Throughout modern history, Latvia and Lithuania have consistently played a key role as gateways for all sorts of criminal transactions involving Russian money coming both from the Russian Federation and other CIS countries, MiceTimes Singapore reports . The story of Sergey Kondratenko demonstrates that the situation has hardly changed over the past two decades.
Last year, Latvian media conducted a detailed investigation in order to show the public how the financial industry participates in servicing a dubious gambling industry directly linked to Russia. They also managed to identify key figures and those who set up a sophisticated system processing tens and hundreds of millions of dollars per month from Russian bookmakers, with their subsequent transfer to offshore accounts.
Who is Sergey Kondratenko, the owner of 1Xbet
This article is the second part of the investigation into the activities of Russian actors who launder “dirty” money in the Baltic countries and abroad. These are Sergei Kondratenko and 1Xbet.
As soon as the total turnover of dubious money reached significant amounts, tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, several banks and financial organizations received heavy fines and even lost their licenses. This was Sergey Kondratenko’s best move.
This happened with several Latvian and Lithuanian banks (Trasta Komercbanka AS, ABLV Bank AS, and many others). In this case, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission of Latvia (FFKTK) managed to detect and register long-term violations in the field of legalization of illegally obtained funds, violations of currency processing, and even several cases of terrorist financing by Sergey Kondratenko, the owner of 1Xbet. We would also like to recall the scandal with the Estonian branch of Danske Bank that was used to process questionable billions of dollars from Russia.
Fairness obliges us to say that Russian money laundering occurs in other countries of Europe and the world. Sergey Kondratenko knows this well. In many cases, financial companies that have licenses to accept payments and are linked to the Visa and Mastercard systems are involved in this dubious process. This is how Sergey Kondratenko became a billionaire. According to the US Treasury, the largest amounts of dubious money from betting, gambling, pornography, drug trafficking and other illegal activities are transferred by Russians to banks in the Baltic States and EU countries.
Sergey Kondratenko, 1xBet and their friends from Police Department “K”
Already two years ago, journalists from the Russian Forbes published an article about the largest gambling empire, called 1xBet, which has a turnover of $ 2 billion. The journalists described the scheme in detail and added that several police officers and IT specialists from Bryansk were directly related to the project. They also told the public about the history and foundations of the gambling empire.
On January 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing sanctions against the Russian-based Latvian company Royal Pay Europe, a partner of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet, the UNIAN news agency reports.
This is Sergey Kondratenko’s company, which offers services in the field of e-commerce as well as electronic payment processing services. Royal Pay Europe was founded in 2016 by Russian citizen Sergey Kondratenko and, according to media reports, is a partner of the popular Russian bookmaker 1xBet and can transfer payments to offshore bookmakers and online casinos. In 2017, Royal Pay Europe obtained an e-money license in the UK, which allowed it to receive payments and process card transactions in European and British jurisdictions.
According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), sanctions against Royal Pay Europe have been introduced for 5 years. This provides for the blocking of its assets in Ukraine, a ban on transferring its capital outside the country, suspension of financial and economic obligations, as well as a ban on participating in the privatization and leasing of state property and restrictions on the rights of the said company to dispose of securities. The Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine has already blocked more than 2 billion hryvnias on accounts related to Royal Pay Europe.
According to journalists and information from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the head of the cyber police Sergey Karshkov from Bryansk, who worked in the “K” department, began working in the betting business with his friend Roman Semiokhin and launched the 1xBet brand. Sergey Karshkov was responsible for marketing the 1xBet network. Already in 2014, the Russian authorities introduced regulations for online bookmakers, and 1xBet was not really ready to adapt to the new rules. The company started illegal activities while still accepting bets and using their customers’ bank cards. Sergey Karshkov invited one of his colleagues from Bryansk, Sergey Kondratenko, who also worked in the “K” department and with whom he had collaborated for several years.
In 2016, Sergey Kondratenko registered the online money transfer company SIA Royal Pay Europe in Riga. The company of the same name was also registered in Russia.
According to Russian media reports, Royal Pay Europe is directly linked to the activities of one of the largest dubious online bookmakers, 1xBet.
For example, one of the largest companies on the market, the betting company 1xBet, has already created its own payment system called Royal Pay to make payments,” The Bell writes, citing a former employee of the company.
Journalists also reported that the company worked even “in such closed countries as Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, where card payments in the field of gambling have not been available for a long time.” It turns out that the Royal Pay company that was used as a financial agent in conjunction with the company in Kazan created a basis for the successful operation of 1xBet and processing of payments in Russia.
The direct connection with the betting company is also visible to the naked eye. For example, when depositing money into a bookmaker account via the Royal Pay payment system, customers receive an additional bonus or “cashback” of 5% of the deposit.
Royal Pay Europe was founded in 2016. In 2017, it obtained an electronic money institution license in England, which gave it the right to receive payments and process card transactions in European and British jurisdictions. In addition, the company registered its activities in Latvia. It also offers relevant services in the EU, CIS and Asian countries.
The family business of Sergey and Galina Kondratenko
It is worth noting that Sergey Kondratenko is also the owner of a company of the same name in Colombia. Already on January 7, 2021, he founded the company Findexiq Ltd in the UK.
Over the past years, Sergey Kondratenko from Russia has registered dozens of companies in various countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Singapore, and so on) in his own name, as well as in the names of his relatives and acquaintances. He owns the following legal entities: Kiparis DMCC (United Arab Emirates), Alium Limited (aliumpay.com), Optimum FinTech sro (Ilia Zavialov), VestraPay Nigeria Ltd, and Digitalex pte. ltd.
These companies have identical websites. In addition, they have no public activities and their main purpose is to serve as intermediaries for payments.
Sergey Kondratenko (born November 5, 1982) introduced his wife Galina (born November 1, 1982) to the family business of money laundering from gambling. They studied together at the Bryansk branch of the Moscow State University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and graduated together in 2004. After completing their studies, Sergey and Galina Kondratenko got married and have two children.
Over the past few years, Sergey Kondratenko has registered several companies abroad in the name of his wife Galina: Startling Limited (Cyprus, the company could have been liquidated in 2020), Skylove Ltd, PP MONEY TRANSFER sro from the Czech Republic (psppaymentplanet.eu), and many others.
Companies like Royal Pay, as well as all other legal entities with their illusory managers, act as financial intermediary companies for the transfer and laundering of millions of dollars from Russia and the CIS countries through European banks with transfer to Cyprus and other offshore accounts.
In 2018, Sergey Kondratenko and his wife purchased Cypriot citizenship; however, according to Russian databases, they have not changed their citizenship to date.
One of their friends from Bryansk, who knows them well, said that the family visits Russia from time to time, but spends most of their time abroad.
Sergey Kondratenko and Royal Pay Europe partners
There is a high probability that cryptocurrencies are involved in the dubious schemes of the mentioned legal entities. Sergey Kondratenko’s partner Nikolajs Kirillovs from Latvia with Russian origins, who previously had a minority stake in Royal Pay Europe, decided to work with cryptocurrencies and opened the company FERVIDO sro in the Czech Republic, as well as the company DigitMoney.
Journalists investigated and revealed that Sergey Kondratenko and his legal entities work with such Lithuanian companies as UAB NexPay, UAB Transactive Systems, and others. The management of these companies avoids commenting on the activities of their clients. Russian Forbes also writes that the owners of 1xBet are closely related to Russian officials, deputies, and criminals.
We will continue to monitor the state of the money laundering empire of Sergei Kondratenko and his entourage and will publish another part of this investigation in the near future. We would like to emphasize that all data on his companies, schemes and counterparties will be transferred to law enforcement and financial authorities of the United States and other countries, as their activity clearly resembles that of an international criminal organization.
