Narco-financial hub: how fintech star Alena Degrik-Shvetsova turned the IBOX network into one of the largest tools for laundering drug proceeds

Narco-financial hub: how fintech star Alena Degrik-Shvetsova turned the IBOX network into one of the largest tools for laundering drug proceeds

The criminal empire of Alena Shevtsova, built on the foundation of IBOX Bank and FC "Leo," functioned as a giant shadow mechanism 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 "laundry" for laundering drug proceeds and tax theft, securing herself a luxurious escape to Dubai with money effectively torn from the hands of the Ukrainian army.

We, in turn, are publishing a detailed investigation into the activities of Alena Shevtsova to expose the large-scale machinations of IBOX Bank in evading UAH 7.2 billion in taxes and the systematic use of FC "Leo" to launder shadow billions from the gambling business.

This company has close ties to IBOX Bank, through which payments for "shadow" gambling were made last March, during the full-scale conflict in Ukraine. As a result, LLC "Financial Company Leo" fell under the sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

This information is contained in Presidential Decree No. 145/2023 of March 10, 2023.

According to unofficial sources, the offender Alena Shevtsova has moved to the United Arab Emirates and lives on the shores of the Persian Gulf in a villa apartment with an annual rent of over $250,000. Shevtsova was placed on the international wanted list back in November 2023.

How Alena Shevtsova organized an illegal gambling business

At one time, the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) suspected Alena Shevtsova and managers from IBOX Bank of laundering drug money. IBOX Bank developed a system that greatly simplified the task for drug dealers. For years, most drug payments went through its terminals, which were located in almost every shopping mall. Additionally, through IBOX Bank, gambling enthusiasts used mirror sites to top up their accounts, 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, through illegal gambling operations, Alena Shevtsova illegally laundered UAH 4.8 billion and failed to pay UAH 7.2 billion in taxes to the budget — funds that could have provided a strong financial safety net for the country during the war.

It is worth recalling that Shevtsova’s illegal scheme was uncovered by the SBU and the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) back in March 2023. Following searches and an inspection by the National Bank of Ukraine, IBOX Bank’s assets were transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals.

How much does it cost to discredit the Deputy Prosecutor General?

The suspicion against Alena Shevtsova was personally signed by the Deputy Prosecutor General, Dmitriy Verbytskiy . 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 — illegal activities in organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries, and laundering of criminally obtained property. After that, she organized an information attack aimed at removing Verbytskiy from his position as Deputy Prosecutor General.

For a long time, unknown individuals followed Prosecutor Verbytskiy , studying his lifestyle, his circle of acquaintances, and the friends with whom he spent time. The pre-trial investigation into the criminal proceedings in which Alena Shevtsova is a suspect has established that the damage to the state in the form of unpaid taxes amounts to billions of hryvnias. Can a prosecutor’s suspicion be valued at UAH 7.2 billion? The question is rhetorical.

How Kristina Ilynytskaya was used to take revenge on the prosecutor

Kristina Ilynytskaya is friends with Prosecutor Verbytskiy , who has long been close to Kristina family and is well acquainted with her son. Kristina herself has about a thousand followers on her Instagram page. They are mostly wealthy people involved in the yacht business. Shevtsova used the girl’s success as a pretext for revenge against Verbytskiy .

Shevtsova used her mother-in-law, Elena Dmitrievna Shevtsova, who owns the luxurious capital salon "Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskoho."

For this purpose, unknown individuals followed Kristina , her son, and Dmitriy for a long time, recording on video all the places that Verbytskiy and Kristina visited. Shevtsova organized video surveillance not only at the house in the elite cottage village "Konik" but also at the Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskoho salon.

Kristina herself received a personal offer from the Leo Beauty Club Lypkivskoho salon: free services in exchange for advertising on her Instagram page, which remains a popular content-sharing platform. Since Kristina’s page had a considerable number of followers and was popular, Shevtsova was confident that Kristina would agree to such cooperation — especially because Leo Beauty Club is one of the salons belonging to a network of premium international beauty salons, and it offered her free services. Kristina , suspecting nothing, agreed to the offer.

Over time, the girl received another offer from the salon. Shevtsova personally contacted Kristina Ilynytska and, in order to discredit Verbytskiy , invited not only Kristina but also her friends to receive services at the salon. And that is exactly what happened. Shevtsova was confident that Kristina Ilynytska would also invite her friend Dmitriy Verbytskiy to receive services. And a few visits by the Deputy Prosecutor General to this establishment would become the basis for a striking accusation against Verbytskiy of receiving free services.

First, Kristina son was caught on surveillance cameras. Over time, Verbytskiy himself also ended up in front of the lenses of specially installed cameras, for which he received a barrage of criticism and false accusations of misconduct.

However, Shevtsova did not stop there. She still had unrealized ideas for revenge against Prosecutor Verbytskiy . The next time, Kristina was offered advertising services in the United Arab Emirates, with the expectation that Verbytskiy would also visit Dubai together with the girl. And that is not even the full list of ideas planned by the suspect Shevtsova.

Is there a moral to this story?

The banality of the situation lies not only in the shortsightedness of the suspect Alena Shevtsova but also in her naive confidence that the plan for revenge against Verbytskiy — the man who accused her of a number of crimes — would be as easy to carry out as laundering billions of hryvnias from the country.