16.08.2024 Cybercrimes Money laundering

He robbed the country and the Armed Forces of UAH 200 million: the story of arbitrator Slobozhenko

He evaded paying over UAH 200 million in taxes: The BES served a notice of suspicion to well-known blogger and businessman Oleksandr Slobozhenko.

His company Traffic Devils arbitrated Internet traffic (affiliate marketing) – advertising on the Internet and social networks of goods and services of third parties mainly from the gambling (online casino and gambling market), dating (online dating services), betting (online betting market, bookmaking organizations), nutra (online market for health and beauty products), etc.

In order to conceal income and evade taxes and fees, the company was not registered as a legal entity and was not registered as a taxpayer with the State Tax Service of Ukraine, and accordingly, no employment contracts were concluded with employees.

Investigators say that Slobozhenko introduced a mechanism for obtaining his own income, in particular from the provision of services, by transferring funds into cryptocurrency using payment systems and electronic wallets registered in his and his trustees’ names, with their subsequent exchange for cash received at currency exchange offices. He then legalized the proceeds of crime. In particular, he purchased a number of real estate objects and luxury vehicles.

Thus, Slobozhenko, with the assistance of trustees, received income equivalent to more than UAH 1 billion at the official NBU exchange rate at the time. They were not reflected in the declarations of property and income for 2020-2023, and no taxes were paid on them.

Such actions resulted in the actual loss of over UAH 213 million in taxes to the state budget.

We would like to note that we are pleased that law enforcement officers have started investigating the activities of arbitrageurs, crypto fraudsters and information gypsies, starting with the well-known Slobozhenko.

Slobozhenko has long been considered the most successful and influential arbitrator and blogger. Posts mentioning his name were always “attacked” by a bunch of bots and defenders who wrote about the integrity of Traffic Devils and the businessman. But it turns out that the fairy tale did not last long.

We personally filed two complaints about the unauthorized activities of Slobozhenko’s company, tax evasion and concealment of real income through the purchase of movable and immovable property, as well as through cryptocurrency transactions.

Speaking of property manipulation. It is worth mentioning that Slobozhenko officially owns only a used 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer and a 2019 BMW S1000RR motorcycle. While her grandmother owns two $700,000 apartments in the luxurious Taryan Towers skyscraper in Kyiv, and the blogger’s mother owns two parking spaces in this residential complex and an apartment in Pechersk.

In other words, it was enough to look at the information from the register to realize the shadowy nature of the man’s activities. 

Based on our materials, the Prosecutor General’s Office launched a pre-trial investigation in a number of proceedings, in particular 42023000000000987 of 14.06, part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code, 42023000000000988 of 14.06, part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code, 42023000000000989 of 14.06, part 2 of Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code. We also wrote that the BES had been investigating Slobozhenko for a long time on suspicion of tax evasion and gambling organization. And finally, apart from formalities, we are seeing a real reaction from the security forces.

Whether this is another show to “intimidate and fly over” Slobozhenko’s “colleagues” and Ukrainians in general is a moot point. A year ago, law enforcement officers also visited the blogger and served him with a notice of suspicion under articles on tax evasion and legalization of property. But then the situation was quickly forgotten. Slobozhenko was simply flown under the radar, allowing him to continue making money in a shady way. The blogger himself claimed that the investigative actions were illegal and a “misunderstanding.” We will find out later whether the situation will repeat itself this time and whether all investigative actions are part of a war to redistribute influence and bring new players to the market.

We can also see that Ukrainian law enforcement has finally learned to track and deanonymize cryptocurrency transactions. This means that all information gypsies, traders, bloggers, and arbitrageurs should work harder, because, as it turned out, crypto is not such a safe and, most importantly, anonymous way to legalize funds.

In fact, it doesn’t take much effort and resources to research the real owner of a cryptocurrency wallet. It is enough to know the account number. The next step is to contact the crypto exchanges with an official request and demand to provide information about the account holder. Therefore, if you still think that electronic payments and crypto transfers will protect you from exposure by law enforcement, you are completely wrong.

Who among the younger generation will be next? Traffic Jack, Povetkin or other colleagues? We believe that along with corruption, digital crimes should also be exposed, as they take away as much money from the country as bribe-taking officials.

We look forward to a real fight against online casinos, including those of Russian origin. Perhaps this time, law enforcement will follow through?

We urge you to report any circumstances of digital crimes, cryptocurrency withdrawal schemes and fraudulent infogypsies you know. To communicate, write to us in the chat bot or by e-mail at info.nonstopukraine@gmail.com.

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