Following the liquidation of Ibox Bank and the searches carried out there, Alena Dehrik-Shevtsova, head of the bank and dubbed the "star of Ukrainian fintech," has come under renewed scrutiny.
However, in connection with recent events, it seems that this "star" will burn out in a bright flame. Although everyone in financial circles has heard about her fierce struggle for her payment system Leo ("Leo"), which led to the collapse of "Ibox Bank" — it was acquired by Shevtsova specifically for this payment system. One of the main battles unfolded with competitors—GlobalMoney.
Competing firms regularly accused each other of spreading negativity and compromising information, which appeared with enviable regularity in the media, including in quite reputable publications. The main accusations were as follows: laundering money from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk (ORDLO), lack of client monitoring, and hiding income from the state. The most painful accusation for both structures, of course, was the claim of cooperation with Russia, which became particularly acute a year ago.
At the forefront of the attacks were the "Alliance" bank of Aleksandr Sosis, which serves as the settlement bank and issuer of electronic money for the international payment system GlobalMoney, and "Ibox Bank" of Alyona Shevtsova (she bore the surname Dehrik before marrying Evgeny Shevtsov, a high-ranking officer of the National Police of Ukraine). "Ibox," in turn, was (since the National Bank of Ukraine announced its liquidation on March 7, we must use the past tense here) the issuer of electronic money for the international payment system Leo ("Leo").
It was on them that the largest streams of compromising information were directed, and their owners organized counter-campaigns in which they tried to drown their competitors. For now, it seems Sosis has won—on March 7, 2023, "Ibox Bank" was liquidated, and on March 8, searches were conducted in its offices. However, the outcome of this war is far from decided, and meanwhile, in those streams of compromising information—often fake, admittedly—that Sosis and Shevtsova exchanged, there were not just grains, but whole mountains of truth.
Because both structures are involved in transferring money to and from Russia. And in working in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the so-called "DPR" and "LNR." And, of course, in Crimea. Drugs are hardly worth mentioning—they are a mere trifle compared to the rest. That’s why, by the way, both sides so meticulously cleaned up these materials.
So, Sosis and the "Alliance" bank.
Behind the bank stands Yury Ivanyushchenko, widely known in narrow circles as YurIY Yenakievsky. While the "Donetsk clique" ruled the country, there was no particular need to hide his ownership of the bank, but in 2014, it had to be "sold." The new "owners" of the bank became the Donetsk LLC "Kramp" (EGRPOU 36442702) and the Kyiv LLC "Ukrbiznesstandart" (EGRPOU 35886746), which still belonged to Ivanyushchenko.
In the same year, 2014, amid a wave of anti-corruption efforts (or rather, a struggle for financial flows), searches were conducted at the bank. As later stated by the head of the SBU, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, among the items seized were seals of institutions and enterprises of the "L/DNR" and contracts that could have been used to finance militants. Additionally, property and documents of another bank, "Hefest," also under the control of Ivanyushchenko and his partner Serhiy Dyadechko, were found at "Alliance."
But Ivanyushchenko came up with a cunning move, siccing the Jewish Community of Donbas on the SBU. Taking advantage of society’s sensitive attitude toward manifestations of anti-Semitism (often imaginary), at Ivanyushchenko’s instigation, Rabbi Pinkhus Vyshedsky (the former leader of the Donetsk "Chabad" community) claimed that during the search, "Alpha" unit fighters stole money and valuables from a bank vault belonging to some still-unknown "Jewish refugees."
Of course, no one stole anything, but the move proved effective: a criminal case was opened against SBU officers, and a scandal erupted. Meanwhile, the "Alliance" bank was resold to a new owner. In early 2015, it became the former junior partner of Akhmetov, Aleksandr Sosis.
Around the same time, the "Alliance" bank became the settlement bank for the GlobalMoney system, whose owners were hidden behind a series of shell companies, but the trails led back to Yury Ivanyushchenko and members of the so-called "Yanukovych family," particularly to the Minister of Finance of Azarov’s Cabinet, Yury Kolobov.
As of March 2023, the beneficiary of LLC "GlobalMoney" is listed as a certain Volodymyr Mykolayovych Karpov:
We won’t make any claims, but it seems doubtful that Yury Ivanyushchenko and Yury Kolobov would voluntarily give up a payment system through which billions of hryvnias from the gambling business flow, and which cooperates with Ivanyushchenko’s "Alliance" bank. The same story applies to the bank—it’s just as questionable whether Aleksandr Sosis is the true owner of "Alliance," as it is with "GlobalMoney."
In recent years, a fairly large share of payments from players of multiplayer paid and conditionally free computer games, online casinos, and betting offices (both legal and not entirely so) has passed through "GlobalMoney," with a significant portion of these payments processed in "Alliance." We are talking about hundreds of millions (at least) of hryvnias, from which the payment system and the bank earn their percentage.
And no matter how large the cash flow from gamers may be, the players who have latched onto it will still find it cramped. In such a situation, a war with competitors is simply inevitable. And these competitors, engaged in the same activities and serving the same clients, are naturally aware of what is happening in the other system. Therefore, the leaks of compromising information contain a very large share of truth. Of course, the colors are greatly exaggerated—that’s the point of a smear campaign—but the essence remains true.
And that’s why the accusations against "GlobalMoney," "Alliance," and Sosis regarding cooperation with ORDLO, Russia, and laundering money from drug trafficking are true. Moreover, the National Bank of Ukraine fined "Alliance" precisely for this:
But what representatives of "Alliance" and "GlobalMoney" claim—that the attacks on them are orchestrated by competitors from "Leo" and "Ibox"—is also true. The main share of compromising information is indeed leaked by them.
Alyona Shevtsova, the payment system "Leo," and "Ibox Bank"
Alyona Shevtsova took over the bank in February 2022, and a year earlier became its shareholder. After that, the press was filled with praises about how she saved the bank from bankruptcy. However, the music didn’t play for long—as already reported, searches were conducted at "Ibox Bank" on March 8, and on March 7, the National Bank of Ukraine decided on its liquidation. The reason—"systematic violation by the Bank of legislative requirements in the field of prevention and counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of militants, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction":
For the same reason, by the way, "Ibox" was fined 10 million hryvnias in 2021. Alyona Shevtsova did not yet lead it at that time, but she was among the key shareholders. And she actively used the bank for her money transfer system "Leo," so both the fine and the current liquidation were the logical consequences of her activities.
Of course, there’s no doubt that a flood of materials about a "competitor-ordered hit" will now pour in, and Shevtsova herself will be portrayed as an innocent victim, but the harsh reality of life is that she, just like "GlobalMoney," is implicated in cooperation with Russia, ORDLO, illegal casinos, and drug money. Yes, most of this information was leaked by competitors from "GlobalMoney," but does that change anything?
Alyona Shevtsova founded the financial company "Leogaming Pay" in 2013. Initially, Alyona Volodymyrivna’s business was not a full-fledged payment system. It was more of a gateway between players and gaming platforms, as she herself readily talks about in numerous interviews. But the enterprise grew at a rapid pace, and by 2017, Shevtsova registered the domestic payment system "Leo" with the National Bank, which a couple of years later became international.
And after some time, she needed her own bank, which became the struggling "Ibox." Shevtsova’s purchase of it delayed its collapse by a year and a half. But in this context, we are interested in the same things as with "GlobalMoney."
So, it is known that Shevtsova’s payment system "Leo" was implicated in a scandal surrounding arms trade—arms for the National Guard were purchased in the USA and, after attaching a domestic label, resold at 2.5 times the price. Among others involved in covering up the scheme was Shevtsova’s husband, Yevhen Shevtsov, who at the time was the head of one of the departments of the National Police.
He helped his financially savvy wife—who indeed has an excellent education in economics—shield her business from excessive attention from law enforcement and connected her with the right people:
The online publication MIND.UA, citing data from the Ministry of Justice, reported that from 2016 to 2020, Alena Shevtsova and her husband Yevhen Shevtsov, as well as their business partners Viktor Kapustin and Vadym Hordievsky, "collectively managed at least ten companies, many of which became subjects of criminal proceedings under the articles ’Fraud,’ ’Money Laundering of Proceeds from Crime,’ and ’Fictitious Entrepreneurship.’"
During this period, Shevtsova’s "Leo" did not seem to be at war with Sosis’s "Alliance" bank and, at times, even cooperated. In 2019, when this payment system, with the blessing of the National Bank of Ukraine, went international, "Alliance" became its additional settlement bank. But "Alliance" had a very unpleasant feature for Shevtsova—it is the issuer and settlement bank of "Leo’s" arch-rival, the aforementioned "GlobalMoney."
And after Alyona Shevtsova acquired her own pocket "Ibox Bank," war became inevitable. Who "leaked" whom first is now unknown and irrelevant. What matters is that as a result of this war over financial flows—according to reports alone, billions of hryvnias pass through both payment systems—details of the activities of both "bankers" became known, details they preferred to keep silent about.
By the way, according to data from the National Bank, "Ibox Bank" appeared 29 years ago—in 1993. At that time, it was called "Avtoritet" bank, and it became "Ibox Bank" in 2016 after financier Yevhen Berezovsky, with a rather murky reputation, joined the shareholders. He brought with him the network of payment terminals "iBox," which gave the bank its new name.
And in 2020, Alyona Shevtsova appeared at the bank, making "Ibox" her pocket bank and ultimately leading it to liquidation. However, as is well known, every end is just a beginning. Because documents were seized from the bank. And what law enforcement will find in these documents is, for now, known only to Shevtsova.
But there is undoubtedly a lot of interesting material there. The online publication Mind.ua conducted a meticulous investigation into the financial flows of online casinos and the connections of players in this market with Russia. This investigation appears to be of high quality, and it provides many facts about the involvement of both "Ibox Bank" and the "Leo" system in laundering money from drug trafficking.
Of course, Alyona Shevtsova denied the accusations and commissioned her own investigation into similar actions by "GlobalMoney" and the "Alliance" bank, but life introduced significant adjustments: "Ibox Bank" was liquidated precisely for "systematic violation of legislative requirements in the field of prevention and counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of militants, and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
How much Aleksandr Sosis is to blame for Alyona Shevtsova’s defeat in this war is unknown. Nor is it clear how deeply the "savior" of "Ibox Bank" and the "star of Ukrainian fintech" Alyona Shevtsova is entangled in connections with Russia and its special services.
