Shevtsova-Degrik Alyona Volodymyrivna

Alyona Shevtsova-Degrik is an entrepreneur, founder of LeoGaming, a fintech company specializing in payment solutions for gaming, owner of IBOXBank and business partner of Ihor Kolomoisky. She is an ambassador for the development of financial technologies in Ukraine and is included in the ranking of influential women in business. But who is Shevtsova-Degrik and what does she do?

Field of activity

Shevtsova-Degrik’s career started with the founding of LeoPartners, a law firm that provided e-commerce consulting services. Later, her passion for e-commerce grew into the creation and registration of LeoGaming, a company that made payments for online games. In addition, Shevtsova-Degrik became an activist of the Kyiv branch of the Young Regions movement, a branch of the Party of Regions, and sponsored public events of the Young Regions. Shevtsova-Degrik is particularly proud of the fact that in 2018 she personally negotiated with Viber owner Rakuten to launch payments for VIberOut based on LeoGaming, but she later withdrew from the company’s shareholders.

Shevtsova-Degryk’s business empire

Currently, Shevtsova-Degrik is controlled by a number of legal entities, namely:

1. JSC “AIBOX BANK” (EDRPOU code 21570492)
2. ITI Solutions LLC (EDRPOU code 41646524)
3. TECH-SOFT ATLAS LLC (EDRPOU code 42884957)
4. DIGITAL FINANCE LLC (EDRPOU code 43241185)
5. VMGO “PROFESSIONAL” (EDRPOU code 26436870)
6. FC LEO LLC (EDRPOU code 39010283)
7. LEO PARTNERS LLC (EDRPOU code 36676798)
8. DELTA INVESTMENT GROUP LLC (EDRPOU code 38104050)
9. KFC-UKRAINE LLC (EDRPOU code 37569355)
10. JSC “ZNVKIF ‘LEO INVEST GROUP’ (code: 44485170)

Family ties and assets

Alyona Shevtsova-Degrik is officially married to Yevhen Shevtsov, who served as Deputy Head of the Main Department of the National Police of Ukraine. In 2018, Shevtsov took part in the SBI competition for the position of the Head of the Department for Organization of Pre-trial Investigations at the State Bureau of Investigation. However, he did not win the competition.

Regarding the family’s financial situation, during the annual income declaration, Shevtsov declared more than UAH 90 million in income, and the family’s monetary assets amounted to more than UAH 94 million. In total, his income as Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the National Police of Ukraine amounted to UAH 412 thousand, all other funds belong to Aliona Shevtsova-Degrik. In addition, the family owns 2 apartments, a land plot, and non-residential premises.

Covering digital crimes as the main activity of Yevhen Shevtsov

Yevhen Shevtsov, having connections in the National Police, attracted a number of law enforcement officers under his control and became a curator and organizer of a criminal group whose activities are aimed at extortion, concealment, failure to enter information into the URPTI, and obstruction of pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings.

Currently, Shevtsov provides cover for digital crimes, namely: illegal activities of traffic arbitrage companies, criminal schemes related to the Binance crypto exchange, concealment and facilitation of call centers in Kyiv, located at 1 Mezhyhirska Street and 15 Leipzigska Street, Building B (6th floor).

Shevtsov conceals the criminal actions of unidentified persons who, through manipulation and fraud, earn money in such areas as gambling, bookmaking, pornography, the OnlyFans adult content subscription service, the sale of counterfeit goods, and the sale of counterfeit goods.

Activities of FC LEO LLC

FC LEO LLC, owned by Shevtsova and businessman Vadym Hordievskyi, specializes in online gambling payment schemes. However, of course, this is only a cover for criminal schemes, as the company’s main activity is mixing (a type of fraud in the banking network that replaces the purpose of payment, which is why the state sees a financial transaction not as a bet on a game, but as the purchase of a product or service).

The scheme was exposed by the state, sanctions were imposed on the company, and Shevtsova-Degrik’s associate founded a new company, ALTA CAPITAL FC LLC, which operated under the old scheme.

The year 2023 was fatal for Shevtsova’s business, as the National Security and Defense Council included her company LEO, Cyprus-based LeoPartners, and British Electronic Payment Solutions Ltd. in the sanctions list. However, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed the illegality of imposing a fine and removing FC LEO (LEO MPS) from the market.

Shevtsova-Degryk’s appearance in the gambling industry and connection with Parimatch

Since 2021, Shevtsova’s track record includes participation in the gambling business. In particular, in May 2022, LeoGaming, Shevtsova’s company, acquired a license to set up a casino and/or a betting shop in the AlicePlace hotel in Odesa. A few months later, IBOXBank received a license from the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries of Ukraine (CRGL) to accept payments in favor of online casinos.

IBOXBank activities and casino protection

PariMatch casino is closely connected with IBOXBank shareholders, who are also involved in the scheme. Alyona Shevtsova-Degrik was actively involved in money laundering schemes that involved the Russian online casino PariMatch. IBOXBank was the main link in the system of money laundering by casinos, bookmakers and other representatives of the gambling market. The bank collected financial flows from various gray areas of the economy.

All the bank’s financial resources were used to collect money from shadow operations, and Visa and Mastercard processing systems processed transactions without any problems.

This illegal activity brought millions in profit to the bank’s shareholders every day. After all, this powerful financial mechanism allowed for uninterrupted operations, covering the shadow business and providing huge profits.

PariMatch’s financial flows went through IBOXBank, which acted as the main link for legalizing the funds received from gambling. Shevtsova-Degrik, the owner of IBOXBank, was not only one of the main executors of the scheme, but also the actual organizer. She was responsible for coordinating the withdrawal process, using IBOXBank terminals to process payments from casinos and bookmakers.

Over the years, IBOXBank managed not only to conceal about UAH 7.5 billion of transactions, but also to become a defendant in a number of criminal proceedings related to corruption and illegal withdrawal of funds.

IBOXBank also processed transactions of a large network of IBox terminals. It has almost 9,000 devices across Ukraine and had 6.8 million customers per month. They could replenish their monobank cards and pay for various services through well-known terminals, without any fees. After the bank’s license was revoked, the IBox network immediately stopped working. The ability to replenish cards also disappeared.

Liquidation of IBOXBank: return of deposits

Given that her illegal activities had come to the attention of law enforcement and the NBU, Shevtsova decided to exit the business. On February 27, Shevtsova wrote a letter of resignation from the position of the chairman of the supervisory board of IBOXBank. However, on March 7, the NBU revoked the license of the banking institution and liquidated it. However, Shevtsova-Degrik did not miss the opportunity and facilitated the return of deposits to individuals. In particular, she received UAH 175 million, and UAH 125 million was returned to Ihor Kolomoisky.

Influencing the media and concealing the truth

In order to conceal negative facts about their activities, the Shevtsovs regularly clean up negative publications involving them, replacing them with exclusively positive news. In addition, the couple exerted pressure on the president of the Academy of Ukrainian Press, Valeriy Ivanov, to remove publications related to their activities from the network.

In order to whitewash their tarnished reputation, the couple does not neglect anything, from simple manipulation to litigation. In particular, in 2019, a number of online resources published an investigation into the facts of Shevtsov’s activities, which became the subject of Shevtsov’s lawsuit. As a result of the trial, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv ruled to block the Internet resources that defamed the reputation of the Shevtsov-Degrik couple.