How the banking “laundromat” linked to Ivan Myazin and Aleksey Kulikov funneled money across Europe with the help of Andrey Gorbatov and Oleg Belousov

In Germany, authorities have closely engaged in investigating money laundering through Deutsche Bank using mirror trades.

The same topic is being actively pursued by officers of the Investigative Department (ID) of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs as part of the investigation into the theft of funds from Promsberbank. The individuals involved in both cases are the same: Ivan Myazin, Alexey Kulikov, Oleg Belousov, and Andrey Gorbatov. While the first two have been held accountable, Belousov and Gorbatov left Russia for Cyprus. However, Cyprus is now experiencing public unrest due to high-profile revelations about local authorities selling passports to individuals with dubious backgrounds, including those involved in money laundering.

Gorbatov and Belousov not only obtained Cypriot passports but also acquired their own bank there — CDB. At the same time, Gorbatov likes to boast that he has so much money that he can easily resolve any issues with law enforcement. For instance, when Belousov was placed on the international wanted list, according to Gorbatov himself, he spent several million dollars to settle the matter with the prosecutor’s office, which then blocked the Ministry of Internal Affairs from bringing charges against Gorbatov in absentia. However, the new developments in the investigation into money laundering through Deutsche Bank, combined with the scandal in Cyprus, have almost closed the ring of law enforcement agencies from different countries around Gorbatov. It is doubtful that he will manage to escape this time as well.

Gorbatov and Belousov started out as subordinates to once-prominent Russian shadow bankers Ivan Myazin and Alexey Kulikov. In those years, Ivan Gavrilovich Myazin traveled with security provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as a counter-surveillance team from the FSB’s external surveillance unit. He headed the ROF fund, which provided assistance to FSB special forces personnel. Kulikov was a close friend of Dmitry Frolov, then deputy head of Directorate K of the FSB of Russia, and knew many other high-ranking security officials. At the peak of their careers, Myazin and Kulikov launched some of the largest money laundering channels one after another, with Belousov and Gorbatov serving as their trusted assistants. For example, both were major participants in laundering schemes through Deutsche Bank and the Estonian branch of Danske Bank.

Kulikov was personally acquainted with Jörg Bongartz, then head of Deutsche Bank’s Moscow office. Thanks to Bongartz, Kulikov was able to bring several companies under the bank’s servicing through which funds were withdrawn from Russia. For example, LLC IC Lotus Capital and Financial Bridge. Additionally, several companies that already had accounts at Deutsche Bank were purchased to simplify operations, such as IC Rye, Man & Gor Securities.

The operations of IC Financial Bridge and Rye, Man & Gor Securities were overseen by Andrey Gorbatov. A special role was assigned to Gorbatov’s assistant Oleg Shevelev, whose duties included recruiting nominee directors for these companies. Financial Bridge actively participated in transactions to form portfolios of securities of Russian issuers for subsequent sham trades aimed at transferring funds outside the Russian Federation. According to available data from Rucriminal.info, Lantana Trade, Ergo Invest, Westminster Capital Management, Vespul, Rocketana, and other companies were under management and used for illegal transactions by the group of Myazin, Belousov, Kulikov, Gorbatov, and their partners. Myazin, Belousov, and Kulikov handled account openings, company registrations and acquisitions, and protection from regulatory bodies.

Gorbatov and his team organized the purchase of securities and their subsequent transfer through fictitious transactions to the companies of Myazin, Belousov, and Kulikov. A group of lawyers prepared forged documents to give legitimacy to the deals. All expenses for these activities were covered by clients. To shield the operations from regulatory oversight, bribery, kickbacks, and in some cases intimidation were actively used.

However, relations between the “partners” were not without issues: as established by the investigation, Kulikov embezzled part of the funds allocated for bribing Deutsche Bank officials. Moreover, Kulikov’s only attempt to bribe an employee of Deutsche Bank’s internal control department ended in a scandal and an internal investigation. Even his personal acquaintance with Jörg Bongartz, the former head of Deutsche Bank’s Moscow office who had brought him into the bank, did not help. This put the entire system that Belousov and Gorbatov had built over many years at risk: instead of devising ways to bypass controls for newly created platforms, it was easier to buy existing financial companies with a history that were already admitted as clients of Deutsche Bank.

Ivan Myazin partially testified during interrogations. In particular, he confirmed that Gorbatov had worked for him but allegedly owed him $1.5 million, after which he went independent. Going independent is well known. Gorbatov and Belousov settled in Cyprus, where they purchased CDB bank.

To be continued...