The dark side of Ibox Bank: Alyona Dehrik-Shevtsova’s hidden links to international gambling fraud

The persona of Alyona Shevtsova caught the public’s attention just three days ago when the National Bank of Ukraine decided to liquidate her "Ibox Bank," and law enforcement conducted searches at the bank.

However, those who consider Shevtsova a banker, albeit an unsuccessful one, are mistaken. Before venturing into banking, businesswoman Alyona Shevtsova (nee Dehrik) was known as the founder and owner of the companies "FC Leogaming Pay" and "Leogaming," major players in the online payment market. 

In fact, she purchased the bank precisely for convenient operations with her payment systems. To sum up: Alyona Shevtsova founded the financial company "Leogaming Pay" in 2013. Initially, Alyona’s business was not a full-fledged payment system. It rather served as a gateway between players and gaming platforms. But the enterprise grew rapidly, and by 2017, Shevtsova registered the domestic payment system "Leo" with the National Bank, which became international a couple of years later.

The above is what Shevtsova’s PR representatives narrate. But, like all big businesses in our (and not only) country, this story also has its dark side. 

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Alyona Shevtsova, who bore the surname Dehrik before marrying high-ranking police official Yevhen Shevtsov, is involved in numerous criminal cases and journalistic investigations. Primarily, of course, in Ukraine. A significant portion of these materials has been scrubbed, but many are still available to those interested.

But what has escaped the attention of the Ukrainian public is far more intriguing. According to an investigation by American journalist Charles Johnson, the persona of Alyona Shevtsova is much deeper and more multifaceted than what can be imagined from the standard growth practices of Ukrainian businessmen who gained initial capital either from their own criminal activities or from servicing homegrown mafiosos.

Johnson asserts in his article "Slava Ukraine Finally!? Is Putin Deliberately Destroying the Russian Army For His Chinese Patrons?" that Alyona Shevtsova’s payment systems aim to serve the money of the Chinese mafia, which, as is no secret to anyone, is tightly intertwined with Chinese intelligence and controls a significant part of the ruling elites in both Ukraine and Russia. And the conflict between these countries in this respect has not changed anything, at least in Shevtsova’s activities.

Of course, Johnson’s material bears a somewhat conspiratorial nature, but by delving into the peculiar behavior of Elon Musk and exploring his connections with the mafia, the journalist unexpectedly stumbled upon the persona of Alyona Shevtsova and took an interest in her business and connections.

While journalists were focusing on criminal cases involving Shevtsova in Ukraine, the American journalist decided to dig deeper. He began by paying attention to the changes in the composition of the Supervisory Board of the International Payment System LEO, which was headed by Ukraine’s third president, Viktor Yushchenko, in the summer of 2021. 

Regardless of what representatives of the current comedic show ruling Ukraine may call Viktor Andreyevich, in the world of international finance, he is undoubtedly considered one of the most competent specialists. His services are quite costly. 

It turned out that at the same time, the Supervisory Board of the LEO payment system included Viktor Kapustin, former chairman of the board of Ukreximbank, one of the most experienced banking top managers in independent Ukraine, and Halyna Heilo, vice president of the Association of Ukrainian Banks and President of the Ukrainian Association of Payment Systems.

Against this background, the result of the Ibox Bank, which lost its license on March 7, 2023, although these people were not directly involved, looks strange. But considering that mafia money flowed through Alyona Shevtsova’s payment systems, the result is understandable. 

It is unlikely that all the aforementioned people were involved in these flows—their reputations are worth more than what Shevtsova could have paid them for outright servicing mafia money—most likely, they were kept for renown, which only fuels interest in Alyona Shevtsova’s activities.

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It is noteworthy that already in March 2021, the International Payment System LEO was registered by the National Bank of Ukraine as an important payment system in Ukraine. Additionally, the system is among the top 5 market leaders in money transfers and had 23 participants by the end of 2022, including four commercial banks (IBOX Bank, ComInBank, Sky Bank, and Concord Bank), as well as 19 non-banking financial organizations, such as FC "System" (brand "System"), FC "Swift Garant" (brand City24), FC "EVO", and other industry leaders.

At "Ibox Bank" (IBOX Bank), key management positions are occupied by people who previously worked with Alyona Shevtsova or her husband. For example, Svitlana Harmash, a member of the bank’s board, is the treasurer at Ibox and oversees payments from the gambling business, having previously worked at FC "Leogaming." The head of the bank’s security service is Oleksandr Lukashenko (a namesake of the mustached bulboführer), who headed the law enforcement department until 2019. He actively meets with employees of those agencies interested in FC "Leogaming’s" activities. Former Leogaming PR manager Maksym Sorokin works as the head of the marketing department. 

Shevtsova’s business methods closely resemble stories from the 90s. On one hand, she actively advertises and engages in social activities, nominating herself for various awards and titles, while on the other hand, her companies actively develop the shadow market of online payments and aggressively attack competitors, the media, and even law enforcement agencies. This does not prevent her from servicing illegal casinos in Russia.

Her husband, Yevhen Shevtsov, who held the position of Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, is officially the wealthiest police officer. In his 2020 declaration, under "Income," he reported that his family earned over 90 million UAH.

Yevhen Shevtsov’s personal income stated in the declaration is quite decent for his position in Ukraine—412,000 UAH per year. All other earnings were acquired by his wife for the family. The total amount of the family’s declared funds stands at 94.3 million UAH.

But let’s return to Musk, the Chinese mafia, and Shevtsova. Let’s recall—Charles Johnson’s theory bears a somewhat conspiratorial nature but nonetheless deserves attention. Especially since his conclusions are corroborated by other sources and Musk’s peculiar behavior. In any case, the long-standing ties of the Musk family with the Ukrainian mafia deserve close scrutiny.

Regarding Alyona Shevtsova’s role in all this, recall the meeting with Musk’s mother. Shevtsova’s version that she "read Musk’s mother’s book, cried, and decided to meet with her" does not hold water. But in the context of the openly criminal part of Shevtsova’s activities, her connections in servicing the online casino market (at least) in Russia, for which the NBU fined her, on one hand, and Elon Musk’s ties with international mafia and his attempts to play Kissinger in relations between the US, China, Russia, and Ukraine, on the other hand, try to answer the following questions.

Why is seventy-year-old Elon Musk’s mother meeting with people who are credibly accused of managing a front for money laundering for illegal gambling and Ukrainian mafia? Namely—with Alyona Shevtsova.

Do Musk’s ties with the criminal world of Russia, China, and Ukraine explain why he wants to play Kissinger?

Why is Musk so actively promoting the idea of "meeting halfway"?

Musk’s behavior, of course, somewhat leads us away from the persona of Alyona Shevtsova, but if we return to that part of her activities which is painstakingly hidden from the general public, we come back to where we started: where did the unknown Ukrainian Cinderella get the money for her international business, and more importantly, who promoted her payment system in Russia?

In this regard, it’s worth recalling the purpose for which this payment system was founded back in 2013. This is not hidden even by the system’s founder—it was a "gateway between players and gaming platforms." And on what gaming platforms is there enough money for the "gateway" to become international? Correct—gambling.

In both Ukraine and Russia, this market is controlled by security services. In Ukraine’s case, it’s unclear by which ones—SSU or FSB. But more importantly, who invests most money in this market, and who is its beneficiary? And on whose payroll, in the end, are both the SSU and FSB? Especially the FSB.

As Charles Johnson writes, Putin is not really the leader of Russians but a link between China’s deep state, compromised Russian security services, and the Russian mafia. Incidentally, Johnson is not the only one saying this. As well as the fact that Elon Musk is linked with the Ukrainian mafia, which, in turn, is connected with the Russian mafia.

At the periphery of this entire story is Alyona Shevtsova, who in her distant youth, in pursuit of money and a beautiful life, made a mistake by selling her financier talent (and she has it, it’s foolish to deny the obvious) to this potent mix of international mafiosos, secret services, and ideologues of the "deep China" and "deep Russia."