The VChK-OGPU telegram channel and Rucriminal.info continue a series of publications about which of the security forces and Kremlin oligarchs were behind the WEX (BTC-E) exchange, received billions from it and became the richest people, stole $450 million, etc. With names, unknown details. Today is a new portion of exclusive information from Rucriminal.info.
In August 2023, participants in the OPS of the Kremlin oligarch Konstantin Malofeev managed to achieve the transfer of the case materials regarding the co-owner of WEX (BTC-E) Ivanov (Bilyuchenko) to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, where the investigator was Kuznetsov A.V. Only on the basis of Ivanov’s testimony alone is a criminal case initiated under Art. 290, 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to the head of the 3rd department of the 4th department (for combating crimes in the credit and financial sphere committed using information technologies) of the “K” department of the Bureau of Special Technical Events Georgy Satyukov and his friend businessman Sokolov without any notification to the latter . The property and bank accounts of Satyukov and Sokolov are again seized, but this time the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, as part of a new case and for completely different reasons, the SD of the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not extend the existing arrests, which clearly indicates that these arrests were held illegally for a year and a half. New seizures are imposed on the property of persons having the status of suspects, in a closed court session without notifying the participants.
Despite the fact that a criminal case has been initiated under a particularly serious article against specific individuals, the defense of Satyukov and Sokolov learns about this fact only on December 5, 2023, when the investigator of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Kuznetsov nevertheless decides to officially acquaint the representatives with the resolution on implicating them as defendants dated 17.10. 2023, which clearly contradicts all norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Also, on December 5, 2023, the defense attorneys were familiarized with the decision to put suspects Satyukov and Sokolov on the wanted list dated August 21, 2023, which came as a complete surprise to them.
Until December 5, 2023, the very fact of initiating a criminal case was deliberately hidden from the defenders, despite their attempts to find out the final decision on the inspection material; in response to their requests, information was sent about the continuation of work on the inspection material, despite the fact that at that time the criminal case against specific individuals has already been initiated, of which there is documentary evidence.
For the entire period since September 2022, when the procedural check was launched on Ivanov’s statement, neither Satyukov nor Sokolov were summoned to the investigator, and not a single investigative action was planned or carried out with their participation.
On September 20, 2023, the Meshchansky District Court rendered a verdict against Ivanov, according to which Ivanov was found guilty under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 3 years 6 months. Immediately before the sentencing, Malafeev replaces the nominal director of the WEX legal entity from Khavchenko, who is openly affiliated with him, to a little-known, in his opinion, citizen of the Republic of Armenia - Igor Pravdin. According to Malofeev’s plan, these actions should have excluded him from the list of obvious interests in receiving the payment amount.
Pravdin is a former employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (until 2006), since 2017 he has been employed in companies controlled by Zhulanova, which are part of the AT-CONSULTING holding, and directly included in the Malofeev group of companies, Kontur LLC - Agrotour LLC, where is 100% founder and CEO. He is a Russian citizen with dual citizenship.
The interests of the defendant Ivanov were represented at the trial by lawyers Nazarova and Igor Shtang, who were completely controlled by Malofeev.
In addition to exercising control over Ivanov, inducing him to enter into a pre-trial agreement, participating in the cashing and legalization of funds, lawyer Shtang was involved in attempts to carry out a number of provocations against Satyukov. In March 2022, Stang contacted Satyukov and, under the pretext that he had information that was extremely important for him, tried to organize a joint meeting at the place he indicated, at which he offered to conclude an agreement with him on the provision of legal assistance and discuss options for solving problems. It has been reliably established that the result of this meeting would inevitably be the detention of Satyukov by operational officers and his placement in the conditions of the special unit of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.
After the verdict against Ivanov was pronounced, lawyer Nazarova, together with lawyer Stang, deliberately delayed the consideration of the filed appeal and, accordingly, the entry into force of the verdict. Ivanov himself explains this by the fact that until the sentence comes into force, the term of his imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center is calculated at the rate of 1 day for 1.5 and that this is extremely beneficial for him.
In fact, this time was necessary for the participants of the OPS to carry out the a re-examination of the damage caused to the WEX legal entity, taking into account the sharply increased rates of cryptocurrency, and it was extremely important that this examination appeared precisely before the verdict entered into legal force.
This examination was carried out, its results were received on February 29, 2024, according to which the amount of damage caused, which Ivanov undertook to compensate in full under the terms of the pre-trial agreement, increased from 3,167,433,649 rubles to 21,368,590,813 rubles.
In the Savyolovsky District Court of Moscow, Pravdin's lawyers filed a civil claim against Ivanov (No. 02-3967/2024) in the amount of 18,201,157,164 rubles (minus 3,167,433,649 rubles already compensated by the verdict), as compensation for damage caused by the crime . As expected, Shtang and Nazarova became the defenders and legal representatives of the defendant Ivanov.
On March 18, 2024, the final meeting of the Moscow City Court was held to consider the appeal against the verdict against Ivanov, during which Pravdin’s lawyers, based on the results of a new examination, tried to increase the amount of payment. To the credit of the judicial panel for criminal cases of the Moscow City Court, presiding by Yu.V. Komleva, who apparently did not want to participate in a criminal conspiracy with representatives of Malofeev’s OPS, the petitions of Pravdin’s lawyers were rejected and the verdict was left unchanged.
Currently, a civil trial staged and completely controlled by Malofeev is taking place in the Savelovsky District Court, where both sides are represented by his lawyers.
The result of this process will certainly be the satisfaction of the plaintiffs’ claims against Ivanov in the amount of 18,201,157,164 rubles, which will make it possible to take possession of all the numerous objects of the seized real estate of Ivanov and his relatives, the arrest of which, despite the verdict that has already entered into legal force, has not yet been lifted.
The economic basis of the OPS, formed in this way, has now changed the vector of application from personal enrichment to active use to satisfy the rapidly growing personal political ambitions of its leader, Malofeev.
Yuri Prokov
Source: www.rucriminal.info