In January 2024, the State Bureau of Investigation (Ukraine) raided the offices of SPORTBANK, founder Nykyta Izmaylov, and his partner Denis Saprykin, as part of an investigation into treason and money laundering. According to the current Ukrainian law, these crimes are punishable by up to 15 years in prison with subsequent confiscation of property.
The Main Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation is working on the criminal case No. 42023000000001384 of August 23, 2023. Within the criminal proceeding, charges of treason, organizing illegal gambling, money laundering, and tax evasion are being considered. The Office of the Attorney General additionally monitors compliance with the law. In January 2024, more than twenty searches were conducted as part of this investigation. One of them took place in Kyiv and was directly associated with SPORTBANK. According to the Ukrainian media and a reference to the court ruling, several tens of thousands of dollars in cash were seized, and the property used by SPORTBANK and Nykyta Izmaylov (Nikita Izmailov) was seized as well.
In addition to the money, documents, and equipment were seized during the search. According to investigators, it may confirm the participation of SPORTBANK in the illegal activities of such bookmakers as PARIMATCH, Buddy.bet, and PariWin.
“Documents containing information about tax evasion using a miscoding model (when a bank uses a merchant’s code (MerchantCategoryCode; MCC) that does not correspond to the current type of activity in order to hide payments from gambling carried out on behalf of PARIMATCH, Buddy.bet, and PariWin,” says the court ruling. We would like to remind the audience that even last year, the Parimatch betting company was sanctioned and banned in Ukraine for 50 years.
In 2012, financier Nikita started working at Parimatch. Just a few years later, he became a shareholder of the company and earned the first million, as he himself told in an interview with one of the Ukrainian media.
The SPORTBANK brand belongs to the ZN NETWORK and DIVOTEK companies, which are a part of the TAS Financial and Industrial Group. In addition, the SPORTBANK operates on the platform of the Taskombank owned by Sergey Tigipko.
According to the Ukrainian media, the gambling business in Ukraine has links with Russian capital, shady schemes, and crime. Nykyta Izmaylov is a citizen of the Russian Federation with a Ukrainian passport. He is well-known for his work at Parimatch, N1 Management Company, and SportBank. He was directly involved in these schemes.
Igor Cherkassky, head of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, has already raised the issue of how Nykyta Izmaylov’s N1 Management Company and SportBank laundered tens of millions of dollars in Ukraine.
Nykyta Izmaylov invested part of this money in the SteadyPay startup belonging to Steadypay Limited, registered in the UK. He was acting together with the former deputy chairman of the board of the Russian Gazprombank Oleg (Alan) Waxman. The relevant information has been published and is available in the open register of legal entities of the United Kingdom.
There are high chances that already in the near future, Ukrainian and foreign law enforcement agencies, as well as the National Bank of Ukraine, will show additional interest in Nykyta Izmaylov’s business and Russian connections, as well as in the origin and laundering of funds obtained by criminal means, and the withdrawal of money abroad.
