The charge of which he was later convicted was tax fraud[4] though he claimed that the MMM scheme was not a business, but instead a mutual donation program against which there is no law.

[11] In 1994 Mavrodi was elected deputy of State Duma obtaining parliamentary immunity, just three weeks after he was released from prison.

He ran in a by-election in the Mytishchinsky District to replace deputy Andrey Aizderdzis, who was gunned down earlier that year.

[12] In January 2011, Mavrodi launched another pyramid scheme called MMM-2011, asking investors to buy so-called Mavro currency units.

He frankly described it as a pyramid, adding "It is a naked scheme, nothing more ... People interact with each other and give each other money.

"[13] Mavrodi said that his goal with MMM-2011 was to destroy the current financial system, which he considered unfair, which would allow something new to take its place.

MMM-2011 was able to function openly as Ponzi schemes and financial pyramids are not illegal under Russian law.

Despite a bold-letter warning on the main page that the site was not a real stock exchange, between 20,000 and 275,000 people, according to various estimates, fell for the promised 200% returns and lost their money.

[3][31] A feature film The PyraMMMid, based on the story of the same name by Mavrodi was released in Russia on 7 April 2011.

[32][33] Mavrodi was depicted as a non-playable character in the 2011 video game Postal III, owning the arcade in the north of the city of Catharsis.