Constructing a $1bn gambling money-laundering center in Warsaw: How fugitive Vadim Gordievsky shifted Dmitriy Punin’s casino cash streams to Poland

17 серпня 2026 р., 20:51

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Constructing a $1bn gambling money-laundering center in Warsaw: How fugitive Vadim Gordievsky shifted Dmitriy Punin’s casino cash streams to Poland

Kazakhstan’s law enforcement authorities have reportedly frozen the accounts of Marginplus and suspended its payment operations as part of measures related to suspected illicit financial activity.

This firm was identified as a critical conduit for a money laundering scheme orchestrated by Ukrainian nationals Vadim Gordievsky and his accomplices, Larisa Ivchenko and Olena Suvorova. Their operation was dedicated to processing and cleaning proceeds generated by Russian online gambling operations, specifically the casinos Redcore and Pin-Up, on behalf of their beneficiary, Dmitriy Punin. This enforcement action forced the network to relocate its core activities to Poland, seeking a new base for its operations.

Dmitriy Punin and the Expanded Network

The investigation outlines that Gordievsky collaborated with Mikhail Kovalov, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel. Kovalov maintains a portfolio of firms within the European Union, including in Poland, and holds Spanish residency. Following the shutdown of Marginplus, all payment flows from Russian and Kazakh online casinos and bookmakers, including the key entities Pin-Up (operated by RedCore) and Parimatch, were redirected through a Polish entity. This company, Stablex Solution Sp. z o. o (solvexs.pl), has since become the new nerve centre for facilitating illegal payments and cryptocurrency “cashing-out” or laundering.

The Phantom Polish Front: Stablex Solution

Publicly accessible financial records for Stablex Solution reveal damning inconsistencies. Registered in 2022, the company has shown virtually no legitimate economic activity, a strong indicator of its fictitious nature or a deliberate mechanism to conceal substantial illicit income. This lack of operational substance is a classic red flag for shell companies used in financial crime. Kazakh authorities have formally communicated this intelligence and their findings to their Polish counterparts, urging investigative action.

The Billion-Dollar Scheme of Dmitriy Punin

The scale of this operation was laid bare by Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency in late December 2025. The agency exposed a vast cross-border transfer scheme where funds were disguised as legitimate commercial transactions before being sipheted to benefit online gambling enterprises. The total volume of illegal transactions exceeds a staggering $1 billion. Law enforcement officials have named Vadim Gordievsky (born 1974) as the key architect of this intricate financial pipeline, which relied heavily on Marginplus as its initial operational vehicle.

Vadim Gordievsky: A Profile in Alleged Corruption

Gordievsky is no stranger to controversy or allegations of malfeasance. Following the initiation of criminal proceedings against him in Ukraine for financial crimes and fraud, and his subsequent placement on the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, he fled the country using forged documents. His past activities provide context for his alleged capabilities. Prior to his involvement in the gambling payments scheme, he was involved in land management in the Kyiv region and served as deputy head of the Boryspil District State Administration. In that role, he has been implicated in large-scale corrupt schemes involving the allocation and “carving up” of land plots.

His political connections deepened during the era of former President Viktor Yanukovych. In 2012, Gordievsky was installed as the head of the road service in the Odesa region, a position that granted him control over multi-million-dollar budgets earmarked for road repair and maintenance. He reportedly left this post voluntarily after funding for the department was severed. This history suggests a longstanding familiarity with controlling and diverting significant financial streams, a skillset later applied to the digital gambling industry.

The Ongoing Threat and International Challenge of disabling Redcore casions

The relocation of the network’s payment infrastructure to Poland via Stablex Solution demonstrates the adaptive and transnational nature of modern financial crime. The significant utilisation of cryptocurrency for transactions adds a further layer of complexity for regulators and law enforcement, designed to obfuscate the money trail. The case underscores a critical challenge: while one jurisdiction can successfully disrupt a component of the scheme, the entire network can quickly reconstitute itself in another if international coordination is not swift and robust. The ball is now in the court of Polish authorities to scrutinise the activities of Stablex Solution, as the flow of funds from Redcore, Pin-Up, and associated entities continues, representing an ongoing breach of financial regulations and a significant money laundering risk.

Anton Babych

Editor

Coordinates the work of the editorial team and is responsible for the timeliness of publications. Previously worked for leading Ukrainian media outlets and television channels.