Sergei Mavrodi, the founder of the MMM financial pyramid, has died in a Moscow hospital, a source in medical circles said.
"He was taken to the 67th city clinical hospital as an unidentified person. He is now being taken to the forensic morgue No. 5," the source said.
The Ritual funeral service has said it will render assistance to Mavrodi’s family for his burial. "The Ritual state funeral service is helping and assisting the family of Sergei Mavrodi with his burial," TASS cited the company’s spokesman as saying.
The MMM company, which existed from 1989 to 1994 in Russia, was recognized as one of the biggest financial pyramid schemes.
Mavrodi, who had been fleeing from prosecution, was arrested in Moscow with a forged passport in January 2003. In April 2007, the court found him guilty of cheating millions of Russians of their savings and sentenced him to 4.5 years in jail for fraud.
