Offshores, shell companies, and billions: is Alexander Savelyev’s "St. Petersburg" the new “laundromat” for the city’s elite?

Offshores, shell companies, and billions: is Alexander Savelyev’s "St. Petersburg" the new “laundromat” for the city’s elite?

Alexander Savelyev, who leads the offshore bank "St. Petersburg," invests client funds in ventures with a shady reputation.

At the beginning of March, the bank "St. Petersburg" reported record profits for 2024 - 50.8 billion rubles. However, open sources show that by February, only 5 billion rubles remained from it. In March, this amount increased by another 5 billion rubles. It turns out that immediately after receiving the profits, almost all of it was withdrawn from the bank.

Since the beginning of the year, its assets have decreased by almost 50 billion rubles, profits by 42 billion rubles (80%), and funds from enterprises and organizations by 26 billion rubles. And for some reason, representatives of the bank "St. Petersburg" do not mention this in official media.

The bank "St. Petersburg" has always been considered a credit institution of the St. Petersburg elite. Previously, Vladimir Putin himself was a minority shareholder, with Sergey Matvienko, the son of the speaker of the Federation Council, listed among the founders and even held the position of vice-president of the bank for a while. Currently, its shareholder with a 5.45% stake is Sergey Serdyukov, the son of former Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who now works at Rostec under Sergey Chemezov.

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Almost 33% of the bank’s shares are owned by offshore entities. There are very serious suspicions that representatives of criminal structures may stand behind them. Various sources have repeatedly written about Anatoly Serdyukov’s connections with them, who was simply "Tolik" to one of the leaders of the "Tambov" group, Gennady Petrov.

With the bank’s shareholder, LLC Management Company "Faithful Friends," not one but several offshore companies are associated - Zugradia Enterprises Limited, Noroyia Assets Limited, Lazoria Limited, Zerilod Holdings Limited, Magnonia Ventures Limited, Caristas Limited.

The sole shareholder of Izismile Services Limited is Oksana Savelyeva. Judging by her patronymic, she is the daughter of the chairman of the board of the bank "St. Petersburg," who has disregarded President Vladimir Putin’s demands on de-offshorization of Russian business. Savelyev is also associated with his daughter’s Cyprus company.

LLC "Management Company ’Faithful Friends’" with only 1 employee, judging by its financial indicators, acts as a "wallet" for the shareholders. From 2017 to 2022, the company practically had no revenue but still managed to earn a profit in 2019 – 1.8 billion rubles, in 2021 – 4.5 billion rubles, and in 2022 – 3.5 billion rubles. And in 2023, the profit suddenly increased by 468% to 20 billion rubles, with a revenue of 992 million rubles. Such fluctuations in a "dummy" company raise suspicions among any economist.

Similarly, a "wallet" is the successor of LLC "Management Company ’Faithful Friends’" - JSC "Management Company ’Faithful Friends’," created in 2024. With a revenue of 2.2 billion rubles, the structure with 1 employee posted a profit of 25 billion rubles. The creation of the JSC allowed hiding the company’s owners from open sources, who were previously hidden behind fictitious firms.

Below are all organizations and individuals affiliated with "Izismile Services Limited."

The director-general of the offshore company "Izismile Services Limited," associated with Alexander and Oksana Savelyeva, is Konstantin Ziyatdinov. A person with this name and surname headed the Department of International Projects of the Auditing and Consulting Group (ACG) "Prime Advice" in 2015, owned by Denis Khimilyayne. He also owns several dozen companies operating in the real estate market and is a well-known collector. The mention of another creative businessman, Ilya Traber, known in the entire St. Petersburg scene as "The Antique Dealer," comes to mind.

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Real estate objects are often used to launder "dirty" money of criminal structures. Their funds can enter the bank "St. Petersburg" through Alexander Savelyev. To "launder" them, the money needs to be officially placed. At the end of March, the bank issued a loan of 19.6 billion rubles to Setl Group of Maxim Shubarev. The company has repeatedly been involved in various scandals.

The developer of the residential complex "Setl Riviera" in the Nevsky district is LLC Specialized Developer "Potential," which belongs to LLC "Setl," with its share encumbered by the bank "St. Petersburg."

LLC "Setl" is a company with just 1 employee, so it is very strange that Alexander Savelyev’s bank issued as much as 19.6 billion rubles against such an obvious "dummy." It is apparently a "wallet" for Maxim Shubarev, owned by LLC "Setl Group" and LLC "Holding – Center." LLC "Setl" has 103 subsidiaries, and among them, there will certainly be those through which the funds of the bank "St. Petersburg" will be siphoned off.

Recently, banker Alexander Savelyev appeared for the first time on the list of Russian billionaires. He earned the money with the help of clearly dubious partners and offshore entities, where funds are sent to avoid taxes. It would be interesting to hear Savelyev’s comment on the disappearance of tens of billions of rubles in profits from the bank "St. Petersburg" at the beginning of the year.