The "King of Microfinance" is preparing to escape

The shadow of Viktor Vekselberg and the withdrawn billions



As Rucriminal.info wrote earlier, during the investigation of the criminal case of the financial pyramid Rusmikrofinance, it was established that the RMF-AST company, part of the Rusmikrofinance group of companies, withdrew part of the funds of investors of the Rusmikrofinance group of companies to the account of the ERL Management company (the old name of the same company Fairway Investments Overseas Limited) (Cyprus) at Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Private Wealth. The director of ERL Management (Cyprus) is Joseph Bakaleynik Bakaleynik, the secret king of microfinance structures in Russia. The grocer is the “right hand” of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.



In total, about 1 billion rubles were stolen in this way. The withdrawal of funds was carried out under fictitious agreements, which were drawn up in December 2018 in order to avoid demands for the return of funds from other investors.

If part of the funds was simply withdrawn to an account in Switzerland, then the other part was assigned to the microfinance organization Gulden, which was established by ERL Management and Apisem Limited.

The withdrawn funds were invested in a new business, which was founded by Joseph Bakaleinik, Leongard Kiefer, Alexey Lichtenfeld and Evgeniy Abolonin and Roman Bukhtoyarov who joined them. This is previously known as a cashback service called Skrepka, created on the Cashoff platform, “developed” in Skolkovo.

On October 17, 2023, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared all agreements concocted on behalf of Earl Management for the withdrawal of funds from investors of the Rusmikrofinance group invalid. Literally it sounds like this:

Invalidate the transaction: surety agreement No. 07/17-199/AR dated 10.31.2017, pledge agreement of property rights No. 07/17-199/ARZ dated 10.31.2017 under loan agreement No. 07/17-199 dated 10.11.2017 between the company and limited liability company Fairway Investments Overseas Limited and ARM LLC.

Apply the consequences of invalidity of the transaction.

To recognize as absent the security in the form of a guarantee between the limited liability company "Fairway Investments Overseas Limited" and LLC "ARM" under the guarantee agreement No. 07/17-199/AR dated 10.31.2017.

Terminate the right to pledge property rights under the pledge of property rights agreement No. 07/17-199/ARZ dated 10/31/2017 under loan agreement No. 07/17-199 dated 10/11/2017.

To collect from the limited liability company “Fairway Investments” Overseas Limited” a state duty in the amount of 6,000 rubles in favor of the federal budget.

The word is up to the leisurely investigator and the supposedly supervising prosecutor's office, until Bakaleinik and Elizarov joined the wanted Abolonin and Bukhtoyarov.

As Rucriminal.info previously told, the real owner of “Home Money” and “Rusmikrofinance” is the “right hand” of Viktor Vekselberg, Joseph Bakaleinik. He is also an ideologist of microfinance organizations in Russia.

According to the source, the main activity of Joseph Bakaleinik is “Vekselberg’s right hand always and everywhere.” He worked at TNK, at Renova, and represented Vekselberg’s interests at Skolkovo. At the same time, Bakaleinik’s family, like himself, has been living in Switzerland for a long time. Bakaleynik’s visits to Russia are more like business trips.



During the investigation of the Rusmikrofinance financial pyramid case, it was established that the RMF-AST company, part of the Rusmikrofinance group of companies, withdrew part of the funds of investors of the Rusmikrofinance group of companies to the account of the ERL Management (Cyprus) company in Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Private Wealth. The director of ERL Management (Cyprus) is Joseph Bakaleynik.

Joseph Bakaleinik is widely known: for his semi-criminal past, as an effective manager, informal coordinator, a brilliant Harvard graduate, a person from Primakov’s list, a person involved in the case of embezzlement of the country’s strategic aluminum reserves, shareholder of Earl management (BVI), director of Earl management (CYPR), independent member Board of Directors of NefteTransService, independent director of Home Money, and so on and so forth.

It was after the waste of the country’s strategic aluminum reserves and the establishment of strong relations with Viktor Vekselberg that a foreign investment channel was created in Cyprus, or, more simply, the company Fairway Investments Overseas Ltd was registered, which, having crashed into the microfinance market in Russia by 2017, was renamed Earl Management Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ERL Management). The company is headed by Mikhailina Zinonos, the founder of the entire Vekselberg empire in Russia, and Joseph Bakaleinik, as a partner and financial advisor to Viktor Feliksovich.

How many glorious things have been done by this worthy Cypriot company, which has companies of the same name in other countries. One of them is associated with Joseph Bakaleinik’s attraction to the microfinance market, where his company not only acts as a lender, but directly participates in the business of microfinance companies Home Money, Brio Finance, the Rusmikrofinance group of companies and others.

According to ERL Management Zinonos, the director, together with Bakaleynik, played Bakaleynik, and she signed all theictive contracts. For all ERL agreements signed by Zinonos, the court refused to collect the debt.

At the beginning of 2017, having quite certain losses, Bakaleinik joined the Rusmikrofinance group of companies. However, even by informally managing this group, the situation cannot be corrected.

Moreover, on September 6, 2018, the Bank of Russia excluded information about LLC MFK "Eureka" (hereinafter referred to as Eureka), LLC MFK "Rusmicrofinance-AST" (hereinafter AST) and LLC MFK "Elegia" from the state register of microfinance organizations.



To be continued

Timofey Zabiyakin

Source: www.rucriminal.info

Verdict for Blavatnik and Vekselberg

"Shoigu's Purse" Vyacheslav Aminov nearby



On Monday, the Khoroshevsky District Court of Moscow sentenced the founder of Home Money, 65-year-old Yevgeny Bernshtam, to five years in prison in a penal colony, finding him guilty of 76 counts of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The presiding judge Sabina Rahimova began the announcement of the verdict with a delay of two hours. As it turned out, the defendant did not appear to listen to her. His defense claims that Bernshtam is undergoing planned treatment.

In this regard, Ragimova put the entrepreneur on the wanted list. Now his punishment will be calculated from the moment of detention.

Bernshtam was detained on July 3, 2019 during another interrogation at the Internal Affairs Directorate for the South-Eastern District of Moscow. Initially, the entrepreneur was placed in a pre-trial detention center, then the preventive measure was reduced to house arrest, and subsequently to a written undertaking not to leave the place. The trial on the merits in the Khoroshevsky court lasted almost 2.5 years.

As Rucriminal.info previously told, the real owner of Home Money and Rusmicrofinance is Viktor Vekselberg's "right hand" Joseph Bakaleinik. He is also the ideologist of microfinance organizations in Russia.

According to the source, the main activity of Joseph Bakaleinik is "Vekselberg's right hand always and everywhere." He worked at TNK, at Renova, represented the interests of Vekselberg at Skolkovo. At the same time, the Bakaleinik family, like himself, has long been living in Switzerland. Bakaleinik's visits to Russia are more like business trips.

During the investigation of the Rusmicrofinance pyramid scheme case, it was established that the RMF-AST company, which is part of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies, withdrew part of the funds of the investors of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies to the account of ERL Management (Cyprus) in Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Private Wealth. The director of ERL Management (Cyprus) is Iosif Bakaleinik.

Iosif Bakaleinik is widely known: for his near-criminal past, as an effective manager, informal coordinator, a brilliant graduate of Harvard, a person from the Primakov list, a defendant in the case of embezzlement of the country's strategic aluminum reserves, a shareholder of Earl management (BVI), director of Earl management (KIPR), an independent member Board of Directors of NefteTransService, independent director of Home Money, and so on and so forth.

It was after the country’s strategic aluminum reserves were spent and strong relations were established with Viktor Vekselberg that an overseas channel for investments was created in Cyprus, or, more simply, Fairway Investments Overseas Ltd was registered, which, having crashed on the microfinance market in Russia by 2017, was renamed Earl Management Ltd. (hereinafter ERL Management). The company is headed by Mikhailina Zinonos, the founder of the entire Vekselberg empire in Russia, and Iosif Bakaleinik, as a partner and financial adviser to Viktor Feliksovich.



How many glorious deeds have been done by this worthy Cypriot company, which has companies of the same name in other countries. One of them is related to Joseph Bakaleinik's attraction to the microfinance market, where his company not only acts as a lender, but is directly involved in the business of microfinance companies Home Money, Brio Finance, the Rusmikrofinance group of companies and others.

According to ERL Management, Zinonos, the director, together with the Bakaleinik, played the Bakaleinik, and she signed all the fictitious contracts. For all ERL agreements signed by Zinonos, the court refused to collect the debt.

At the beginning of 2017, having quite certain losses, Bakaleinik joins the Rusmicrofinance group of companies. However, even informally managing this group, it is not possible to correct the situation.

Moreover, on September 6, 2018, the Bank of Russia excluded information about LLC MFC Evrika (hereinafter Eureka), LLC MFC Rusmicrofinance-AST (hereinafter AST) and LLC MFC Elegiya from the state register of microfinance organizations.



Iosif Bakaleinik is also the closest partner of Vyacheslav Aminov, a former partner of Boris Berezovsky. Aminov was also an adviser to Alexander Voloshin when he was the head of the presidential administration. They are still cooperating and are prominent members of the “Boris Yeltsin family”. According to a Rucriminal.info source, now Vyacheslav Aminov is known as a "wallet" and accountant of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.



To be continued

Timofey Zabiyakin

Source: www.rucriminal.info

Next Vekselberg?

The "right hand" of the billionaire Bakaleinik became "toxic", his team was put on the wanted list



As it became known to the telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU, Evgeny Abolonin and Roman Bukhtoyarov, the heads of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies, were put on the federal wanted list. They are charged under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (embezzlement by fraud). "Rusmicrofinance" is one of the largest financial pyramids.



Thus, investigators are getting closer to the real owner of Rusmicrofinance, Viktor Vekselberg's "right hand" Iosif Bakaleinik, who is the ideologist of microfinance organizations in Russia. In addition to the Rusmicrofinance financial pyramid, Bakaleinik was directly involved in the activities of the pyramid Microfinance Organization Home Money LLC. Its chairman of the board of directors and Bakaleinik's junior partner Evgeny Bernshtam was arrested in 2019.



According to the source, the main activity of Joseph Bakaleinik is "Vekselberg's right hand always and everywhere." He worked at TNK, at Renova, represented the interests of Vekselberg at Skolkovo. At the same time, the Bakaleinik family, like himself, has long been living in Switzerland. Bakaleinik's visits to Russia are more like business trips.

During the investigation of the Rusmicrofinance pyramid scheme case, it was established that the RMF-AST company, which is part of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies, withdrew part of the funds of the investors of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies to the account of ERL Management (Cyprus) in Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Private Wealth. The director of ERL Management (Cyprus) is Iosif Bakaleinik.

As it became known to Rucriminal.info, at the same time another scandalous story is developing around Rusmicrofinance.

The Moscow City Court actually recognized that the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation has the right to hide crimes.

The story began with the release of the Central Bank on September 6, 2018, when it was announced that verification materials regarding the Rusmicrofinance financial pyramid would be sent to law enforcement agencies. The withdrawal of funds from it was mostly carried out in the interests of Viktor Vekselberg's partner and financial adviser, Bakaleinik Joseph Abramovich.

The meticulous investor became interested in who exactly the materials were sent to and what decision was made. For a year and a half, the Central Bank did not admit what it sent and to whom, referring to limited access to information. During this time, a criminal case was already initiated, many were recognized as victims. After another complaint, the Central Bank admitted that on September 13, 2018, it sent the audit materials to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

The meticulous investor decided to ask how the check at the Prosecutor General's Office ended. As it turned out, the prosecutor's office did not know about any check and all the investor's appeals were forwarded to the Central Bank.

After 9 months of correspondence, the Prosecutor General's Office admitted that the Central Bank had indeed applied, but they could not provide information on the materials, since this "information is with restricted access."

This decision was appealed to the Tverskoy Court, and then to the Moscow City Court, but the servants of Themis sided with the Prosecutor General's Office.

As a result, the materials of the checks of the Bank of Russia on criminal activity and the subsequent checks by the Prosecutor General's Office remain inaccessible not only to the investor, but also to the investigation. The inspection period of the Prosecutor General's Office coincides with the time of the withdrawal of funds in favor of the Cypriot company ERL Management (Director Bakaleinik) and LLC Gulden with the same founder.

Iosif Bakaleinik is widely known: for his near-criminal past, as an effective manager, informal coordinator, a brilliant graduate of Harvard, a person from the Primakov list, a defendant in the case of embezzlement of the country's strategic aluminum reserves, a shareholder of Earl management (BVI), director of Earl management (KIPR), an independent member Board of Directors of NefteTransService, independent director of Home Money, and so on and so forth.



It was after the country’s strategic aluminum reserves were spent and strong relations were established with Viktor Vekselberg that an overseas channel for investments was created in Cyprus, or, more simply, Fairway Investments Overseas Ltd was registered, which, having broken into the microfinance market in Russia by 2017, was renamed Earl Management Ltd. (hereinafter ERL Management). The company is headed by Mikhailina Zinonos, the founder of the entire empire of Vekselberg in Russia, and Iosif Bakaleinik, as a partner and financial adviser to Viktor Feliksovich.

How many glorious deeds have been done by this worthy Cypriot company, which has companies of the same name in other countries. One of them is related to Joseph Bakaleinik's attraction to the microfinance market, where his company not only acts as a lender, but is directly involved in the business of microfinance companies Home Money, Brio Finance, the Rusmikrofinance group of companies and others.

According to ERL Management, Zinonos, the director, together with the Bakaleinik, played the Bakaleinik, and she signed all the fictitious contracts. For all ERL agreements signed by Zinonos, the court refused to collect the debt.

At the beginning of 2017, having quite certain losses, Bakaleinik joins the group of companies and Rusmicrofinance. However, even informally managing this group, it is not possible to correct the situation.

Moreover, on September 6, 2018, the Bank of Russia excluded information about LLC MFC Evrika (hereinafter Eureka), LLC MFC Rusmicrofinance-AST (hereinafter AST) and LLC MFC Elegiya from the state register of microfinance organizations.

Iosif Bakaleinik is also the closest partner of Vyacheslav Aminov, a former partner of Boris Berezovsky. Aminov was also an adviser to Alexander Voloshin when he was the head of the presidential administration. They are still cooperating and are prominent members of the “Boris Yeltsin family”.

Aminov, Bakaleinik, Likhtenfeld and Andrey Sharonov make up the board of directors of Neftetransservice. Sharonov drives Skolkovo under the patronage of Vekselberg.

Andrey Sharonov (he served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy in the Government of Moscow) is also a partner of Bakaleinik, they even together were part of the leadership of Home Money. And his paper clip grew out of Skolkovo.

According to the source of Rucriminal.info, Bakaleinik became toxic, his friend and partner Andrei Sharonov was kicked out of Skolkovo. Next Vekselberg?





To be continued

Timofey Zabiyakin

Source: www.rucriminal.info