Financial schemes of the 1520 Group: Boris Usherovich, Aleksey Krapivin, and Aleksandr Vaynshteyn drained accounts via fake equipment trading

The editorial staff received materials from a journalistic analysis of 64 registry and accounting documents for seven Cypriot companies.

They demonstrate how seemingly ordinary holdings folded into two interconnected offshore networks through which more than €44 million passed.

Cyprus’s 1520 offshore cluster

Seven Cypriot companies. Different years of incorporation, different nominee directors, different foreign shareholders. On the surface, it’s a typical collection of holding companies. But when 64 registry and accounting documents are put together, a completely different picture emerges. These are two interconnected networks. More than €44 million in dividends and assets passed through them. Tens of millions more moved within the group in the form of "general control loans." At the center of the structure is Boris Usherovich. Surrounding him is a whole system of nominee directors, secretaries, Belizean and Panamanian companies, auditors, and banks.

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Seven companies that form two networks

The investigation materials include seven main Cypriot structures:

• BONFORD Investments Ltd (HE 209054)
• · Artenberg Management Ltd (HE 291836)
• Dunire Management Ltd
• Feltburg Direct Ltd (HE 238013)
• Broxner Plc (HE 407776)
• Main Victory Corp Ltd (HE 364070)
• Venisat Technology Ltd

The first three form the earlier network. Broxner, Main Victory, and Venisat are the more recent. Feltburg stands between them and acts as a bridge.

First Network: Withdrawal of Russian Assets

BONFORD, Artenberg, and Dunire operated from approximately 2007 to 2017. This is a classic Cypriot scheme of the period: nominee secretaries, Belizean shareholders, and Russian subsidiaries in real estate and construction.

Among the associated foreign structures, the following constantly appear in documents:

•  Belize’s Horizon Properties, Escala Holdings, Lionella Corporate Ltd and ZALA International Investments;
•  Panamanian Randinger Inc;
•  Finnish Sponda Russia Oy;
•  Russian LLC Greystone.

Services were provided by the Cypriot agent DELFI Corporate Services (HE 241283). This same agent, according to the documents, also worked with entities linked to Alexey Krapivin. Among the nominal figures of this period were Svetlana Tutunaru and Marina Lazaridou.

The clearest and most revealing episode was the BONFORD deal. The Greystone shopping center on Bakhrushin Street in Moscow was sold for $22.5 million, generating a profit of approximately €14.28 million. And just 30 days later, a dividend of €14.425 million went to the Panamanian company Randinger Inc. Two months before the sale, the shareholder changed: Horizon Properties gave way to Randinger. There was virtually no pause between the sale and the cash withdrawal.

The Second Network: Telecom, Dividends, and Sanctions

Since 2020, another group has been operating—Broxner, Main Victory , and Venisat. This group operates under a different logic. The companies were involved in trading tens of millions of dollars in telecom equipment, siphoning off profits, and, according to documents, operating under sanctions restrictions.

The documents identify Alexander Weinstein as the real beneficiary of Broxner and Venisat. He owned 99.965% of Broxner. Publicly, he is linked to Ilya Plotitsa.

Kirill Ponomarev was the common nominee director of the three companies. Eriktina Bichinashvili served as secretary. On February 22, 2022, Ponomarev simultaneously resigned from Broxner, Main Victory, and Venisat. Around the same time, ZALA International changed its jurisdiction from Belize to the Marshall Islands, and sanctions clauses began appearing in the companies’ financial statements. This convergence of actions across several entities appears to suggest a coordinated restructuring.

The banks through which the main flows of this network passed were:

•  Russian UniBank B2;
•  Liechtenstein Bendura Bank.

Bridge: Feltburg Direct and Usherovich’s direct ownership

Feltburg Direct Ltd. stands between the two networks. It is this company that holds the entire structure together.

Since March 2, 2017, Boris Usherovich has openly owned 100% of Main Victory Corp Ltd. This is a rare case of a beneficiary abandoning the nominee shell and registering ownership directly. During his control, he personally received approximately €12 million in dividends.

Feltburg and Main Victory actively exchanged large "joint control loans"—€3.1 million and €4.4 million. Furthermore, Feltburg holds 19.6% of the Russian company Altair LLC, whose CEO is listed as Kirill Usherovich. The Cypriot company thus serves as a direct property link to the Russian family holding.

At various times, the 100% shareholder of both Feltburg and Main Victory was the same Belizean company—Victory Corporate Services Inc. An internal document from 2014, which appears in the investigation materials, directly names Boris Usherovich, Alexey Krapivin, and Markelov.

Feltburg’s directors at various times included Hadjikonstanti, Sofroniou, Tiptsov, as well as Arsen Meletyan, Yulia Kovalevskaya and Arturs Bagdasarjans.

Who else serviced the structure?

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In addition to the main beneficiaries and nominee directors, the same service structures constantly appear in the documents:

•  auditors - initially Baker Tilly Kittos and Deloitte, later replaced by the lesser-known firm L. Nearchou;
•  corporate service providers — IPM Management Ltd, M. Korelis & Co. LLC, PROTEY Consulting;
•  Russian company ExpoLux LLC, through which telecom supplies were carried out.

The Swiss CBH Bank stands apart. Main Victory’s transactions were handled through it. This bank was later linked to the freezing of $155 million in a scheme involving Krapivin and Broxner.

Repeating pattern

When you look at all seven companies together, the same set of techniques becomes apparent.

Multi-tiered offshore chains, in which the ultimate owner often remains undisclosed: Cyprus, Finland, Belize, Panama. Large interest-free loans circulate within the group, many times exceeding the companies’ equity capital. Dividends are withdrawn from the accounts after reporting dates, effectively depleting them. Venisat’s financial statements show a 95% margin with no cost price. Major auditors are eventually replaced by little-known regional firms. Shareholders change shortly before major transactions. And in February 2022, several key nominal figures simultaneously resigned from their positions.

Scale

The total documented withdrawal of dividends and assets from seven Cypriot entities exceeds €44 million. These are only the amounts that were recorded from available ledgers and financial statements. Intra-group loans are reported separately and amount to tens of millions of euros.

The documents reveal how seemingly ordinary Cypriot companies are folded into two interconnected networks. They are linked by a common beneficiary, common nominee shareholders, recurring financial structures, and a single, precise date: February 2022.