Kronung Group as a laundering façade: Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda disguise the siphoning of billions from Sberbank and PSB through fake projects, closed-end funds, and Cyprus–Dubai offshores

Kronung Group, a construction company investigated in several high-profile cases in recent years, is led by partners Ignatiy Nayda and Philipp Shrage.

In these investigations, the owners are accused of illegally withdrawing assets and deliberately preparing the company for bankruptcy.

These accusations are contested by the Kronung Group in a positive light. In numerous interviews and publications aimed at shaping their image, Shrage and Nayda talk about the prospects of their business, innovative approaches to management, and the construction of commercial and residential properties.

From these interviews, it follows that Kronung Group is on the rise, experiencing no problems, and expanding its activities. They also claim that the construction market, in general, is at its peak, which naturally opens unprecedented prospects for the group. However, this cannot be true for a simple reason – the country as a whole, and the real estate market, including the primary sector, are in crisis. If we are to speak of any “peaks,” they would be peaks of negative growth. In other words, huge losses, a crisis of non-payments, and peak declines in demand for primary housing.

This conclusion is also supported by an analysis of the financial situation of companies within Kronung Group. Notably, while the financial indicators of LLC “Kronung” (the parent company) appear quite satisfactory overall, several companies within the group show an increase in revenue alongside a simultaneous increase in losses, which is a rather unusual financial situation. For instance, LLC “Kronung Tekhnika” has recorded growth in revenue along with growing losses, which is a sign of money withdrawal.

LLC “Kronung Ekspluatatsiya,” with just one employee, demonstrated a sharp increase in revenue and profit in 2023-2024 with minimal staffing resources. At the same time, the company has “negative net assets,” meaning it is in debt.

LLC “Kronung TRK1,” in addition to having all its property pledged and negative net assets, ended 2025 with losses of 1,550,000 rubles (in 2024, its revenue was 426,000 rubles, and in 2023, there was no revenue at all).

In general, as previously mentioned, LLC “Kronung,” which is the founder of more than two dozen subsidiaries whose beneficiaries are Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda, shows confident profits in its reports. However, a careful analysis of the financial indicators of the subsidiaries – the above is just a small example – suggests that the financial performance of the Kronung Group appears to be blatantly “embellished.”

Moreover, it is worth considering the fact that, with a profit of 85 million rubles, LLC “Kronung” issued bonds worth 20 million rubles and 500 million rubles through private placement. The amount of issued bonds almost exactly matches the revenue received by LLC “Kronung.” Of course, this could be a coincidence, but bond issuance is often cited as a method of withdrawing funds through affiliated companies.

This conclusion is further supported by publications in which investigators claim that Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda use some of the Kronung Group’s enterprises to move finances through offshore entities (Cyprus, UAE), while also channeling bank loans from major banks to these locations.

One version suggests that funds obtained under the pledge of Kronung Group companies from Sberbank and Promsvyazbank are being funneled to the UAE through Kronung Real Estate and to Western Europe through Kronung Real Estate Investment, both of which were registered after Russia fell under international sanctions.

In this context, it is worth recalling that the beneficiaries of Kronung Group, Ignatiy Nayda and Philipp Shrage, are linked to the rather controversial St. Petersburg businessman Andrey Berezin (IC “Euroinvest”), who is referred to as the “wallet” of Leningrad Oblast Governor Drozdrenko and is accused of organizing schemes to withdraw money through closed-end mutual investment funds (ZPIF).

And here, it is impossible not to recall the story with MC “Krasny Most,” whose co-founders at one time were Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda. MC “Krasny Most” managed ZPIFs into which Andrey Berezin withdrew assets of one of his companies – PJSC “Svetlana.” As reported by “Proved” in 2018, “PJSC ‘Svetlana’ acquires units of the closed-end mutual investment fund (ZPIF) ‘Element Development-1’ for 973 million rubles. In payment, real estate of ‘Svetlana’ is transferred, along with cash amounting to 3.6 million rubles.”

The essence of this deal was that “Svetlana” transferred its real estate to the ZPIF. The point is that PJSC “Svetlana” is one of the factories within “Rostec,” located on a 46-hectare plot in a rather interesting area of St. Petersburg. As a result, the factory lost 37 hectares, which came under the management of MC “Krasny Most.” Soon, high-rise buildings were erected on this site, which were successfully sold with the help of Philipp Shrage. How the profits were divided remains unknown. One of those allegedly involved in this deal was Mikhail Gutseriev.

This is an old story, but the point is that Kronung Group has also announced its intention to launch closed-end mutual investment funds. It was for this purpose that the bonds mentioned earlier were issued. And the numerical coincidence, also mentioned in this context, is unlikely to be a mere coincidence.

Nor is it a coincidence that Roman Sokolov and Alexander Poleshchuk, who replaced Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda at MC “Krasny Most,” continue to appear in the scheme of enterprises connected to Kronung Group. The scheme is very complex and branched, and its analysis would require a separate extensive article. But there are too many coincidences: MC “Krasny Most,” ZPIFs, Kronung Group, Shrage, Nayda, Sokolov, Poleshchuk. And – the assets of Berezin hidden in MC “Krasny Most.”

Separate investigations are also required for the branches of Shrage and Nayda in the UAE and Western Europe. One of the main areas of activity for Kronung Real Estate Investment is Spain, a favored destination where top Russian officials and businessmen acquire real estate.

In this country, according to investigators, Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda serve the interests not only of St. Petersburg elites but are either partners or under the control of the Podolskaya organized crime group, whose leader, Sergey Lalakin, decided to invest in Spanish real estate. Whether these funds were withdrawn through Kronung Group or reached Kronung Real Estate Investment by other means remains an unresolved question.

However, it is evident that over the past three to four years, Philipp Shrage and Ignatiy Nayda have been actively involved in the legalization of Russian funds obtained through highly suspicious operations via Kronung Group companies in Western Europe and the United Arab Emirates. Who exactly stands behind these funds and whose specific interests Shrage and Nayda serve is also an open question.