SEC - Page 95

Seizure of Russian assets across the globe is picking up steam. According to Bloomberg, at the request of G7 state leaders, a group of legal experts greenlit the arrest of $300 billion, assets of Russia’s central bank, as such actions are permitted by the international law with regard to the scale of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. Department of Justice said they intend to seize the assets of the Russian oligarchs worth $700 million.

The West’s closing in on the Russian tycoons, the majority of whom are actively involved in financing the Russia’s barbaric war, one way or another. Hence, the oligarchs seek save havens for their money. Many try to make their stash go unnoticed in the UK and its jurisdictions.

Our investigation deals with German Kaplun, the former owner of the Russian propaganda media RBC, who’s now trying to create an image of a law-abiding British investor; Kaplun is looking to whitewash his money in the UK through TMT Investments, and in Ukraine – through the very same enterprise and his cousin Yosyp Pintus, the owner of RBC-Ukraine. However, the money Kaplun and Pintus are trying to launder are soaked in blood, since they came from the Russian government, the Ministry of the Interior in particular, with licenses for some of Kaplun’s companies issued by the FSB [Federal Security Service]. Let’s start from the top, shall we?

So, German Kaplun is known in the UK as the owner of TMT Investments. Company shares are traded at the London Stock Exchange. Company’s a typical close-end venture capitalist that mostly operates with its own money, bringing in the external investments in some high-risk operations. As you can tell, the enterprise does not shy away from outright manipulation of securities. 

From Russia with frauded investors

For instance, a case that pops up in mind is a scandal with TMT Industries sale and purchase of shares of Cypriot Appsindep (developer of online games for social network platforms) among the Kaplun-affiliated companies. As a result of such manipulations, TMT investors lost their money, and turned to private investigators to establish facts of violations in the management of investors’ funds. According to the available at the time intel, collected by the detectives (Appsindep file), established are the facts of deliberate purchase of a “dummy” (Lightvision Interactive Ltd with no physical assets, founded in Hong Kong in 2010 by Kaplun’s business partner), failure to disclose affiliations in share transactions, manipulations of financial statements – a blatant violation of the LSE listing rules and British financial legislation.

Some of the law-breaking acts were committed by Kaplun’s cousin, Yosyp Plintus, and his British Virgin Islands company PARADY BUSINESS GROUP, namely the purchase of Lightvision Interactive shares from TMT in December 2013 (Lightvision Parady file). It’s hard to say when PARADY BUSINESS sold off Lightvision Interactive shares, the Hong Kong company was liquidated in 2017.

TMT Investments was founded in the fall of 2010, in Jersey (United Kingdom), by Kaplun and his RBC business partners. The information of the shareholders is public. Kaplun indirectly own 24% of company shares, and is the major shareholder. Most of the managerial staff are former Russian Federation citizens, RBC employees under Kaplun’s command. TMT managers and shareholders invested in an extensive network of offshore companies in various jurisdictions for the following facilitation of TMT operations with securities. The 2020 entry in the Jersey registry shows that TMT shareholders list has over 30 names, with brokerage companies, Belize and BVI-based trusts, Russian nationals (TMT 2020 file, closing pages). All TMT managers – former citizens of the Russian Federation – are now holders of UK passports.

This fact alone is a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom should you know the origins of money that Kaplun and TMT Investments operate. This money comes straight from the Russian government, namely the punitive state bodies. This money was made under supervision and with blessing of the FSB.

“British” investor with money off Gazprom, Rostec, and Russia’s law enforcers

Starting in the early-2000s, the Russian holding company RBC ran a separate IT business unit under the RBC SOFT brand. In 2007, RBC shareholders voted in favour of separating RBC’s IT business into a standalone holding company ARMADA.

In that same 2007, ARMADA shares were listed on the Moscow’s RTS and MICEX exchanges; for the $20 million proceeds from the sale of some company shares, was bought a string of other Russian IT-enterprises that developed and integrated software solutions in B2B sector (logistics, banking, trade, government structures).

Group of companies ARMADA had three business lines: Armada Soft (software development), Armada Center (software integration and hardware solutions), and Armada Online (cloud-based business services).

According to Russia’s Federal Treasury, between 2011 and 2017, ARMADA won 79 bids for the government agencies and companies, worth $80 million in total. Among the major clients of ARMADA were Moscow’s city hall, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Federal Treasury of Russia. Also, Gazprom, VEB, Sberbank, and “Russian Helicopters” that is part of Rostec military concern.

In 2013, ARMADA was granted a license issued by the Second Service of the FSB that permits the development of secure systems and encryption tools.

“Armada” was co-owned by Kaplun and some other Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group). In the summer of 2014, ARMADA’s two central shareholders at the time, Kaplun and Fridman, had a fallout on the grounds of mutual claims to gain de facto control over the company. Kaplun came out victorious, and was in charge of ARMADA.

As reported by ARMADA Joint Stock Company, Kaplun still sits on the company’s Board of Directors and, despite the recorded claims of having no ARMADA share capital, is in fact in indirect possession of ARMADA shares via the offshore MENOSTAR HOLDINGS LIMITED (Cyprus) and ARSENAL ADVISOR LTD. (BVI).

Therefore, judging by the actions of German Kaplan and his cousin Yosyp Pintus, these two are clearly engaged in money laundering; it’s not just some Russian money, oh no, it’s the money from the Russian state agencies, some of which are either state secret services, or are part of Russia’s military complex.

The agent’s bazaar of good Russians in Ukraine

The second country where Kaplun whitewashes his Russian money is, which may come as a surprise, Ukraine. He is helped by his cousin Yosyp Pintus, the owner of one of Ukraine’s largest digital media, information agency RBC-Ukraine. The front for money laundering and, most likely, working for Russian interests is a venture IT-syndicate TOLOKA.

In June 2023, Ukrainian media announced the arrival of an investment community under the TOLOKA brand name. The reports said the co-founders of the project are Igor Shoifot (TMT Investments), Taras Kyrychenko (Nova Poshta), and Oleksandr Kolba (Promodo).

TOLOKA’s official site highlights the support of the entrepreneurial effort in Ukraine, charitable funds, and support of Ukraine in general.

The relevant “Ukrainian” picture was painted in his interview by one of TOLOKA’s declared co-founders, representative of TMT Investments, Igor Shoifot.

However, according to Shoifot’s LinkedIn page, he completed his higher education in Moscow, securing his PhD from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, he’s been Kaplun’s business partner since March 2011, basically from the earliest days of TMT Investments.

Russian role in Shoifot’s life and experience was never part of TOLOKA’s discussion. The fact the largest investor of TMT Investments, German Kaplun, is a Russian national, was never brought up as well.

It’s worth pointing out, the most media coverage dedicated to TOLOKA came from the outlet ProIT, founded in the summer 2023 (inside the same timeframe as TOLOKA) by the former editor-in-chief of RBC-Ukraine Anton Podlutskyi, and former writer on economics, PR-expert Olesia Ostafiieva.

TOLOKA news were also posted on RBC-Ukraine.

Russians in control of one of Ukraine’s largest media

RBC-Ukraine is currently in Ukraine’s top-5 digital media outlets. Established in 2006, it’s a regional branch of the Russian media holding company RBC (short for “RosBusinessConsulting”), owned by German Kaplun. Ukrainian subsidiary of RBC is run by Yosyp Plintus, Kaplun’s cousin. The official narrative enforced by RBC-Ukraine, solidified on its Wikipedia page as well, is that Ukrainian agency parted ways with the Russian holding company in 2010, and has been fully under control of Pintus since 2015. RBC-Ukraine is painted as an independent company starting 2014, having nothing to do with the former Russian owners.

However, there’s ample evidence this is untrue. Our investigation found:

1. RBC-Ukraine can be controlled and financed by the Russian parties via anonymous offshore enterprises

2. Yosyp Pintus, owner of RBC-Ukraine, lies about severed ties with Russia. Pintus-controlled companies partake in fraudulent schemes targeting British investors

3. Pintus’ Ukrainian passport is used by Kaplun to legalize his endeavors in the UK and other countries, where Russian money is not welcome.

Let us look closer ay the evidence at hand. So, the de facto ownership of information portal rbc.ua, according to the information on the said site, is carried out by LLC UBT MEDIA. CEO is Yosyp Pintus, deputy CEO is Volodymyr Shultz. Both are listed as co-owners.

The basic structure of Pintus and Schultz’s ownership in all registered Ukrainian companies:

At the same time, Pintus is still the head of RBC-UKRAINE LLC, the “operator” of the rbc.ua website until 2015. The owner of RBC-UKRAINE LLC is MASS MEDIA GROUP LLC (100%). The owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP LLC is THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD (BVI, 100%). There is currently no information about the ultimate beneficiary of THORNLEY INVESTMENTS.

RBC-UKRAINE LLC, according to the Report on the listed affiliates, was a unit within the overall structure of the Russian RBC.

THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD (current owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP) is also among the companies affiliated with RBC Holding (RBC THORNLEY LTD file).

It’s worth mentioning that according to public sources, Belize company SOUTHBURY MARKETING INC., beneficiary company of New Business Media, was closed in 2019, yet in Ukrainian registers it is listed as the current owner of New Business Media.

RBC trademark ownership in Ukraine

Rather telling is the fact that, despite the claims of severed ties with the Russian company RBC, Yosyp Pintus went above and beyond to keep the Russian trade mark operational in Ukraine. As an example of such a strenuous effort on behalf of Mr. Pintus is a court case from 2015-2018, which revolved around the ownership rights for the RBC trademark. Plaintiff, MASS MEDIA GROUP, sought to invalidate the agreement on the transfer of rights to use the RBC trademark, alleging the former RBC-Media accountant signed the relevant paperwork in violation of the Law. The third party involved was the BVI-registered THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD, owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP. According to the State Register of Property Rights, RBC trademark is owned by RBC-MEDIA LLC. Also, MASS MEDIA GROUP remains the representative of the right to the Russian trademark C-NEWS (www.cnews.com) in Ukraine on behalf of ROSBUSINESSCONSULTING JSC.

RBC-RF and RBC-Ukraine pre-2015

Until 2014, RBC-UKRAINE was in possession of the BVI-registered offshore company NewMediaHosting Inc. It is impossible to produce physical evidence of the previous connection at the moment. By the looks of it, NewMediaHosting Inc. has been liquidated.

Until 2012 at least, MASS MEDIA GROUP was owned by the Cypriot RBC INVESTMENTS (CYPRUS) LIMITED and GAROUSENTO HOLDINGS LIMITED. German Kaplun was in ownership of the Cypriot legal entity. Kaplun was managing the bank accounts of RBC INVESTMENTS (CYPRUS) LIMITED in the Russian Federation (RBC INVESTMENTS HISTORY file). Cyprus-based company was closed in 2015.

Until 2012, Pintus and Ukrainian legal entities were listed in the Russian registers as a structural part of the Russian RBC.

Pintus’ offshore companies working for Kaplun

The basic structure of Pintus’s main connections in all known offshore companies:

As for Pintus’ first parent company from the BVI, Aquarius Market, it is known from the archival sources on the internet media that the company was used by Kaplun to conduct RBC-Holding securities deals disguised as a third-party entity; the company was, in effect, under complete control of Kaplun through Pintus as a front. Russian media mention Trafford Inc from Belize (owned by Pintus) was used by Kaplun as a shareholder of RBC stakes. TRAFFORD INC. was closed in 2019.

Another BVI parent offshore company of Pintus, PARADY BUSINESS GROUP (has a mutual registrant with THORNLEY INVESTMENTS), was employed by Kaplun to facilitate his fraudulent manipulations with shares of another BVI legal entity, Berryman Capital Group. The deal on Kaplun’s purchase of Berryman Capital Group, a developer of online games for social networks, was public. The relevant news on the investment in Berryman is available in the TMT’s official announcement on the London Stock Exchange from 2012 (LondonStock Berryman file). Berryman Capital Group is also mentioned on the TMT Investments website as an implemented investment project.

Between 2015 and 2017, Pintus’ PARADY BUSINESS GROUP was the ultimate owner of 60% shares of Berryman Capital Group (through 2 offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands and Belize). Running the two companies were Kaplun’s proxies – Aleksandr Pak, TMT Investments manager and former analyst at RBC, and Larisa Koryakina, wife of Kaplun’s business partner, co-founder (along with Kaplun) of a production cooperative in Russia (Orgtechnika file).

It is presently impossible to verify the chain of ownership of PARADY BUSINESS GROUP – Berryman Capital Group, as at least one of the companies in the Belizean “chain”, ABA UNIT CORP. was liquidated in 2019. In addition, all three Belizean companies mentioned earlier and linked to Pintus (ABA UNIT CORP., TRAFFORD INC. and SOUTHBURY MARKETING INC.) were terminated in the same period – April 2019, which implicitly suggests a strong connection between all these Belizean companies used by Kaplun and Pintus for various schemes.

Conclusions that might interest the law enforcers of the UK and Ukraine

So,

1. German Kaplun owns and runs a group of IT companies ARMADA in Russia, which, supervised by the FSB, develop software for government bodies in the Russian Federation, namely the Ministry of the Interior, Gazprom, military concern Rostec, Moscow city officials etc.

• Pintus, as the offshore companies’ owner and a citizen of Ukraine, is a valuable “asset” to Kaplun and TMT, in particular, in overcoming the UK restrictions on assets transactions of companies affiliated with or owned by Russian citizens or dual citizens of Russia and the UK. Pintus’s offshore entities (AQUARIUS MARKET and PARADY BUSINESS) were used in Kaplun’s schemes in RBC and TMT.

• Kaplun’s company TMT Investments co-founded TOLOKA, a project designed to find promising IT startups in Ukraine. The project is promoted by the former RBC-Ukraine media managers, and news about TOLOKA are also duplicated on Pintus’ RBC-Ukraine, which is definitely tied to Kaplun through long-standing, close family and business ties (see conclusions to Part 1). The combination of facts suggests that TOLOKA may be utilized by Kaplun to find and use Ukrainian IT startups for the benefit of, among others, Russian government agencies, for whom Kaplun’s other Russian IT company, ARMADA, has been working for a number of years.

• Russian national Kaplun, who has connections to the Russian government and intelligence services, keeps influencing one of Ukraine’s largest media outlets, RBC-Ukraine. During the restructuring of the Russian RBC in 2013-14, the actual owner of RBC-Ukraine was Kaplun through the Cyprus-based RBC INVESTMENT. In 2014, the actual owner of RBC-Ukraine (MASS MEDIA GROUP) became an offshore company from BVI, THORNLEY INVESTMENTS. Accordingly, there was either a sale and purchase agreement, or Kaplun donated the company to Pintus, or Kaplun remains the ultimate shareholder of RBC-Ukraine (through THORNLEY INVESTMENTS). THORNLEY INVESTMENTS is listed as an affiliate of RBC-RF, so there is a valid link between RBC-Ukraine and RBC-RF (through MASS MEDIA GROUP and THORNLEY INVESTMENTS).

Can it be a sheer coincidence the Russian citizen, whose backstory includes work experience for the Russian government in a highly sensitive field, controlled by the Federal Security Service, is now trying to go legit in the countries opposing Russia – UK and Ukraine? Is it indeed a coincidence or a secret mission? The front of an “entrepreneur” or an “investor” has been among Russian secret services’ favourite covers for a while now. To recap, the same alias was used by Andrey Lugovoy, who poisoned Oleksandr Lytvynenko with polonium, and Petrov and Boshyrov, who tried to poison Serhii Skrypal – and accidentally killed an innocent British lady. We’re hoping the law enforcement agencies of the UK and Ukraine can answer these weighing questions.