Wealthy U.S. lawyer jailed for 15 years for making Bolshoi Ballet boy, 12, his sex slave for 6 years

A Philadelphia lawyer has been jailed for making a 12-year-old boy from the famed Bolshoi Ballet Academy his sex slave for six years.



Though he was arrested in 2010, Kenneth Schneider, 47, was sentenced on Thursday.



He will spend the next 15 years behind bars.



Charged: Kenneth Schneider, 47, was found guilty of maintaining a multi-year sexual relationship with an underage Russian boy who he mentored

The court in Philadelphia heard the devastating story of how Schneider went to Moscow in 1998 where he met a then-12-year-old ballet dancer named Roman Zavarov.



At the time, Mr Zavarov was studying at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, but his family's financial position was unsteady, so he was going to have to drop out of the program.

Schneider, who is the president of The Apogee Foundation which aims to help gifted young artists, convinced Mr Zavarov's family to let him pay for the boy's tuition. He even convinced them to have Mr Zavarov move into his apartment in Moscow and live with the grown man.

At the trial, Mr Zavarov detailed how Schneider allegedly had sex with him three to four times a week when he was 14 and 15 years old.

Victim: Roman Zavarov, who is now 25, testified in court that he was sexually abused by Kenneth Schneider when he was only a teen

CBS News reports that Schneider brought Mr Zavarov back to the U.S. in 2001 when he took him to Philadelphia for a summer dance program.

Mr Zavarov is now 25 years old, married, and works as a dancer in Arizona.

Schneider maintained his innocence throughout the trial, denying all claims that he had sex with the boy.



The judge did not believe Schneider, however, and was very clear in his statement that Schneider’s behaviour was completely unacceptable, at one point calling the lawyer a 'monster'.



In addition to being sentenced to 15 years in jail, Schneider was also ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution for Mr Zavarov's counselling .

A lawyer with work experience in both the U.S. and Europe, Schneider established the foundation as a way to encourage 'East-West synergies'.



Dancer: Seen here performing the Peasant Pas de Deux, Mr Zavarov has worked with number of American ballet groups since coming to the U.S. in 2001

He is named on their site as a legal, music and drama expert, saying that he has studied as an actor and musician. His brief biography on the site says that he plays instruments from all instrument groups.



It was under the guise of the philanthropic efforts that Schneider allegedly became involved with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, and, in turn, met Mr Zavarov.



THE BOLSHOI BALLET

The Bolshoi Ballet Academy has a long history of cultivating raw talent and has always been a haven for young children.

The academy was originally founded in 1763 as an orphanage by Queen Catherine II in 1763, but the dancing didn't start until 1773.

Focusing on classical dance, the Bolshoi includes all of the standard methods and areas of teaching in the curriculum.

The school is essentially a feeder academy for the Bolshoi Ballet, which hires school alumni for most of their dancing positions.

Mr Zavarov joined the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy at age 10, after his parents- who were both dancers- recognized his potential talent.



He has trained throughout the U.S., and after Schneider took him to Philadelphia for the summer program run by the Philadelphia Ballet, he then moved up to Boston and worked with some ballet greats.

One of those teachers was Franco De Vita.



'Roman is endowed with a perfect physique and amazing insteps,' Mr De Vita told Dance magazine.



'He was an excellent student, fully committed. Artistically, he took corrections to heart.'

He then moved back to Philadelphia to be closer to his wife Gina, who is also a dancer.



He is now a principal dancer at Ballet Arizona, and has been since 2007.



His work includes performances in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle and Romeo and Juliet.

