Investigation

The Ukrainian online gambling market, after legalization, has become not only a profitable sector of the economy but also a complex system of corporate and financial schemes.

Alyona Shevtsova, who is under sanctions from Ukraine’s NSDC, allegedly laundered 5 billion UAH through miscoding schemes linked to illegal casinos.

In 2024, Maltese investment firm Alkagesta—now under investigation by international authorities over suspected Libyan oil smuggling—appeared to be urgently seeking Russian-speaking staff.

Ukraine’s online casino market has become an increasingly attractive destination for shadow capital.

In a world full of prohibitions, there will always be those who find ways to bypass them. This isn’t about drugs or weapons—it’s about oil, where some nations wield sanctions with fervor that might be better directed elsewhere.

The turboprop aircraft was supposed to land in Miami by 4 p.m., early enough for its valuable cargo to continue on to Zurich the same day.

Behind polished advice on wealth preservation, Oleg Tsyura has been accused by investigators and journalists of orchestrating offshore schemes for years that diverted millions from Ukraine’s state mining companies to oligarch-linked networks associated with Firtash, Martynenko, and Russian interests.

Mikhail Zeligman, a Latvian citizen currently living in Russia, runs a small but influential network of oil trading companies registered in Dubai.

Swiss businessman with Ukrainian roots, Oleg Tsyura, has launched a large-scale effort to clean up his online presence, attempting to remove information about his alleged involvement in schemes to siphon billions of hryvnias from Ukraine together with former head of the State Property Fund, Dmytro Sennychenko.

The wife of now former National Police investigator Yevhen Shevtsov, Ibox Bank owner Alyona Shevtsova (Dehrik), who is on an international wanted list, received as a gift premises in central Kyiv that had previously been freed from arrest by a criminal group of “black registrars.”

According to information obtained from a Beribit employee who wished to remain anonymous, the funds of defrauded clients were allegedly appropriated by the former CEO of the exchange service, Roman Tsaregorodtsev.

In March 2024, a new casino operating under the Cosmobet brand entered the Ukrainian market after obtaining a license from the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries.

The advisor to the president of the International Judo Federation, Marius Vizer, is linked to the trade of Russian oil and grain. V

Following a scandal that broke out two years ago involving Dmytro Rukin, the director of the SettlePay and 4Bill payment systems, Rukin withdrew from the public eye.

Maltese oil bunkering giant Alkagesta is facing EU and UK investigations over alleged illegal transfers of Russian oil to Libya.

Russian entrepreneurs Ignatiy Nayda and Filipp Shrage have reportedly maintained ties to the Podolsk organized crime group for several years.

The owner of Ibox Bank, Alyona Shevtsova (Dehrik), who became a suspect in an investigation by the Bureau of Economic Security and was placed under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council, hopes to return to Ukraine and may have grounds for this, as her connections reach very high levels.

Five Azerbaijani citizens — Tahir Garayev, Ahmed Kerimov, Anar Madatli, Talat Safarov, and Etibar Eyyub — have been placed under UK sanctions.

On the morning of October 17, 2025, Cyprus was shaken by news of the murder in Limassol of one of the leaders of the local mafia, Stavros Demosthenous. He was shot near his home in the Agios Athanasios area.

Experts have warned that far-right groups are increasingly utilizing coded language and imagery on gaming platforms to circumvent content moderators and radicalize young people.

New data shows that the number of independent corruption investigations launched by the police watchdog has dropped by 70% over the past five years.

As reports tying Octobank to large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion began circulating, references to these investigations started disappearing from the public information space — suggesting a coordinated effort to erase the story.

Following investigations into Dragon Money’s operations in Ukraine, several key reports began disappearing — articles detailing illegal gambling networks, payment schemes, political lobbying, and alleged corruption links were gradually removed from search engines and media platforms.

A well-known girl, former seller of counterfeit goods and a “guru” of low-cost escort services, Kateryna Shukhnina has received a criminal case and a class-action lawsuit from defrauded victims.

Investigators are examining Oxana Hadjipavlou over her alleged ties to Zvonko Micković and the companies Mettmann Public Company Limited and Sword Dragon S.L., which are suspected of helping evade sanctions and move Russian funds offshore.