German Gref and his deputy Sergey Kuznetsov transferred the Sberbank structure to people previously linked to questionable schemes.
Sber Deputy Chairman Stanislav Kuznetsov, who oversees the security unit of a financial institution, recently talked to Izvestia about how the company handles DDOS attacks and other fraudulent actions against bank employees and customers.
Sberbank and its clients are protected by entities associated with potential scammers from Loko-Bank, the head of VEB.RF Igor Shuvalov, and the leader of the LSR construction group Andrey Molchanov, as reported by The Moscow Post.
Sold to Loko-Bank?
In 2018, Kuznetsov presented the company Bi.zone (legal entity – “Bizon”), which handles the cybersecurity of the state bank, in a very positive light. It was initially fully owned by Sberbank, but was later transferred to three entrepreneurs – Alexander Bondarenko, Ilya Davydik, and Alexander Obukhov. They own MR Capital Management Company, which manages Bizon Management Company, which owns Bizon.
Of particular interest in this trio is Mr. Davydik, who is the son of Loko-Bank owner, Vladimir Davydik. As mentioned in the Loko-Tron of Liquidity investigation, a bank can be drained by its top managers for their side projects. This includes activities like acquiring assets of the bankrupt developer Urban Group or FESCO shares, which were allegedly obtained through a raider seizure, according to Ziyavutdin Magomedov, one of the owners currently in prison.
Allegedly in 2017, the organization was suspected of experiencing losses from its client accounts, supposedly due to the actions of its top management.
During this period, the bank began to aggressively advertise in the metro and shopping centers. Experts commented: “It's possible that the bank faced significant liquidity issues. As a result, a 'vacuuming' approach was taken, with all the signs present – a high interest rate and aggressive advertising. At the same time, the bank is recruiting new customers, paying high interest to old ones at the expense of new ones. Essentially, it's a classic banking pyramid. When the funds run out, it collapses.
Upon examining the bank's current financial indicators, it seems that assets are being systematically drained from there. Meanwhile, the Banki.ru website only presents data up to February of this year. Is there something being concealed?
Photo: https://www.banki.ru
Are the assets and liabilities of the bank being manipulated? Photo: https://analizbankov.ru
Third-party projects of Loko-Bank shareholders are also facing challenges. According to Daily Storm journalists, the DOMS management company associated with Ilya Davydik (formerly the founder until 2018) was allegedly imposed on the residents of the Yasny residential complex. It's claimed that DOMS, through a proxy, initiated a general meeting of the property owners and demanded that documents be signed in its favor during apartment acceptance and transfer.
Interests were seen as 'unacceptable fees and building management services': for example, DOMS reportedly charges double for trash collection, doesn't provide keys to mailboxes and counters. This is not an isolated case – residents of other residential complexes from MR Group have complained about the same issue.
Ilya Davydik and MR Group co-owner Roman Timokhin's son, Vladimir Timokhin, own Hutton, a real estate company. It's easy to understand why DOMS is involved in MR Group properties.
Shuvalov, Molchanov and counterfeit security
Another main beneficiary of 'Bizon' – Alexander Bondarenko – is linked to Igor Shuvalov's asset manager Sergei Kotlyarenko. Kotlyarenko has been involved in scandalous stories related to his companies, including Citymatic, a garbage operator that takes over regions to serve itself, but residents are unhappy with its services and wonder where the money goes.
Talking about VEB's activities, there are numerous failed projects. One such story is about school construction in the Novosibirsk region, where Igor Shuvalov's alleged relative, Otto Sopronenko, partnered with VEB but was disgracefully removed from projects where they could have 'laundered' money.
The final main beneficiary of 'Bizon' is Alexander Obukhov, who comes from the structures of St. Petersburg developer LSR, owned by Andrei Molchanov. The company has a large market share in the Northern capital and has close ties to the city's governor, but its revenue has been steadily falling. Are they liquidating assets?
The head of MR Capital (which essentially manages Bizon), Sergey Revin, previously worked with the disgraced former co-owner of Rosgosstrakh, Sergey Khachaturov, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2020 for embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.
So, 'Sberbank' could actually be protecting the structure of potential scammers who have not yet faced charges. This is what Stanislav Kuznetsov, a close associate of German Gref, is promoting. He follows the principle – if you want to be successful, think like a fraudster, or even become one?
It's not going well. While successes in repelling cyberattacks are touted, it's difficult to conceal the failures. According to the authors of the forklog website, the Anonymous group allegedly claimed in May this year that they accessed the Sberbank database. The bank did not respond.
According to 2015 data, hackers stole more than 2 billion rubles from Sberbank clients. Furthermore, it was discovered that bank ATMs could be opened with a regular key in 2021. This, along with numerous other incidents, raises questions about the validity of Kuznetsov's claims. Is this just an attempt to justify the hefty spending on government contracts with the organization?
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Gref and his faithful followers
Mr. Kuznetsov himself has a somewhat questionable reputation. Firstly, he was one of the people whom former State Duma deputy Akhmed Bilalov accused of making threats and trying to assassinate and raid. Other top managers of Sberbank, including its head, German Gref, were also involved in the same situation with Kuznetsov when he attempted to hand over his ski resort in Sochi at a very low cost to the oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev. Following his refusal, events potentially linked to this incident took place: Bilalov's helicopter crash, his poisoning with mercury, and his subsequent lengthy recovery in the hospital.
Sberbank and Gutseriev eventually took over Bilalov's property, and the former official himself became a defendant in a criminal case due to violations related to activities and excessive luxury spending on trips by the company's management to non-CIS countries. He then relocated abroad.
It is known that Kuznetsov previously worked in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he also directly supervised the construction of the Olympic facilities in Sochi, which became involved in the situation with Bilalov. Wasn’t Kuznetsov the one who initiated a criminal case against Bilalov?
According to the authors of the Russkiy Kriminal website, Kuznetsov was allegedly one of the recipients of substantial bribes from businessman Eduard Shifrin in exchange for promoting his projects in Sberbank and facilitating the issuance of loans for them. Shifrin may have been directly involved in the siphoning of money from contracts with the Sberbank development structure Sberbank Capital. It's likely that Kuznetsov also received a share of this.
Are Kuznetsov's daughters using this money to travel on Sberbank corporate jets to various sunny countries? Photo: https://www.kompromatural.ru
At the same time, Kuznetsov publicly accused the leadership of the Altai Republic in 2019 of misappropriating funds at the Manzherok resort (backed by Sberbank) instead of developing tourism and causing disruptions to the tourist season. It seems that the vice-president may have been attempting to shift the blame for the bank's mistakes (essentially, theft) onto the former head of the Republic, Alexander Berdnikov.
That same year, Berdnikov resigned and German Gref emerged as the winner once again.
Who is connected to whom, and we are from Sberbank
In the end, we have Sberbank's security block coordinator Kuznetsov, who may be involved in raiding, assassination attempts, and money withdrawal, his boss German Gref, who allows Kuznetsov to engage in such activities, and the “merged” structure “Bizon” affiliated with Loko-Bank, Igor Shuvalov, and Andrey Molchanov, who ensure the safety of the largest state bank.
Considering all these associations, we not only have concerns about the quality of data protection, but also suspect that they could potentially leak to others for a price through individuals who oversee the security system. Kuznetsov claims that the number of scammers has significantly increased since the start of the SVO. Our question is: did you contribute to their rise?
