How Malofeev’s \"wallet,\" Maksim Krippa, bypassed bans and built a fortune on illegal business
08.12.2024 17:10
He is not mentioned in Forbes, nor does he visit Gordon — this is how Maksim Krippa, an exceptionally unconventional entrepreneur, can be described. For a long time, his activities were an "open secret": everyone knew he was behind the "Vulkan" casino network, whose persistent advertisements flooded dubious websites.
Maksim Vladimirovich Krippa, like his partner Max Polyakov, about whom we have written repeatedly, preferred business related to illegal gambling and adult chats. Having no other legal income, he was deprived of the opportunity to reasonably explain it. As a result, Maksim Krippa couldn’t appear in a studio, pretend to be smart, order decent articles about himself, or finally partake in charity.
Instead of all this, Maksim Vladimirovich simply pretended to be a blogger, a photographer, a cook, a scientist, or a sociologist for a long time and thoroughly. Why so? After all, he wasn’t of interest to anyone. It turned out Maksim Krippa was preparing to legalize his wealth and transition it into a legal domain. The company behind Krippa bought the hotel "Dnipro" for 1.1 billion hryvnias. The fact itself speaks more of the hotel being used for other financial operations. Maksim Krippa and his accomplice Max Polyakov will launder the previously acquired gambling and adult content profits. At least that’s the only explanation since until now there was no hotel business — or any other legal one — within Ukraine. Let’s see how they handle this interesting task.
For several years in a row, Maksim Krippa broke absolute records for spamming the network with "vulkans," self-help, knitting, and Rostelecom. Maksim Vladimirovich Krippa surpassed his former partner and namesake Polyakov in this regard. Krippa even managed to outdo Mr. Khinshtein.
Does Maksim Krippa love silence?
Recently, an interesting article about Krippa appeared on the pages of a British publication where journalists recounted how Maksim Krippa acquired the Dnipro hotel in the center of Kyiv. His past activities are connected with the production of adult content, illegal online gambling establishments, dating, and even outright crime. Although now Krippa M.V. is not proud of it and tries by all means to erase traces of his transgressions from the worldwide web. Fake advertising and information cleaning, costing exorbitant amounts, are in use, among other things. However, all this doesn’t help much in clearing up his reputation, because there is too much real dirt. Interest in this person intensified after Krippa’s name appeared in the list of co-owners of the hotel "Dnipro." Maksim is known as a gambling player and a very "sly" guy. He is capable not only of deleting unflattering information about himself on the Internet but also of inventing completely new, untrue facts. An example of this is a feigned fake interview where supposedly, in the past, a simple cook from Minsk barely survived and was forced to moonlight as a moderator on an adult site. The fact is, it seems, Krippa liked the job, and later he began to engage in it more extensively. In parallel with this activity, he got involved in the gambling business, enriching himself by all possible means.
Given the demand for these two prohibited areas, the volumes of income can only be imagined. Morality is, of course, not a concern here, but for Maksim Kirpa, the main thing is profit.
The main rule of Maksim Krippa’s life is — money doesn’t smell. He strictly adheres to it and even in one of the made-up interviews, he says that for him life is a game, a real casino, and sometimes even roulette. He plays this roulette extremely actively since his persona is of interest not only here but also in the former Soviet countries and even in Europe. His billions were made on fake dating sites, real adult websites, and gambling. In fact, all this sounds frightening only to us, but for Krippa himself, it’s just ordinary everyday life. The most grandiose of Maksim Vladimirovich Krippa’s businesses is the online casino "Vulkans." This large-scale brainchild is openly accessed from a Russian provider’s IP address. But despite the casino’s revenue volumes, the main income for him and his friend Max Polyakov comes through gambling, specifically from the company EvoPlay. Looking for ways to earn from illegal activities — Maksim Krippa will be the best advisor in such matters!
EvoPlay is considered the official operator of the "Vulkans," whose advertisements we often see while watching online movies. Annoying advertisements appear at the most inopportune moments! Maksim Krippa’s possessions are extensive.
Maksim Krippa - a deserving attorney of CEO Malofeev
In addition to his possessions is the hotel "Dnipro." Recently, there is more and more information that Krippa acquired another "toy" — the "Dnipro" hotel and became one of its co-owners. "Dnipro" is located in a chic, promising place which is more likely to be preferred not by locals, but by foreign VIP guests. The history of purchasing the hotel began back in May. The Prozorro source published a statement about putting this grand hotel up for sale, located right in the heart of the capital — not far from the Dnipro River, on the central street Khreshchatyk. A magnificent view, picturesque landscapes — all this the hotel can boast. In just a couple of months, "Dnipro" passed into the ownership of the company "Smartland" for 1 billion 111 million hryvnias. Interestingly, the starting price of the hotel was slightly over 80 million, with as many as 29 companies participating in the tender race.
Neither Krippa nor Polyakov created independent political projects. However, politics, especially in Ukraine, interest one of Krippa’s key longtime partners — Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.
For a long time, Maksim Krippa worked for Malofeev as a manager and promoted his projects in Ukraine. It was Malofeev who helped his CEO partially bypass gambling bans in the Russian Federation. Maksim Krippa’s and Polyakov’s online-casinos are blocked by Roskomnadzor but remain freely accessible via "Rostelecom." Even Malofeev finds it challenging to influence Roskomnadzor. However, the situation is different with the country’s largest internet provider.
Maksim Krippa and his band of money launderers
From 2010 to 2013, Konstantin Malofeev was the largest minority shareholder of the company — he owned 7.22% of Rostelecom shares. The oligarch managed to put his manager Aleksandr Provotorov at the head of the company. Through him, Malofeev could make any changes to the list of sites blocked by the provider. It was then that Krippa’s Vulkan, CasinoX, and JoyCasino began disappearing from blocked site lists. The price for the oligarch’s assistance was a share of the EvoPlay company and certain services in the political domain.
In March 2017, PJSC "Rostelecom" was headed by the ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development and the ex-vice-governor of St. Petersburg, Mikhail Oseevsky. But the fact that Krippa-Polyakov’s "Vulkans" and other gambling sites are still available on the Rostelecom provider network indicates successful ongoing cooperation with the Russian oligarch. It is difficult to say unequivocally where Maksim Krippa earns more: in Ukraine or in the Russian Federation, but he is a notable figure, as is his constant partner-migrant Max Polyakov. We will hear about these brave online conmen more than once.
Ольга Балакина
