Bookmaker Andriy Matyukha: owner of Favbet with a Russian passport, business in Croatia, and patrons from the “Luzhniki” organized crime group

Did the scandalous bookmaker Andriy Matyukha, with Ukrainian roots but a Russian passport and residency in Croatia, build his success thanks to his two wives?

Calling the Kyiv native and handsome Andriy Matyukha a "Bluebeard" might be a stretch, though who knows what lurks beneath still waters? In any case, after living with his first wife, Viktoriya Skrynchenko, for many years, Mr. Matyukha registered a series of companies under her name, only to suddenly "change the water in the aquarium" by marrying a young maiden, Daryna Kurenkova. And under the name Daryna Kurenkova-Matyukha, he registered several more commercial entities.

Let us recall that today Andriy Matyukha is the owner of one of Ukraine’s largest bookmakers, Favbet. Until 2014, the company operated in Russia under the name "Favorit Sport," and in fact, it is still referred to as such in the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, judging by the facts, Mr. Matyukha seems to enjoy sitting on two chairs at once.

And he doesn’t shy away from benefiting from the patronage of mafia structures. It is said that he has a close and clear connection with the organized crime group (OCG) "Luzhniki," whose members include (or included) quite colorful figures of both Russian and Ukrainian origin, such as Aleksandr Babakov, Maksim Kurochkin, Boris Baum, Mikhail Voevodin, and others.

Was there a passport?

Andriy Matyukha caused quite a scandal with the acquisition of a Russian passport. Dozens of Ukrainian media outlets reported this hot news on their front pages in detail... But today, if you try to open those publications, you won’t find any information: they have disappeared. 

Andriy Matyukha and his Russian passport

Moreover, Matyukha gave the green light for the publication of a dozen other materials denying that he holds a Russian passport or has any involvement in Russian business dealings.

Mr. Matyukha’s main argument is as follows: he holds Ukrainian citizenship and runs a diverse business in the country. In Kyiv alone, he owns dozens of various companies. And they are not limited to the gambling business. Mr. Matyukha is also involved in retail, food trade, property leasing, and the restaurant business.

Most of the companies belong to Andriy Matyukha; some he owns solely, while others are co-owned with his brother, Serhiy Valeriyovych Matyukha, and his young wife, Daryna Yevhenivna Matyukha. 

Daryna Matyukha

Recently, a 25-year-old Dmytro Andriyovych Matyukha, the eldest son of the FavBet owner, has also started appearing in the companies.

He was born during the marriage with Viktoriya Skrynchenko.

The management of the Favbet group of companies was transferred to Dmytro Matyukha a few months ago in 2025. 

Family firms: half of the companies are in offshore zones

A "good" portion of the business is still registered under Viktoriya Eduardivna Skrynchenko, the ex-wife: Ms. Skrynchenko is registered at the same address as her ex-husband Matyukha.

Grand Victoria

Immediately after the birth of their son, Ms. Skrynchenko became the owner of LLC "Grand Victoria," but today—despite the divorce and her ex-husband’s new marriage—Ms. Skrynchenko owns a vast number of other companies.

Favorite Bet, Favorite Jackpot, Sport Planet, Betting Company Favbet, as well as catering establishments Maracuya and Viller, and the elite goods supermarket Daily Market.

Back in 2008, Andriy Matyukha created a chain of restaurants in Kyiv called "Partiya": at the time of its creation, the company behind it was already the owner of the "Favorit" casino chain.

We are talking about LLC "Dnipro Victoria," likely named after his first wife. It should be noted that the company "Dnipro Victoria" still exists, but its founders have changed: instead of Viktoriya Skrynchenko, it is now managed by Moldovan citizens Angela Balan and Natalia Nyamtsu. Angela Balan also has LLC "Favorit Jackpot" registered under her name, while the affiliated LLC "Grand Victoria," previously owned by Andriy Matyukha and Viktoriya Skrynchenko, has been liquidated.

But Ms. Skrynchenko now also owns her own Beauty Institute: the ex-wife controls the aesthetic medicine clinic Estetik Life in the Obolon district. 

Estetik Life Aesthetic Medicine Clinic

The prices at this clinic are quite "biting."

Connection to Viktor Yanukovych’s circle

In Russia, none of the aforementioned names appear in the registers of business entities.

However, until mid-2022, the Favbet company accepted bets from Russian citizens. And today, as they say, anyone who wants to place a bet can easily bypass these barriers.

In Belarus, the Favbet company is registered under LLC "FavBetBel," and although bets are supposedly not legally accepted, the company itself—holder of the license—has not been liquidated. Nor is it in the process of liquidation. 

LLC "FavBetBel" was registered by the Minsk City Executive Committee

It turns out that, formally, Matyukha does not operate in either Russia or Belarus. Yet his company accepts bets from Russians and Belarusians. This also casts doubt on his "blue-eyed" claims of having no involvement in business with Russians or Belarusians.

But there is a shadowy company, of which Andriy Matyukha was a beneficiary until 2018. This is LLC "Dorida Realty" in Kyiv.

The company specializes in retail trade in grocery stores. It was created by Matyukha together with Russian citizens Andriy Lipanov and Yuriy Sprizhytskyi. Although Matyukha left the list of founders in 2016, his Russian business partners remain among the beneficiaries.

And the company is still operating! Perhaps Matyukha exited the list of beneficiaries only formally. But there are other strange coincidences: LLC "Favorit Invest," whose authorized person is listed as Olena Balan (also a citizen of Moldova), hides its beneficiary behind a Belizean offshore entity.

And here, interesting facts emerge: journalists once searched for the yacht of Ukrainian banker Serhiy Arbuzov (who headed the National Bank during Yanukovych’s time) but instead found a rather unimpressive office in London, where over 500 companies were registered.

And all of them were connected to Viktor Yanukovych’s entourage. 

Viktor Yanukovych, President of Ukraine 2010-2014

And it was there, at 43 Bedford Street, that the company Favbet Invest LLP was registered, which owned the website favbet.com. This website has since "gone under," while Favbet Invest LLP is hidden behind owners from Belize.

And this is not the only company of Matyukha’s hidden behind offshore entities. There is also a certain LLC "Lux House," among whose founders is Elite Property Assets LLP, then LLC "Atlant Triumph," which includes "Bet Invest LTD," and so on. 

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

Of course, this does not necessarily mean that Andriy Matyukha continues to conduct business in Russia.

However, it remains unclear what happened to the network of 600-700 Russian casinos under the "Favorit" brand, which, according to Russian sources, continue to accept bets to this day? 

From a publication in "Kommersant"

As of October 2025, Matyukha is the ultimate beneficiary of over 20 companies in the Favbet group in Ukraine, Croatia, and Romania.

These companies have representations in Brazil and Malta.

Matyukha and chickens

But, as it turns out, Mr. Matyukha may now be delighted not only by projects within the city but also by those that can be pursued outside it.

It is said that when Matyukha obtained residency in Croatia, he took an active part in the construction of the poultry complex Petrinja Chicken Company.

The project is being implemented under the leadership of engineer Oleksandr Chernikov from Kyiv, who has already built similar complexes—five in total—both in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

As reported by Croatian media, including Novi List, the main investor in the project was Andriy Matyukha.

And Croatian journalists dedicated a large publication to him, complete with a collage. 

Matyukha and chickens. Novi List, Zagreb

Mr. Matyukha promised that the new poultry complex would create 3,500 jobs.

But why did he need Croatia?

As a potential escape route?

After all, it wasn’t Ukraine’s special services that discovered Mr. Matyukha’s Russian passport—it was the British. They leaked the passport of Russian citizen Andriy Valeriyovych Matyukha: the document was issued by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow Region on April 24, 2022.

Mr. Matyukha was allegedly listed as a citizen of the Russian Federation until November 11, 2022. He held a Russian taxpayer identification number (TIN 770505760695), valid since October 11, 2001, and after the specified date, a new TIN (92045974318) appeared in the databases, which reportedly remains valid. Also, the registration address of Andriy Matyukha in Moscow is still listed in the records: Velyka Pionerska Street, Building 18, Apartment 25. This is in Zamoskvorechye, an elite district of Moscow.

Could it be that Andriy Matyukha was working for two countries? And is Croatia a kind of "backup airfield," especially since special services in Kyiv have visited Mr. Matyukha on multiple occasions?

Luzhniki buddies

Next.

On September 2, 2019, Ukraine gave the green light for the legalization of the gambling business and bookmakers. And on the scene appeared a certain Boris Baum, who is attributed with close cooperation with the OCG "Luzhniki."

Following him, his old comrade from the OCG "Luzhniki," Mikhail Spektor, appeared.

About the OCG "Luzhniki."

At its origins stood three—Babakov, Voevodin, and Giner, or rather, four...

They started their business in 1993 at the clothing market in Luzhniki together with the authority figure and lawyer by education, Maksim Kurochkin, also known as Mad Max: they extorted stall owners, collected tribute, and acted as a "roof." Soon, instant lotteries (shell games) and other ways of deceiving gullible suckers appeared at the markets.

Thus, the foundation for the Luzhniki-style gambling business was laid. 

Maksim Kurochkin

But soon, this group unexpectedly ventured into the energy sector in Ukraine.

And they seized Ukrainian regional energy companies. At that time, the Luzhniki gang was mistakenly called Slovak, as the scheme involved the company East Slovak Power Plants.

The privatization process was managed by Oleksandr Hareza, who in the 2000s participated in structuring deals for the privatization of energy companies (VS Energy) in Ukraine. He was also a member of the board of directors of the CSKA football club.

And things were going great for the entire group—Babakov, Giner, Voevodin, and Kurochkin... Kurochkin would fly to Kyiv on his private plane.

But soon, Kurochkin was gunned down in Kyiv. 

Additionally, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened two criminal cases on suspicion of tax evasion through profit underreporting and manipulations with tender procurements. Officials of VS Energy and Kyivoblenergo came under persecution.

During this time, Babakov bought an apartment in the center of Paris, then acquired a palace and 10 hectares of land near Versailles.

Voevodin and Giner also rushed to buy real estate: they own houses and hotels in France. The OCG "Luzhniki" has businesses in Slovakia and France.

It seems that our main character—Matyukha—has been connected to the OCG "Luzhniki" for many years. And the Russian mafia has long been present in Ukraine: the OCG "Solntsevskie"—led by Semion Mogilevich, who recently goes by Serhiy Shnayder—and the OCG "Luzhniki" have constantly divided all the "feeding grounds" as masters. Journalists uncovered that Mogilevich himself keeps "under the mattress" 15 passports for all occasions.

And this was detailed in an investigation by "Moskovsky Komsomolets" titled "15 Faces of Don Simeon." 

Semion Mogilevich, holder of 15 passports

It remains to be added that Mogilevich-Shnayder was born and raised in Kyiv, and today lives in a cottage in the Moscow suburbs next door to Russia’s chief communist, Gennady Zyuganov.

Here’s to the friendship of nations!

With the OCG "Luzhniki," Andriy Matyukha has been connected for many years through Boris Baum, the curator of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries. Baum is the former chairman of the supervisory board of "PIB" bank, the former chairman of the supervisory board of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, and a former top manager of the Russian TV channel RTVI. He was personally recommended by Giner. He is also a former top manager of VS Energy, a citizen of Latvia, and received Ukrainian citizenship in 2020.

And it was Boris Baum who was tasked with finalizing the law on the gambling business. 

Boris Baum

While Baum was working on finalizing the law, Aleksandr Babakov, Evgeniy Giner, and Mikhail Voevodin did not waste time—they gained control over critical infrastructure assets in Ukraine through fraudulent schemes. Prosecutors attempted to seize shares of five regional energy companies. However, Ukrainian courts refused, citing that the nominal owners were Latvian and German managers, and the investigation failed to prove a connection between the OCG "Luzhniki" and the nominals.

Is it surprising that Matyukha’s gambling business flourished like yeast during this time?

Let us also recall that during the ban on gambling, he operated under the lottery brand "Toto." 

Russian passport, Croatian residency, and business in Ukraine and RF: How Andriy Matyukha built Favbet through ties with the ’Luzhniki’ mafia 

Andriy Matyukha

Boris Baum, being a close friend of David Arakhamia, thus played a key role in securing FavBet’s access to the gambling market.

And, of course, Matyukha was supported in everything by his Amazons—both his first and second wives dove headfirst into a diverse and multifaceted business: is it easy to manage dozens of companies?

The eldest son—Dmytro Matyukha—has already received control of the group of companies.

But the father of many children, Andriy Matyukha, has three more children growing up: will there be enough gambling?