The “right hand” of the billionaire Bakaleinik became “toxic”, his team was put on the wanted list
According to information from the Cheka-OGPU telegram channel, Evgeny Abolonin and Roman Bukhtoyarov, the leaders of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies, have been placed on the federal wanted list. They are accused of embezzlement through fraud, under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. "Rusmicrofinance" is one of the biggest financial pyramids.
This means that investigators are getting closer to the true owner of Rusmicrofinance, Viktor Vekselberg's close associate Iosif Bakaleinik, who is the brain behind microfinance organizations in Russia. In addition to the Rusmicrofinance financial pyramid, Bakaleinik was directly involved with the Microfinance Organization Home Money LLC pyramid. The chairman of the board of directors of Home Money LLC, Evgeny Bernshtam, who is Bakaleinik's junior partner, was arrested in 2019.
| Joseph Grocer |
According to sources, Joseph Bakaleinik's main role is being 'Vekselberg's right-hand man at all times and in all places.' He has worked at TNK and Renova, and represented Vekselberg's interests at Skolkovo. Meanwhile, Bakaleinik and his family have been living in Switzerland for a long time. Bakaleinik's visits to Russia seem more like business trips.
During the investigation of the Rusmicrofinance pyramid scheme case, it was discovered that the RMF-AST company, which is part of the Rusmicrofinance group, transferred some of the investors' funds to the account of ERL Management (Cyprus) in Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Private Wealth. Iosif Bakaleinik is the director of ERL Management (Cyprus).
As reported by Rucriminal.info, another scandal is unfolding around Rusmicrofinance at the same time.
The Moscow City Court has essentially acknowledged that the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has the authority to conceal crimes.
The story began with the Central Bank's announcement on September 6, 2018, stating that audit materials on the Rusmicrofinance financial pyramid would be forwarded to law enforcement agencies. The majority of funds were withdrawn from it in the interests of Viktor Vekselberg’s partner and financial advisor, Joseph Abramovich Bakaleinik.
The concerned investor sought to find out to whom the materials were sent and what decision was made. For a year and a half, the Central Bank refused to disclose this information, citing limited access. During this time, a criminal case had already been initiated, and many were recognized as victims. After another complaint, the Central Bank admitted that on September 13, 2018, it had sent the audit materials to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.
The cautious investor decided to inquire about the outcome of the investigation at the Prosecutor General’s Office. It was revealed that the prosecutor’s office was unaware of any investigation and all the investor’s inquiries were redirected to the Central Bank.
After 9 months of correspondence, the Prosecutor General’s Office acknowledged that the Central Bank had indeed made the request, but they were unable to provide information on the materials due to its restricted access.
The decision was appealed to the Tverskoy Court, and then to the Moscow City Court, but the justice officials supported the Prosecutor General’s Office.
As a result, the records of the Bank of Russia's inspections for criminal activity and subsequent checks by the Prosecutor General’s Office are still not available to both the investor and the investigators. The period of the Prosecutor General’s Office inspections coincides with the time when funds were withdrawn in favor of the Cypriot company ERL Management and LLC Gulden with the same founder.
Iosif Bakaleinik is well known for his nearly criminal past, effective management, informal coordination, Harvard graduation, association with the Primakov list, involvement in the embezzlement case of the country’s strategic aluminum reserves, and various other roles.
After the country’s strategic aluminum reserves were utilized and strong ties were established with Viktor Vekselberg, an overseas investment channel was created in Cyprus, which was later rebranded as ERL Management. The company is led by Mikhailina Zinonos, with Iosif Bakaleinik as a partner and financial adviser to Viktor Feliksovich.
This worthy Cypriot company, which has branches in other countries, has accomplished numerous remarkable deeds. One of these involves Joseph Bakaleinik's involvement in the microfinance market, where his company not only acts as a lender but also directly participates in the business of microfinance companies like Home Money, Brio Finance, and the Rusmikrofinance group of companies.
According to ERL Management, Zinonos, the director, along with Bakaleinik, played the key role, and she signed all the fictitious contracts. The court rejected the debt collection for all agreements signed by Zinonos.
In early 2017, despite significant losses, Bakaleinik became part of the Rusmicrofinance group of companies. However, even with informal management of this group, the situation could not be rectified.
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 during his time as the head of the presidential administration. They continue to collaborate and are distinguished members of the “Boris Yeltsin family”.
| Vyacheslav Aminov |
- Aminov, Bakaleinik,
- Likhtenfeld
- Andrey Sharonov
are members of the board of directors of Neftetransservice. Sharonov oversees Skolkovo under the patronage of Vekselberg.
Andrey Sharonov, who served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy in the Moscow Government, is also a partner of Bakaleinik. They were even part of the leadership of Home Money together. His engagement with Skolkovo has deep roots.
According to a Rucriminal.info source, Bakaleinik became toxic, his friend and partner Andrei Sharonov was kicked out of Skolkovo. Next Vekselberg?
