Two of our favorite topics are united in one investigation at once. The owners of GK 1520 – the largest contractor of Russian Railways, who worked under the “roof” of Dmitry Zakharchenko – as it turned out, is related to the very dubious structure for issuing microloans “VIVA Money”, which all over Russia makes hundreds of people indebted, who in reality did not take from them never microloans. We are talking about the co-owners of GK 1520 Valery Markelov (formally former), Boris Usherovich and Alexei Krapivin.
Many people from Russian regions complain a lot that microcredits are given to them without their knowledge. For example, 74.Ru reports that a person from Chelyabinsk faced a similar situation. Without her knowledge, a microloan was taken out from VIVA Money on her behalf.
Similar situations happened in the Novosibirsk region, where this company also became apparent. According to a victim who spoke to the NGS, someone borrowed 5,000 rubles on her behalf at an annual interest rate of 358% from VIVA Money. And the person from Siberia is not the only one.
There are a lot of victims of VIVA Money. The Banki.ru website, as reported by the agency, describes several stories that took place from May to December 2021. All of them are similar: a person finds out accidentally that a microcredit has been issued to them. Different amounts are mentioned, ranging from 3,000 to 11,000 rubles.
The microfinance company Center for Financial Support (CFS) operates under the VIVA Money brand.
The owner of the CFP is the Cypriot offshore Guinford Management Ltd., the largest share (48%) of which belongs to businessman Roman Mironchik, who also heads the board of directors of JSC IFC CFP (VIVA Money). The remaining share is divided among seven individuals and two more offshore companies.
Roman Mironchik, along with Alexei Krapivin, owns a large number of properties in Moscow, including the Bakhrushin House complex.
Apart from Mironchik, Roden Capital Management Ltd (13.3%) holds a significant stake in the Cypriot offshore, where the ultimate owners of VIVA Dengi are concealed. It, in turn, is owned by Roman Pivovar and Denis Uchaev (each with 49%).
Pivovar and Uchaev also each have 20% ownership in Sima Farm LLC (Yuryev-Polsky district of the Vladimir region), where 20% is owned by Dmitry Maystrenko, a friend and business partner of Alexei Krapivin. Among the minor co-owners of the offshore, Alexey Pugachev, a friend and business partner of Boris Usherovich and Valery Markelov, is worthy of note.
Some of the offshore co-owners and top managers of CFP are connected to another microfinance company, Finpoint.
There is a belief in the market that it is Krapivin, Usherovich, and Markelov who are the full-fledged co-owners of this microfinance empire. RZD money is insufficient.
Dmitry Zakharchenko started his career as an underground billionaire by serving in his position at the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation the interests of a group of bankers, including the owners of Industrial Credit Bank. (At that time, Dmitry Motorin, an associate of Usherovich and Markelov, held the position of deputy chairman of the board in it). Zakharchenko’s task was to safeguard credit institutions from the interest of law enforcement and fiscal departments.
At the same time, all these banks “laundered” huge amounts of money for companies that receive billions in contracts from Russian Railways. We are talking about dozens of companies that later became the 1520 Group of Companies. The owners of this structure were Andrei Krapivin, adviser to the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin (after his death, his son Alexei became the director), Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich. Later, bankers, including Dmitry Motorin, actually became one with 1520. And the responsibilities of Zakharchenko have significantly increased. From now on, he began to monitor security and protected not only banks, but also structures included in “1520” from law enforcement officers and tax authorities.
It's clear that the role of the “roof” for this entire business, based on the theft of billions of rubles received from Russian Railways, were performed not only by Zakharchenko, there were other “siloviki”.
With the active assistance of the management of the Russian Railways of the times of Yakunin, “1520” acquired the service enterprises of the railways, suppliers of products that simply could not be removed from the “chain” of the normal functioning of the Russian Railways. And the number of such enterprises “1520” was constantly growing, and with them the amount of contracts was growing. Moreover, these were such amounts that annually allowed tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions of rubles to be transferred into pockets. It was Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko who covered the embezzlement through the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
In the fall of 2018, all the co-owners of 1520 fled from Russia, except for Markelov and Krapivin. Markelov was arrested as part of the case against ex-employee of the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Dmitry Zakharchenko. As part of the same case, information about the theft of 300 billion rubles was checked. That is how much the founders of one of the main contractors of the state monopoly GK 1520 – Boris Usherovich, Valery Markelov, Alexei Krapivin and their business partners Dmitry Motorin and Ivan Stankevich borrowed from Russian Railways. All of them (except Krapivin) are accused of giving bribes to Zakharchenko for general patronage. Boris Usherovich even “shipped” about 15 billion rubles of Russian Railways funds to his friend of his youth and accomplice in the theft from an apartment. In 1988, Usherovich was sentenced by the Perovsky Court of Moscow to one year of probation for several thefts. His accomplice was Vitaly Makarevich. Now Makarevich is the founder of two firms – Setstroyenergo and KPSS – which received contracts for 15 billion rubles from Russian Railways
Rucriminal.info will tell you more about how events unfolded. In early October 2018, Valery Markelov, co-owner of 1520, was arrested for giving bribes to an employee of the GUEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Zakharchenko. Another co-owner, Boris Usherovich, managed to escape. He was put on the federal wanted list. The third co-owner, Aleksey Krapivin, did not have time to escape. He was at the time of Markelov’s arrest in Sochi, and hid there. He was put on the so-called operational wanted list.
As a source told Rucriminal.info, being in an underground position in Sochi, Alexei Krapivin contacted Igor Rotenberg, whom he had previously known. I was looking for protection for myself and for my business. Igor discussed the topic with older family members. Consultations were held with the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, who is considered a creature of the Rotenbergs. He said that he was ready to keep all contracts from 1520 worth tens of billions of rubles and increase this flow of money. As a result, Igor Rotenberg expressed his readiness to purchase a new asset. After that, Krapivin voluntarily appeared in the ICR, gave evidence and remained in the case only as a witness. Since November 2018, he has been known on the market as a consultant to Igor Rotenberg. And Igor Rotenberg himself, as the manager and not the official owner of 1520. It is with him that all issues are resolved.
There were also bonuses for Valery Markelov. Dmitry Zakharchenko testified in his favor. And the banker Vladimir Antonov refused to testify against Markelov. The main thing is that it took a very long time to resolve the issue of the arrest of Markelov’s assets, and he managed to withdraw everything from the Russian Federation, with the exception of an apartment, a cottage and an old limousine. His proceeds for a share in 1520 also went abroad.
The property of the third co-owner Boris Usherovich was also decided to be arrested when he was almost gone in the Russian Federation. All managed to get out. With a noticeable delay, Usherovich was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia. Now he is trying to resolve issues with the case, since he has a lot of money. Only in London, controlled by him and other ex-co-owners of 1520, the fund manages $ 2 billion.
