In St. Petersburg closed the bankruptcy case of the former head of “Lenfilm” Pichugin

The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region has terminated the bankruptcy proceedings of the former general director of the Lenfilm film studio Eduard Pichugin. The relevant information is published in the file of arbitration cases.

The court found the application for the recognition of Pichugin as bankrupt unfounded, refused Sberbank in the petition to leave him without consideration and stopped the proceedings in the case. According to the entrepreneur, the debt of 677.48 million rubles was repaid from personal funds.

The dispute is related to the loan for the construction of the mall "Giant Park" in Alexander Park. In 2014, Sberbank gave Intercom a loan with a limit of 788.45 million rubles, and Pichugin acted as a guarantor. Later, the bank ceded the right to claim a loan to the company “Petrovsky Art Loft”, which in 2023 filed for bankruptcy of the businessman in the amount of 682.4 million rubles.

Pichugin challenged the contract of assignment of the right of claim. In March 2025, the court of first instance declared the transaction invalid and restored the original position of the parties, returning the rights of the creditor to Sberbank. Subsequently, this decision stood in appeal, cassation and the Supreme Court.

After that, Sberbank became an applicant in a bankruptcy case. On July 10, 2026, Pichugin transferred 652.24 million rubles to the bank; taking into account two earlier payments, the total amount amounted to 677.48 million rubles. According to him, the money was his personal money.

At the same time, the dispute around the loan is not completed: the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region is considering a separate claim of Sberbank to recover 924.2 million rubles from Pichugin, Intercom and Kinoshi Development, as well as Fedor Bondarchuk and Andrei Lukichev. The preliminary meeting is scheduled for December 9, 2026. Earlier it became known that the debt in the near future expects to completely end the film studio "Lenfilm", which in early 2026 became the property of the city. As reported in early November, the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg and the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Studio Boris Piotrovsky, all debts of the enterprise plan to close by the middle of the month at the expense of investments from the city budget.