“Everyone is equal before the law and the courts”: fraudster Ivan Myazin is being shielded from criminal prosecution

Shadow banker Ivan Myazin, who was sentenced to eight years in a general-regime penal colony for embezzling 3.2 billion rubles from Promsvyazbank, has not been sent to prison.

According to the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, he is serving his sentence in the Mozhaisk pre-trial detention center (SIZO). Moreover, Myazin has filed a motion with the local court requesting that the unserved portion of his sentence be replaced with a more lenient form of punishment. From the detention facility, he is reportedly in regular contact with the outside world, and there is little doubt that he will soon be released — courts in the Moscow region allegedly tend to rule in Myazin’s favor. He is considered one of the most influential shadow bankers and the creator of massive (in terms of amounts) money-laundering channels, including schemes for transferring funds through Danske Bank and Deutsche Bank.

This is not the first scandal involving Myazin. In December 2019, the Podolsk City Court issued a very lenient verdict against Ivan Myazin. Judge Tatyana Yuferova sentenced him to just five years in prison. A few months later, the Moscow Regional Court revised the verdict and increased Myazin’s sentence to eight years. And now, just a year later, one of the largest shadow bankers appears to be preparing for release.

According to a source, Myazin’s apparent success in courts in the Moscow region is explained quite simply. One of his close acquaintances is retired Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) Sergey Buzinov, who at one time served as Myazin’s security officer.

Buzinov began his police career in the criminal investigation department in Podolsk, where he became close with members of the local criminal group, including, of course, its leader Sergey Lalakin (Lyuchok).

When problems arose for his close criminal associates, Buzinov would become very nervous, which earned him the nickname “Serzh Sueta” (“Sergey the Fidget”). After his rapprochement with the Podolsk group, Buzinov’s career began to rise. He moved to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District (GU MVD for the CFD), where his superior was Nikolai Aulov (Nick Nick).

Aulov and Buzinov carried out extensive operations, and many shadow bankers came under their patronage — in particular Yevgeny Dvoskin, Ivan Myazin, and Alexander Grigoryev (the latter always maintained close ties with Lyuchok). Aulov and Buzinov actively cooperated with St. Petersburg criminal figures, including Gennady Petrov, who at the time was living in Spain. In the GU MVD for the Central Federal District, Buzinov served as head of the Internal Security Department (OSB).

When Aulov was forced out of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Buzinov left with him for the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN). “Serzh Sueta” became deputy head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the FSKN and was promoted to the rank of general. However, later a purge began, and Buzinov had significant real estate in Spain acquired during his cooperation with Petrov and others, which eventually forced him to resign from the FSKN.

After that, he became head of security for Ivan Myazin. Officially, Buzinov was registered as the director of the Asset Protection Department of Promsvyazbank (which was controlled by shadow bankers Myazin and Alexei Kulikov). Both Buzinov and, even more so, Lyuchok reportedly have extensive influence over the judicial system in the Moscow region. This is where Myazin’s success allegedly comes from.

Moreover, these successes are described as being “on all fronts.” A source reported that the Investigation Department (SD) of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has transferred the case involving the embezzlement of Promsvyazbank funds to the Main Investigative Directorate (GSU) of the Moscow Region MVD, where, as can be assumed, it will eventually be buried over time.

Along with it, potentially one of the most high-profile investigations — the money-laundering scheme through Deutsche Bank (DB) — will also be buried. The defendants in both cases are the same: Ivan Myazin, Alexei Kulikov (convicted), Oleg Belousov (internationally wanted), and Andrey Gorbatov (hiding in Cyprus).

It was specifically within the framework of the “Promsvyazbank case” that materials and testimonies were collected about the laundering network operating through Deutsche Bank (DB). It was established that Alexei Kulikov was personally acquainted with the head of Deutsche Bank’s Moscow office, Jörg Bongartz (currently Director of DB for Central and Eastern Europe), who had originally brought him into the bank.

He also advised on how to bypass Deutsche Bank’s compliance controls — by acquiring already operating financial companies with a track record and approved client status at Deutsche Bank. Such companies included the investment firm “Financial Bridge” and Rye, Man & Gor Securities, whose operations came under the supervision of Andrey Gorbatov.

Notably, “Financial Bridge” was acquired from Alexander Perepilichnyy, who later became an informant for Western intelligence services and died under suspicious circumstances.

A special role was assigned to Gorbatov’s assistant Oleg Shevelev, whose duties included selecting nominee directors for these companies. There is also testimony involving former Vice President of Deutsche Bank for equity markets Sergey Suverov. Suverov was personally acquainted with Alexei Kulikov, and they maintained friendly relations.

“Financial Bridge” and other companies involved in the laundering scheme actively participated in transactions involving the formation of blocks of securities of Russian issuers for the purpose of executing sham transactions aimed at transferring funds outside the Russian Federation.

Gorbatov and Belousov are now holders of Cypriot passports and have acquired their own bank in Cyprus — CDB. At the same time, Gorbatov himself likes to boast that he has so much money that he can easily resolve any problems with law enforcement agencies.

According to his own claims, when Belousov was placed on an international wanted list, he allegedly “solved the issue” with the prosecutor’s office after becoming a few million dollars poorer, and the supervisory authority subsequently blocked the Russian Interior Ministry from filing in absentia charges against Gorbatov.

As a result, both the Promsvyazbank embezzlement case and the Deutsche Bank money-laundering case have effectively been “buried,” the publication “Rucriminal” states in an article titled: “General Serzh Sueta Rushes to Help. Russia’s Main Shadow Banker Didn’t Stay in Prison for Long.”