A Russian court today found Russian businessman and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky guilty in absentia of embezzling millions of dollars from the Aeroflot airline.
Mr Berezovsky, a political refugee living in London, had rejected the charges and refused to co-operate with the court, saying the charges against him were politically motivated.
"The court has established that Berezovsky embezzled Aeroflot funds by way of fraud, being part of an organised criminal group," Judge Igor Sheremetyev said in his ruling in Moscow.
He said the ring included top managers of Aeroflot, Russia's national airline.
Investigators said Mr Berezovsky, who controlled the carrier in the 1990s, had stolen more than 214 million roubles (€5.94 million) of Aeroflot funds, of which he had laundered more than 16 million roubles (€445,000).
The judge was due to sentence Mr Berezovsky later today. Prosecutors last month asked the court to jail him for nine years.
Britain has rejected Russia's demands to extradite Mr Berezovsky to stand trial in Moscow.
He is one of a handful of magnates who made billions of dollars in the turmoil of post-communism market reforms. He was an influential political figure in Russia until he fell out with President Vladimir Putin in 2000 and left the country.