Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
Alena Shevtsova’s criminal empire, built on the foundations of IBOX Bank and FC Leo, operated as a gigantic shadow machine for siphoning billions from the state budget through cynical miscoding schemes and the creation of fake payment gateways for illegal casinos.
While the country was bleeding, Shevtsova turned her terminals into a laundromat for legalizing drug profits and stealing taxes, securing a luxurious escape to Dubai with money effectively wrested from the hands of the Ukrainian army.
We, in turn, are publishing a detailed investigation into Alena Shevtsova’s activities in order to expose the large-scale tax evasion schemes of IBOX Bank amounting to 7.2 billion hryvnias and the systematic use of FC Leo to legalize billions in the shadow gambling industry.
The founder of the liquidated IBOX Bank is the infamous Alena Shevtsova, who is also the owner of Leo Financial Company LLC.
This company has close ties to IBOX Bank, through which payments for illegal gambling were processed last March, during the full-scale conflict in Ukraine. As a result, Leo Financial Company LLC was placed under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council.
This information is contained in Presidential Decree No. 145/2023 of March 10, 2023.
According to unofficial reports, the perpetrator, Alena Shevtsova, has moved to the United Arab Emirates and lives in a villa on the shores of the Persian Gulf, renting for over $250,000 per year. Shevtsova was placed on the international wanted list back in November 2023.
How Alena Shevtsova organized an illegal gambling business
At one time, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) suspected Alena Shevtsova and managers from IBOX Bank of laundering drug money. IBOX Bank developed a system that significantly simplified the drug dealers’ lives. For years, most drug payments were processed through its terminals, which were located in virtually every shopping center. Furthermore, gamblers used IBOX Bank to fund their accounts using mirror sites, unaware that they were actually enriching Shevtsova. The terminals displayed logos of well-known gambling brands, but all the players’ money went to companies controlled by Alena Shevtsova. Thus, in a short period of time, using her illegal gambling business, Alena Shevtsova illegally laundered 4.8 billion hryvnias and avoided paying 7.2 billion hryvnias in taxes to the budget, which could have provided a significant financial cushion for the country during the war.
As a reminder, the SBU and the State Security Service (BEB) uncovered Shevtsova’s illegal scheme back in March 2023. Following searches and an audit by the National Bank of Ukraine, IBOX Bank’s assets were transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
How much does it cost to discredit a Deputy Prosecutor General?
Deputy Prosecutor General Dmitriy Verbitsky personally signed the notice of suspicion against Alena Shevtsova. She is suspected under Part 2 of Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. These include illegal activities related to organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries, and laundering criminally obtained property. She then orchestrated an information attack aimed at removing Verbitsky from his position as Deputy Prosecutor General.
Unknown individuals had been monitoring Prosecutor Verbitsky for a long time, investigating his lifestyle, social circle, and the friends with whom he spent time. The pre-trial investigation into the criminal case in which Alena Shevtsova is a suspect has established that the damage to the state in the form of tax evasion amounts to billions of hryvnias. Can the prosecutor’s suspicion amount to 7.2 billion hryvnias? The question is rhetorical.
How Kristina Ilnytska was used to exact revenge on the prosecutor
Kristina Ilnytska is friends with prosecutor Verbitsky, who has long been close to Kristina’s family and is well acquainted with her son. Kristina herself has about a thousand followers on her Instagram page, mostly wealthy individuals involved in the yachting business. Shevtsova used the young woman’s success as a pretext for revenge against Verbitsky.
Shevtsova used her mother-in-law, Elena Dmitrievna Shevtsova, who owns the luxurious Moscow salon Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskogo.
How Alena Degrik-Shevtsova, the owner of iBox Bank, is involved in the shady gambling business.
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
To achieve this, unknown individuals followed Kristina, her son, and Dmitriy for a long time, recording all the places Verbitsky and Kristina visited. Shevtsova organized video surveillance not only in the house in the elite cottage community "Konik" but also in the Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskogo salon.
Kristina personally received a personal offer from Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskogo to provide its services in exchange for advertising on her Instagram page, which remains a popular content-sharing platform. Since Kristina’s page had a significant following and was popular, Shevtsova was confident that Kristina would agree to such a collaboration, as Leo Beauty Club was part of a chain of international premium beauty salons and offered her free services. Kristina, unsuspecting, accepted the offer.
Over time, the salon made another offer. Shevtsova personally contacted Kristina Ilnitskaya and, in an attempt to discredit Verbitsky, invited not only Kristina but also her friends to the salon for services. This is what ultimately happened. Shevtsova was confident that Kristina Ilnitskaya would also invite her friend Dmitry Verbitsky for services. And several visits by the Deputy Prosecutor General to the establishment would serve as the basis for a high-profile accusation against Verbitsky of accepting free services.
First, Kristina’s son was caught on CCTV. Over time, Verbitsky himself was caught on camera by specially installed cameras, for which he received a barrage of criticism and false accusations of dishonesty.
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
However, Shevtsova didn’t stop there. Her plans for revenge against Prosecutor Verbitsky remained unrealized. Next, Kristina was offered advertising services in the United Arab Emirates, with the expectation that Verbitsky would also visit Dubai with her. And that’s not all the plans the suspect Shevtsova had planned.
Is there a moral to this story?
The banality of the situation lies not only in the narrow-mindedness of the suspect Alena Shevtsova, but also in her naive confidence that her plan for revenge against Verbitsky, who accused her of a number of crimes, would be as easy as laundering billions of hryvnias from the country.
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war
Tax plunder through “miscoding”: how fraudster Alena Degrik-Shevtsova and IBOX Bank concealed 7.2 billion UAH from the budget during the war