His adviser, Alexander Starodubtsev, was convicted alongside him and received six years in a general-regime colony. Both were fined 1 million rubles. Vlasov was also barred from holding posts with organizational, managerial, administrative or economic authority for three years; Starodubtsev for two and a half years.

The court found that in August 2022 the Kuban Host Cossack Society received a 100 million ruble subsidy to buy property for the "Bars-1," "Bars-11," "Bars-16" and other units. The society spent 57.75 million rubles on uniforms, protective gear, equipment and special devices but failed to hand them over to the fighters by the deadline.

According to the court, Starodubtsev, on Vlasov's instructions, stole part of that property worth 2.31 million rubles in order to sell it later through a classifieds website. The outlet Za Krasnodar reported that the items included belts, gloves, raincoats, striped undershirts, combat boots, camping mats, gorka suits and socks, which were listed on Avito.

In addition, in early 2023 Starodubtsev found property worth 347,800 rubles in a warehouse that had been mistakenly written off as already delivered to the fighters, and took it home. According to Za Krasnodar, the items included hats, thermal underwear and gloves collected by residents of the region as part of the charity drive "Svoikh ne Brosaem" (We Don't Abandon Our Own). The items were kept at Starodubtsev's home until they were seized by law enforcement officers.

To conceal the theft, the court found, Vlasov demanded that employees of the Cossack society and representatives of military units enter false information into documents on the transfer of property. One Bars member said in case materials that he actually received fewer items than were listed in the acceptance certificates. According to him, he signed one certificate worth about 20 million rubles on Vlasov's instructions even though he received no property under it.

The same witness claimed that the fighters lacked uniforms, drones and other equipment bought with the subsidy, which meant the units could not fully carry out combat missions. His testimony was read out in court because the witness himself was in the combat zone.

Before his detention, Vlasov served as vice-governor of the Krasnodar region and simultaneously headed the Kuban Host Cossack Society. In the regional administration he oversaw Cossack affairs, sports and mobilization work. In May 2021, Vladimir Putin confirmed Vlasov as ataman of the Kuban Cossack Society, and in 2023 awarded him the highest Cossack rank, Cossack general.

On September 29, 2025, Vlasov announced his resignation as vice-governor and said he intended to go to the war against Ukraine himself as part of the Cossack brigade "Kuban." The same day, searches were carried out in his office, and the next day Vlasov was detained in the embezzlement case. The illegal activity was uncovered by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate for the Krasnodar region.

Vlasov was found guilty of abuse of office and organizing large-scale fraud; Starodubtsev of large-scale and especially large-scale fraud. The sentence has not yet entered into force.

Sources differ: Mediazona and The Moscow Times report that the stolen property found at Starodubtsev's home during the search was worth almost 348,000 rubles, while The Insider, citing Za Krasnodar, puts it at 347,900. Mediazona also writes of 2.3 million rubles in property stolen by Starodubtsev, while The Insider and The Moscow Times cite 2.31 million.