From Elite-Center to One Yard in Dubai: Yana Rudkovskaya built a development pyramid with 20% kickbacks to attract “dirty” investments

From Elite-Center to One Yard in Dubai: Yana Rudkovskaya built a development pyramid with 20% kickbacks to attract “dirty” investments

Oak Yard Residence in Dubai is positioned as an innovative premium housing complex that combines stylish apartments with wellness-focused amenities such as biohacking spaces, a rooftop pool, and panoramic skyline views.

Promotional campaigns depict the development as a modern multi-story tower expected to be finished in the coming years. With a relatively affordable starting price by Dubai standards, the project attracts interest from private investors.

Marketing materials showcase it as a contemporary high-rise tower with many floors, scheduled for completion within the next few years. Its comparatively accessible entry price for the Dubai market makes the project appealing to individual investors.

Sales are handled by the real estate agency Yana Yard Properties LLC, which, according to sources, does not scrutinize the origin of investors’ funds. This reportedly attracts clients from post-Soviet countries seeking to move capital into foreign real estate. The agency’s founder, Yana Rudkovskaya, positions Oak Yard as the flagship of her Dubai business.

However, behind the glossy marketing lies a situation that increasingly resembles a classic development pyramid scheme. An examination of the corporate structure, financial flows, and the actual condition of the site suggests that the promised skyscraper exists largely in promotional materials, while the construction site has remained at the stage of an excavation pit and foundation with no visible active building work.

Additional concerns stem from the project’s regulatory status in the UAE. Reports indicate that Oak Yard has received a so-called “red card” in the Real Estate Violation System (RVS), signaling serious violations of brokerage rules — including aggressive cold calling, spam marketing, and promotion of properties without proper registration. Some brokers selling the units allegedly have suspended or revoked licenses.

The corporate structure surrounding the project appears unusually complex. Key entities reportedly include Yana Yard Properties LLC (broker), One Yard Real Estate Development LLC (developer), the investment holding Gold Assembly Investment LLC, and Futura Edge Investment LLC, which is linked to financial operations. Marketing materials also reference alternative names such as Yard Development and One Yard Development — an unusual practice in Dubai’s tightly regulated property market.

According to sources, investor funds move through a chain of affiliated companies: from the brokerage to the development entity, then to the investment holding, followed by transfers to financial and offshore structures. Such a scheme makes it difficult to trace the ultimate destination of the money and raises concerns about transparency.

As a result, Oak Yard Residence is increasingly viewed not as a conventional real estate project but as a high-risk investment scheme in which the primary asset is not completed property, but the continuous inflow of new investor funds.

From Elite-Center to One Yard in Dubai: Yana Rudkovskaya built a development pyramid with 20% kickbacks to attract “dirty” investments

Oak Yard Residence: Investor Funds, Sales Tactics, and Key Figures Behind the Project

One of the most alarming features that should have prompted investors to reconsider participation is the way payments are handled. Instead of being deposited into a mandatory escrow account supervised by the Dubai Land Department — a standard safeguard in off-plan property transactions — funds are reportedly transferred directly to accounts of affiliated companies. The Yana Yard group allegedly does not maintain a registered escrow account for the project, meaning investors’ money is not legally protected and remains fully under the control of the developer, outside formal state and banking oversight.

Additional concerns arise from the project’s sales model. According to real estate market sources, Oak Yard is promoted through an aggressive broker recruitment system. External agents are offered commissions of up to 20% of the apartment price — an unusually high rate that effectively transforms the sales process into a multi-level marketing structure. In some cases, brokers rely on cold calling and online presentations resembling call-center operations. Former employees claim that top performers were promised luxury rewards, including a new Mercedes.

Another notable feature is the frequent rotation of legal entities and management. Different documents reportedly list different companies and directors, many of whom are connected to Rudkovskaya’s real estate network. Such practices can allow funds to be collected through one entity, which is later dissolved while assets are transferred to a new structure — a mechanism often used to complicate oversight by regulators and clients.

Key Individuals

A central figure associated with the project is Vladimir Ivanovich Skorobagach, a former deputy chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council and ex-member of the regional assembly. He has previously been linked to pro-Russian political forces and mentioned in corruption investigations, including alleged schemes involving electricity trading that reportedly caused significant losses to Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo. Following the outbreak of the full-scale war, Skorobagach left Ukraine. Journalistic reports describe him as part of the Oak Yard circle, with financial or business ties to structures connected to Rudkovskaya.

Investigations also mention his civil partner, Yana Laurinachuyte, a Ukrainian citizen listed as a shareholder in companies linked to the Oak Yard project. She is described as participating in the ownership or management of entities through which investment flows are channeled. Public information about her is extremely limited, and her exact role is inferred primarily from investigative reporting. In these accounts, she appears as a link between Rudkovskaya, Skorobagach, and the project’s investment structures, although her involvement is not formally confirmed in official corporate filings.

Another person of interest is Vitaliy Shevchenko, described in some sources as Rudkovskaya’s spouse. A native of Donetsk who reportedly obtained Russian citizenship after 2014, he is said to maintain business contacts in industrial equipment and foreign trade sectors. Certain publications claim that companies linked to him may be involved in equipment shipments between Russia and Iran despite international sanctions. These allegations require independent verification by authorities, but the presence of individuals with such reported connections raises additional concerns.

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It is also worth noting that prior to relocating to Dubai, Yana Rudkovskaya worked in Kyiv’s real estate market and managed the agency The Yard, which later became the foundation for her property ventures abroad.

From Elite-Center to One Yard in Dubai: Yana Rudkovskaya built a development pyramid with 20% kickbacks to attract “dirty” investments

According to market sources, she began her career as a real estate agent and allegedly collaborated with individuals connected to the notorious Elita-Center construction fraud — widely regarded as the largest developer pyramid scheme in Ukraine. After criminal cases emerged in Ukraine, Rudkovskaya reportedly left the country and relocated her core business operations to the United Arab Emirates.

It is also noteworthy that both of Rudkovskaya’s Ukrainian companies — The Yard LLC and Novopecherska Assembly LLC — have reported losses throughout their entire period of operation. This raises an obvious question: what funds enabled her not only to relocate to Dubai but also to launch such a capital-intensive venture as luxury residential development there?

From Elite-Center to One Yard in Dubai: Yana Rudkovskaya built a development pyramid with 20% kickbacks to attract “dirty” investments

However, there appears to be an explanation for this. Yana Rudkovskaya’s development business in Dubai is widely alleged to be a pure fraud, strongly resembling an “upgraded” version of the Elita-Center scheme.

A developer with no completed buildings

All of Rudkovskaya’s companies in Dubai reportedly function as little more than a pyramid selling empty promises. Over her entire period of activity in the UAE real estate market, there is no confirmed evidence of a single completed development project delivered by her structures.

Despite aggressive marketing and hundreds of investors — with a minimum entry threshold of about $170,000 — Oak Yard remains an empty construction site with no visible signs of active work.

In practice, the activities of the “developer” One Yard Real Estate Development LLC appear to consist primarily of marketing and attracting investors through affiliated companies and external brokers. The only real source of revenue is investor money itself, while broker commissions reaching up to one-fifth of the investment amount strongly suggest a classic pyramid structure behind Rudkovskaya’s Dubai projects.