International journalists are investigating the activities of GlobalMoney, Wargaming LLC, and a shady money laundering firm from the Czech Republic

The Ukrainian GlobalMoney company that has been involved in scandals with the ALLO network, and helped to avoid taxation in recent months, now actively works with the Wargaming LLC on money laundering in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and other countries.

According to the publications in the Ukrainian and Western media, the Ukrainian GlobalMoney company has become a provider of Wargaming LLC gaming services for Vodafone and Kyivstar mobile operators in Ukraine. The GlobalMoney system processes payments received from the balance of Ukrainian mobile operators to replenish the game accounts of World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, and World of Warships.

In August 2020, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Alexander Dubinsky published the following information at dubinsky.ua: Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Security Service of Ukraine conducts counterintelligence investigation under no. 3463.  Within the frames of the investigation, several banks involved in the scheme have already received a request from the Security Service of Ukraine to provide information about the cash flow of customers of GlobalMoney.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), one of the participants of the GlobalMoney payment system is the B-Efekt a.s. the company from the Czech Republic that allowed GlobalMoney to receive the status of an international company. However, this entire procedure is fictitious.

This Czech company is directly connected with the Ukrainian citizens and is only a cover for the withdrawal of money. It turns out that according to official data of the Czech authorities, Oleksii Svyryd from Ukraine is a member of the board of B-Efekt a.s.

Oleksii Svyryd was the head and founder of several Ukrainian financial companies.

According to the information from the Czech registers, a citizen of Romania, Maerean Sorin, while being the sole shareholder of B-Efekt a. s., introduced Oleksii Svyryd as a member of the Board of B-Efekt a.s. in September 2018, and a year later the NBU included GlobalMoney in the register as a member of international payment systems.

In his comment to the RBC-Ukraine news agency on the case of exposing an illegal scheme for the sale of household appliances to the ALLO network (that is directly connected with GlobalMoney), Oleksii Svyryd confirmed that he is one of the managers of the GlobalMoney company.

In addition, a source in the GlobalMoney company confirms the information that the money that comes from Wargaming LLC is laundered in Ukraine and the Czech Republic and goes to accounts in European banks.

Journalists of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) that is an international journalistic project that unites 40 non-profit investigative centers, dozens of journalists, and a number of major regional news organizations around the world are conducting a joint investigation of the activities of Wargaming LLC and GlobalMoney on money laundering in Ukraine and European countries. Journalists have sent requests to the management of Wargaming LLC (Adamos Savvides, Tamara Sakolchik, Filippos Kyriacou, Ekaterina Gromova) about working with GlobalMoney but have not received any answer yet. They want to know why Wargaming LLC decided to cooperate with GlobalMoney, which is accused of money laundering, terrorist financing, and other crimes. Especially keeping in mind that a significant part of the money that passes through the GlobalMoney payment system is associated with dirty money laundering.   International journalists also sent requests to the law enforcement agencies of the United States, European countries, including Cyprus and the Czech Republic, because this shady money enters accounts through Ukraine and the GlobalMoney company. The investigation will continue soon.