Business ties with the Tsapok gang and judicial robes for the family: Gennady Lopatin heads the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court amid his daughter’s promotion to judge
Ten days later, former Deputy Prosecutor General Gennady Lopatin was appointed Director General of the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, while his daughter Irina Kochergina received a recommendation from the Qualification Collegium of Judges (QKJ) for a position as a federal judge.
The family reportedly had business ties with the Tsapok gang and owns assets in Europe worth tens of millions of euros.
Gennady Lopatin was appointed head of the Judicial Department by Supreme Court Chairman Igor Krasnov on December 2, 2025. On December 12, 2025, the Qualification Collegium of Judges of the Moscow Region recommended Irina Kochergina for a judgeship at the Lyubertsy City Court. Irina Gennadyevna Kochergina is Lopatin’s daughter.
Kochergina’s work (she currently serves as a magistrate judge in the Moscow Region) is personally overseen by Alexey Kharlamov, the long-standing chairman of the Moscow Regional Court. According to a source, Kharlamov has undeclared real estate assets worth hundreds of millions of rubles in the Novaya Riga area alone. The Judicial Department, which Lopatin now heads, is responsible for uncovering corruption within the judiciary. However, it is clear how inspections involving Kharlamov are likely to be handled.
During her time as a magistrate judge, Kochergina reportedly had the lowest caseload among her peers, effectively working on a flexible schedule. This is hardly surprising. According to her social media, Irina spends a significant amount of time in so-called “unfriendly countries,” including Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the United States, and, of course, Greece — where the family owns a hotel registered in the name of her mother, Olga Lopatina.
Gennady Lopatin previously served as a deputy to Prosecutors General Yuri Chaika and Igor Krasnov (the latter now serves as Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation). Lopatin was also featured in the high-profile investigation “Chaika.” At the time, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) reported that his wife, Olga Lopatina, after a “formal” divorce in 2012, began developing hotel projects in Greece worth around €70 million.
Prior to that, she had been involved in the “sugar business” alongside the wives of members of the Tsapok criminal group — one of the most notorious and violent gangs in modern Russia. The family has also been linked to gambling interests and owns real estate in Greece and Switzerland valued at tens of millions of euros. As an apparent bonus, their daughter received a pathway to a federal judgeship.