of ensign, Yukhantsev left the military service. Thanks to parental connections, he got a job in the Ministry of Finance. Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance appointed Yukhantsev a senior supervisor of excise duties in Kiev (i.e. supervisor of wineries).

Wine producers, as best they could, withheld some of their finished products from the state in order to reduce the tax burden. So the place was quite profitable. However, there were also difficulties: constant travel to the enterprises, from which Mr. Yukhantsev had a headache.

Despite the considerable income, Yukhantsev's wife did not have enough money, she knew how to spend. Soon the couple moved to St. Petersburg, where Konstantin got a job as a cashier in the Mutual Land Credit Society.

After the abolition of serfdom, some of the nobility went bankrupt: they lost free labor and part of their lands. To support noble families from ruin, the government organized the Mutual Land Loan Society, which issued loans against the security of real estate. Citizens not only took loans from the Society, but also gave their money at high interest to a reputable banking institution.

After receiving a loan, as a rule, landowners went abroad, most often to France, where they lived at their pleasure.

The employees of the company received solid salaries. So the annual income of cashier Yukhantsev amounted to 8 thousand rubles, and another 15 thousand rubles received bribes.

On the shares of the Society of Mutual Land Loan the state paid high interest. From time to time, the Society did not accept and did not issue money, employees did not go to work - they received their salaries.

In St. Petersburg, Yukhantsev's wife bought everything she liked in the shops. She did not pay in cash, but asked for the bill to be sent to her husband's name. Thus, Konstantin found himself indebted to a large number of people. The wife, dissatisfied with the oppression of her husband, in 1876, obtained a divorce. Upset Konstantin, in order to relieve the tension, organized a binge in restaurants -- even more money was needed.

Initially, Yukhantsev stole cash. He said that he had to take a certain amount of money to the State Bank. The chairman of the society would sign a check, on which Yukhantsev would receive the money in the accounting department. Thus, at the bottom of Yukhantsev's pocket in 1874 settled about 500 thousand rubles. But it was not enough!

When the manager of the Mutual Land Credit Society, Nikolai Eduardovich Gerstfeld, went to a country house, Yukhantsev received checks with forms on which he himself put the amounts he needed. This information was submitted to the accounting department.

During the audit, the funds were checked in this way: the cashier Yukhantsev himself read the entries on the check stubs, and the board members summarized these figures on the accounts. That was the whole audit!

In the Mutual Land Credit Society, shares were put into paper bags tied with twine and sealed with a sealing wax seal. All the bags were kept in a storeroom, to which the cashier had the keys. Yukhantsev opened the packages, took out some of the securities, sealed the package with his seal, which was like two drops of water, similar to the seal of the board. He would sell the securities and put the money in his bottomless pocket. It couldn't be simpler!

During an audit, the number of packages with seals was usually counted. The seals are intact, all the shares are still there.

The board of the society received a complaint about Yukhantsev: he was smoking and debauchery in restaurants, and also kept the most expensive singer Olga Shishkina ....

They decided to check sealed packages with shares, which numbered more than two hundred. Counting the bonds, the inspectors quickly tired, but in the checked packages all matched ... and the inspection was completed.

Just in case they decided to fire Konstantin Yukhantsev. When the documents were handed over to the new cashier Mr. Schmidt, it turned out that the consolidated bonds of the second issue for the total amount of 203 thousand pounds sterling had disappeared somewhere. Further was even more interesting: securities of the seventh issue of the government Dutch loan of 1862 for the amount of more than 75 thousand pounds sterling disappeared. That is, the shortage amounted to more than 2 million rubles.

On March 27, 1878, the police came to search Yukhantsev's rented apartment, which consisted of seven rooms. The cashier lived with Olga Shishkina, who had a lot of jewelry. In the desk they found a part of stolen shares in the amount of 16 thousand rubles.

At the arrest Yukhantsev behaved too calmly. Everyone understood perfectly well: he stole much more than they found. The corrupted cashier kept the money in a secret place in order to later use it to bribe the judges.

The trial of Mr. Yukhantsev started on January 22, 1879, defended by the defendant Vladimir Ivanovich Zhukovsky. In spite of the fact that the entrance was only by special passes, the sessions were held in a crowded hall -- many ladies trickled in here inexplicably. For some people of that time it was a kind of entertainment.

When the defendant appeared, many people brought out theater binoculars and took a long look at Yukhantsev. He was a dense man with a puffy face and a sparse beard.

Soon Anatoly Fedorovich Kony intervened in the process: the clever cashier almost escaped responsibility. Due to poor accounting and control in the society, some points of the accusation could not be proved. However, the famous lawyer fundamentally changed the situation. According to the court decision, Yukhantsev was deprived of all rights of states and sent into exile in Krasnoyarsk.

Yukhantsev went to a place not so remote, unlike ordinary convicts, on a rented motor ship, and the Gypsies accompanied the departure of their benefactor with songs and dances. In Krasnoyarsk Yukhantsev visited theaters, went to restaurants, rented a luxurious apartment -- punishment was replaced by farce.

However, the money quickly ran out. In the end he worked as a scribe in the police department and received a meager salary. In 1892 he was pardoned. His fate is unknown.

A century and a half has passed since then. However, nothing has changed: the tradition of Mr. Yukhantsev is still honored by Russian cashiers.