The Bureau of Economic Security announced the exposure of the company of a well-known arbitration blogger in tax evasion on an especially large scale – UAH 213 million, the press service of the BEB reports. According to Forbes Ukraine sources, this concerns the founder of the company Traffic Devils, Oleksandr Slobozhenka. Next week, suspicions will be raised regarding the other persons involved in the investigation, a source in law enforcement agencies said.
How do top charitable foundations work? How do patrons choose which social projects to support? How is charity good for your business? Find out the answers on August 23 at the “Masters of Good” forum. Speakers are the leaders of “Return Alive”, Superhumans, Zagoriy Foundation, “Azovu”, MHP, OKKO. Join in!
Key facts
- According to investigators, the suspect founded and organized the activities of a commercial structure in 2020, created a web resource and subsequently registered a trademark.
- The company carried out internet traffic arbitrage (affiliate marketing) – advertising on the internet and social networks of goods and services of third parties, mainly from the gambling industry (online casino market, gambling), dating (online services market for virtual dating), betting (online betting market, bookmaker organizations), nutra (online market for beauty and health products), etc.
- Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security claim that the company was not registered as a legal entity and was not registered as a taxpayer with the State Tax Service of Ukraine, and that employment contracts were not concluded with employees in order to hide income and evade paying taxes and fees.
Photo: BEB
Photo: BEB
Previous slide Next slide
- Investigators claim that the company’s director allegedly introduced a mechanism for obtaining his own income, in particular from the provision of services, by transferring funds into cryptocurrency using payment systems and electronic wallets registered to him and his trusted persons, with their subsequent exchange for cash, which was received at currency exchange offices.
- It is noted that the suspect’s trusted persons registered cryptocurrency wallets, which received cryptocurrency for the traffic arbitrage services provided by the company. Virtual assets were transferred to the electronic wallets of the company’s director and also exchanged for US dollars.
- According to the BEB, the company’s director, with the help of trusted persons, received income that, at the official NBU rate at that time, was equivalent to more than UAH 1 billion. They were not reflected in the declarations of property status and income for 2020-2023, and taxes were not paid on them.
- “Such actions resulted in the actual non-receipt of more than UAH 213 million in taxes to the state budget,” the BEB statement said.
- The suspect is said to have subsequently laundered the allegedly criminally obtained funds, including purchasing a number of properties and luxury vehicles.
- Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) notified the company’s director of the suspicion and seized eight vehicles, including luxury super/sports cars, apartments and real estate in the capital.
The news is being updated…
Context
In 2019, Slobozhenko launched the company Traffic Devils. It is engaged in traffic arbitrage. The task of the webmaster, as arbitrageurs are sometimes called, is to find new clients for manufacturers of goods and services on the Internet. The essence of the business is simple: find such clients cheaper and sell them to companies at a higher price. Traffic Devils receives about 90% of its revenue in the gambling niche, Slobozhenko told Forbes.
In 2020, the National Police opened a criminal case under articles on tax evasion and legalization of property obtained by criminal means. The case will be heard in April 2024. converted attention NGL Media. The amount of tax debt is almost UAH 54.8 million. Then, the Traffic Devils office was searched, and investigators seized equipment. In July 2021, the seized equipment was returned. This is the last court decision on this case.
The second time the BEB turned its attention to Slobozhenka was in 2023, when it opened a case on tax evasion, gambling, and legalization of proceeds from crime on an especially large scale. For more details, see the Forbes Ukraine article.
Materials on the topic
“There is despair in Telegram channels.” The BEB has suspended the work of the largest factories allegedly producing illegal tobacco. Has the shadow market disappeared? Not quite
Dollar millionaire and owner of a $3.5 million car fleet. Traffic Devils founder Slobozhenko made money on traffic arbitrage. How his business works and why law enforcement agencies are interested in it
