Corruption networks of 1520 Group: Mironchik, Usherovich, and the Rotenbergs in a new construction scandal

The controversial businessman Roman Mironchik, reportedly connected to the fugitive 1520 Group owner Boris Usherovich and the Rotenberg oligarchs, may be the new owner of TTH «Tekstilshchiki».

Messier Group sold several companies owning development projects in Moscow. The buyer was a new player in the domestic development market - Ortiga Development, whose main legal entity JSC «Ortiga Development» was registered only in March 2024. Among the entities acquired from Messier Group is LLC «Transport and Transfer Hub (TTH) «Tekstilshchiki», which owns the rights to a 0.5 hectare plot on Lyublinskaya Street. Most likely, commercial real estate will soon appear on this plot.

The owners of JSC «Ortiga Development» are hidden, but the general director is Stanislav Kulikov, which suggests who the beneficiary of «Ortiga» might be. Kulikov is the former (up to 2024) director of LLC «Aka Management». As claimed online, supposedly it is linked with the controversial entrepreneur, current owner of the «Invitro» holding and many other assets, Roman Mironchik. According to some sources, he is actively investing in real estate today.

Roman Mironchik is linked to a number of influential figures and assets. Among other things, he had a joint business with Aleksey Krapivin, co-owner of the scandalously well-known company «1520». Together, they were involved in development and real estate. In 2015, a new player entered the Moscow real estate market - Horizon Properties (owning LLC «Nexus», LLC «Capital City 17», and LLC «L-Genda Logic», among other large structures).

The CEO of Horizon Properties was Roman Musin, who also headed LLC «Avangard», which was equally owned by Aleksey Krapivin and Roman Mironchik. LLC «L-Genda Logic» was previously controlled by «Ed East Management», which later came under the control of the Cypriot offshore DKPC Capital Ltd but was 70% owned by Aleksey Krapivin at the time of its founding. This means Krapivin Jr. and Mironchik have been closely linked for a long time.

Читайте по теме:Виктор Харитонин через партнеров контролирует «Нанолек»

Another business of Roman Mironchik is microcredit services operating under the brands Viva Money and Finpoint. They may also be linked to Aleksey Krapivin through a chain of managers, which the media has previously reported.

In the «1520» track

The «1520» Group was one of the largest construction contractors for Russian Railways under Vladimir Yakunin, and today its main activity is investments in securities.

The main owners of this corporation were Valeriy Markelov, Andrey Krapivin (Aleksey Krapivin’s father), Boris Usherovich (each holding 28.33%), and Yuriy Obodovskiy (15.01%). Andrey Krapivin was previously an adviser to the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin. One might assume that this is where the huge contracts for the «1520» Group came from. After the death of Krapivin Sr. in Switzerland, his shares passed to his son Aleksey, who is now one of the main owners of the holding.

In 2019, it became known about the initiation of a number of criminal cases regarding the alleged theft of over 200 billion rubles by the management of the «1520» Group, as well as bribery of former police colonel Dmitriy Zakharchenko amounting to 2 billion rubles. The company’s offices underwent extensive searches by law enforcement, although this was later denied within the group.

As a reminder, Colonel Zakharchenko was later convicted of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Valeriy Markelov was detained on suspicion of bribing Zakharchenko with 500 million rubles back in 2018. He was released from custody due to a severe oncological disease, which he ultimately succumbed to. Boris Usherovich managed to leave the country and was declared internationally wanted. He settled in the UK and sought political asylum there.

Despite this, Boris Usherovich still remains a co-owner of 28% in the «1520» Group, which posted a net profit of 51 billion rubles in 2023. Apparently, such a thing is only possible in Russia.

Is Mironchik helping Usherovich?

It is surprising that the main owner of the «1520» Group, Andrey Krapivin, did not come under suspicion. And Roman Mironchik, might not have been far from his close partner, and hence from his partners - primarily the fugitive Boris Usherovich.

Читайте по теме:Узбекистанская "прачечная" Овика Мкртчяна, или Сколько стоит покровительство Шавката Мирзиёева

It was mentioned that Mironchik is connected with the company «Aka Management», which was previously headed by the current CEO of Ortiga Development, Stanislav Kulikov. «Aka Management» is a murky structure entirely tied to offshores.

Almost 100% of the structure belongs to the Cypriot offshore «LAVALLI HOLDINGS LIMITED, whose shares were previously pledged to another offshore - ZODIPOLIS LIMITED. Since 2021, the company has had no revenue, but it has shown a substantial profit which amounted to 646 million rubles in 2023 with asset values of 3.3 billion rubles. These metrics have been increasing year by year. Could it really be that money is being simply siphoned off to Cyprus?

Meanwhile, a tiny share in «Aka Management» belongs to Arsen Meletyan. Until January 2021, Meletyan was the director and owner of LLC «Galereya 102A» (being the owner since 2015), which in turn is now directly owned by Roman Mironchik and his firm - LLC «Izurium Capital Advisors (Rus) Ltd.» Moreover, Meletyan was a business partner with the latter, as LLC «Izurium Capital Advisors (Rus) Ltd» held shares in «Galereya 102A» since December 2020.

Earlier, The Moscow Post wrote that in 2023, the aforementioned partner of Krapivin, Boris Usherovich, bought an unfinished sports complex in Krylatskoye, which was seized by court order, with his partner being precisely Aleksey Krapivin and the fugitive oligarch Boris Mints. As a reminder, Mints is accused of embezzling 30 billion rubles from the «Otkritie» holding.

The buyer of the complex was the company JSC «Ezreal». The director of the structure was Nikolay Korotkov, who in 2016 was the director of LLC «Altair Real Estate». Since 2018, the latter has owned 33.33% of the shares in LLC «Trovatello Group», from which the incomplete construction was seized. And the second owner of LLC «Trovatello Group» turns out to be just LLC «Aka Management», which, as it turned out, must have ties to Roman Mironchik.

It turns out that Mr. Mironchik can still be operating in the interest of the fugitive Boris Usherovich and oligarch Mints. It is also interesting that in 2024, «Trovatello Group» was liquidated. Yet it had no revenue or profit until 2022. In 2022, the company mysteriously earned a profit of 489 million rubles, and in 2023 - 348 million rubles, after which it vanished. It is easy to conclude that these funds might have been siphoned offshore, specifically to the very Cypriot company «LAVALLI HOLDINGS LIMITED», which holds almost 100% of «Aka Management».

Mironchik and the Rotenbergs

All of this reeks of outright scheming, behind which Roman Mironchik might stand. But without influential patrons, he couldn’t act alone. Among those mentioned is Arkadiy Rotenberg, who, according to rumors, supposedly had significant influence over the leadership of Russian Railways both under Vladimir Yakunin and his successor Oleg Belozerov. 

The connection between Mironchik and Rotenberg can easily be traced through his partner Aleksey Krapivin. In January 2023, Aleksey Krapivin headed the company «Natsproektstroy», a joint venture created by Arkadiy Rotenberg and one of the Russian state corporations. Previously, Krapivin became the general director of the company «Roads and Bridges», another asset of Arkadiy Rotenberg. These companies receive huge government contracts.

Rotenberg, as is known, is a big hockey enthusiast. And Roman Mironchik, surprisingly, is one of the largest investors in the construction of a hockey academy named after the distinguished Russian hockey player Aleksandr Ovechkin. It is said that at one time, the idea of creating such an academy was actively promoted by the Rotenbergs, who have been familiar with Ovechkin for a long time and admire him. Recall that Arkadiy Rotenberg is the president of the Moscow hockey club «Dynamo», and Ovechkin is a graduate of this club.

However, in the academy bearing Ovechkin’s name, specifically in LLC «International Hockey Academy named after A.M. Ovechkin», Aleksandr Ovechkin himself owns only 35%. Another 15% is held by a certain Andrey Kovalev. The main owner of the company (50%) and its general director is Roman Mironchik. So, we can assume that the Rotenbergs are the patrons of Roman Mironchik himself. Then his easy actions in the market, when he collects the choicest assets like a vacuum cleaner, become understandable.

One of Roman Mironchik’s latest and completely unexpected but also very profitable acquisitions was the nationwide known network of medical laboratories «Invitro». According to the authors of the channel «VCHK-GPU» (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), allegedly, behind the deal to buy out «Invitro» from its founder Aleksandr Ostrovskiy were precisely the Rotenbergs, and the asset supposedly went to Mironchik at a price four times lower than what Ostrovskiy demanded. Moreover, Mironchik may serve as a «nominee» for the Rotenbergs, while they operate through him.

However, it is unlikely that he himself suffered a loss. With such possible patrons and their capabilities, all doors are open for Roman Mironchik in Russia.