A \"laundry\" for the Kremlin and Andriy Matyukha’s ties with the FSB: how Favbet and \"Diamond Pay\" served the interests of Russian special services

A fascinating case is being heard in the Dnipropetrovsk Economic Court regarding the withdrawal of funds from gambling through the "Diamond Pay" payment system. What stands out is the connection to Russian special services, which oversee a large portion of the Ukrainian gambling market.

At first glance, the case seems ordinary – one of Ukraine’s bookmakers, namely Favbet owned by Andriy Matyukha, is demanding 364,882,982 hryvnias as a penalty from "Diamond Pay," which was its payment operator, for allegedly breaching the terms of the account servicing agreement with Favbet. Additionally, Favbet demands 1,059,800 hryvnias as compensation for the paid court fee.

At first glance, there’s nothing unusual: "Diamond Pay" was a company servicing the Ukrainian gambling market until it lost its license in July last year. It accepted money from gamblers into its accounts and then transferred it to the casinos or bookmakers’ accounts, where they lost their money. A usual intermediary. It would seem. But digging into the essence of the case raises more questions than there are answers.

What is "Diamond Pay"

Firstly, a small reference: LLC "Diamond Pay" was practically a monopolist in the payment services market for casinos – at the end of 2023, 70% of all gaming payments went through it. By the time it lost its license, this share had risen to almost 90%. However, in this case, the important thing is not even this, but that "Diamond Pay" lost its license because it helped Russian Pin-UP and Vbet, which had been operating unhindered in Ukraine’s gambling market for several years, to withdraw almost three billion hryvnias blocked after losing their licenses.

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After Pin-UP and Vbet had their accounts blocked, "Diamond Pay" continued to accept money from players for these bookmakers, without informing the players about the impossibility of placing a bet. After Pin-UP and Vbet opened new accounts, "Diamond Pay" transferred the accumulated money from its accounts to the new accounts of Pin-UP and Vbet. The Prosecutor General’s Office seemingly ignored it.

Then a scandal erupted, and it turned out that "Diamond Pay" was linked to Russia. Despite official data stating that LLC "Diamond Pay" supposedly belongs to Ukrainian citizens, its owner is Maksym Sihalov, who also owns the payment system "E-pay," which in 2014-16 serviced pro-Russian band formations in the "LPR." And Maksym Sihalov’s brother owns the Inbet online casino in Russia.

This was known even before the license was revoked. But "Diamond Pay" was covered by the powerful chest of KRAIL member Yevhen Yakhniy, whose wife, sole proprietor Liliya Yakhniy, received 800,000 hryvnias from LLC "Diamond Pay" into her accounts. And this was only on April 16, 2024. How much more, and in what manner, did Mr. Yakhniy receive for his services from the Russian payment system "Diamond Pay" – this remains an open question. The Prosecutor General’s Office remains silent on this matter too, as does the Security Service of Ukraine. By the way, Mrs. Yakhniy works in the NBU Licensing Department, which does not prevent her from moonlighting as an entrepreneur.

What’s unusual about Matyukha’s lawsuit against "Diamond Pay"

Once this whole story was revealed, LLC "Diamond Pay" lost its license. Hence, bookmakers it serviced had grievances. So far, it seems logical. In its lawsuit, Favbet (LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet") is seeking to recover from "Diamond Pay" "364,882,982.41 UAH in penalties and 1,059,800.00 UAH in court fee expenses." Interestingly, this demand was fully satisfied by the decision of the Dnipropetrovsk Economic Court on December 19, 2024.

But unexpectedly, another bookmaker, LLC "SpaceX" (brand Cosmolot), approached the court with a demand to reduce the penalty amount by 500,000 thousand hryvnias. One might wonder, what is it to them? But no, they have a vested interest. Incidentally, "SpaceX" has issues with BES concerning money laundering from the gaming business through Great Britain. How this is connected with Favbet, Andriy Matyukha, "Diamond Pay," and Russian agent Yevhen Yakhniy – is unclear. But the lawsuit exists.

The oddities don’t end here. The most amazing thing lies in the plaintiff itself – LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet" and its owner Andriy Matyukha. Formally, LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet" is a purely Ukrainian enterprise. It belongs to Dmytro Matyukha, who became the company’s beneficiary in December 2024, replacing Andriy Matyukha. 

This happened just when strange maneuvers began around the fine for "Diamond Pay". How these events are connected is not entirely clear. But the reason for the change in the beneficiary of the Favbet casino is clear. As soon as Favbet received its license to operate in Ukraine, publications emerged stating that its owner, Andriy Matyukha, was connected with Russians and, moreover, holds Russian citizenship. A photo of the Russian passport of Andriy Matyukha appeared on the net. 

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Moreover, there were many materials about Andriy Matyukha’s connections with the Russian organized crime group "Luzhniki," whose representative Boris Baum was one of the authors of the law on gambling legalization in Ukraine. Most materials have already been cleaned up, only traces remain. Here’s what well-known blogger Oleksandr Holobutskyi wrote about Andriy Matyukha and the Favbet office in April of last year. By the way, this post is still accessible, and the link is here:

Here’s the missing screenshot mentioned by Holobutskyi:

It is known that until 2014 Favbet operated in Russia under the brand "Favorit Sport," and specialized publications still include it in their ratings, specifically noting that now "Favorit Sport" is Favbet. 

In 2022, delo.ua conducted an investigation, which revealed that Favbet was servicing citizens of the Russian Federation without any issues. It detailed how this worked. The material has already been cleaned up, but traces remain.

In 2019, Favbet was mentioned in the materials of the criminal case No. 12016100040000990 regarding LLC "Lucky Land" for financing terrorists of the "DPR" and "LPR". After a change in government, the case froze, and Favbet was among the first to receive a license for bookmaker activities in Ukraine.

There were other publications linking Andriy Matyukha with Russia, its organized crime, and special services that control the gaming business there. Andriy Matyukha, of course, either denies everything or remains silent while emphasizing his "help to the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Be that as it may, Favbet continues to extract money from Ukrainians’ pockets. No official charges have been brought against Andriy Matyukha. But due to the fact the company servicing his bookmaker office "Diamond Pay," whose connections with Russian special services no longer raise doubts, additional questions arise regarding Andriy Matyukha. These questions also arise in relation to other operators of the gaming market serviced there. And there were a total of eight of them.

Returning to the lawsuit of Andriy Matyukha’s bookmaker company Favbet against "Diamond Pay," through which payments went to Russia, it’s unclear whether this is Andriy Matyukha’s initiative to appropriate temporarily orphaned money, or a directive from his FSB curators who do not want to let nearly ten million dollars hanging in uncertainty slip from their grasp.