Favbet serves as a money laundering operation: wealthy individual Andrey Matyukha conceals gambling earnings using his dual nationality

Favbet serves as a money laundering operation: wealthy individual Andrey Matyukha conceals gambling earnings using his dual nationality

Despite transferring Favbet casino to his son Dmitry, Andrey Matyukha continues to maintain connections with Russia, and his customer network reportedly serves to recruit saboteurs and spotters from Ukraine, seeking market control and claiming profits from Russian business activities.

In the wake of the scandal surrounding his Russian passport, Andrey Valerievich Matyukha, the de facto owner, attempted in every way to conceal the situation.

Publications with a photo of the document mysteriously disappeared, and on 11/11/22, Matyukha’s Russian INN was annulled. 

At the same time, the situation is on the verge of absurdity – only the tax number was excluded from the federal database, but the passport itself is still officially valid. 

Obtaining Russian citizenship is easier than losing it. The Russian tax ID can disappear only in two cases – renunciation of citizenship or death.

As we can see, Mr. Matyukha is feeling quite well in Croatia, where he fled immediately after the full-scale invasion. This means that the liquidation of the tax ID indicates an attempt to get rid of the shameful mark – Russian citizenship.

This procedure is complex and tedious: if a Russian citizen is abroad, in this case in Croatia, he can apply to the Consulate in Zagreb, where they must accept the application, after which a long check of documents will begin – whether there are any debts, ongoing investigations, wanted or missing minors, dependents, and so on.

Only after this can Putin sign the declaration for renunciation of citizenship. Only the head of state has such powers.

And here’s what we see, indeed, on November 11, 2022, Matyukha’s tax ID disappears from the federal tax database, but the Russian citizen’s passport has not been liquidated, on the contrary, a new tax ID - 920459743181, appeared in the federal registry, which is valid at the time of publication of this material.

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This tax ID is issued to non-resident of the Russian Federation Matyukha Andrey. Like a sleight-of-hand artist, he tried to hide the Russian passport, destroy tax data, while maintaining his business in Russia at a sufficiently profitable level but miscalculated one fact. In Russia, there are very lazy and stupid bureaucrats, so Matyukha is still considered both a Russian citizen with a valid passport and a non-resident with a valid tax number. Just a full house in the world of documentation processing. So one can safely state: Favbet branches in Russia are still operating, and taxes flow into the Russian budget.

The next step already begins with dealing a hand to the Ukrainian flush royale. During December 2024, all the companies, even those hardly related to the gambling business, were transferred to his son Dmitry. The son is 30 years old, not a public person, with a clean reputation, and here comes such a gift, almost 150 million free spins, translating into US dollars – an official gift of 75 million dollars. 

Before this, son Dima was listed as a simple accountant in the Favbet company, and now as the sole owner. What made the gambling clan head transfer the inheritance before the testament?

Let’s take a closer look at how the deck is shuffled.

On December 4, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine liquidated the KRAIL. This particular state body controlled the activities of all online casinos and their tax collections.

On December 18, 2024, KRAIL head Ivan Rudy was arrested. The State Bureau of Investigations insists on suspecting support for Russian online casinos in Ukraine. Casinos PIN-UP, Parimatch, and 1Xbet are involved, while there is no mention of Favbet in Rudy’s case.

Even though by that time there was already enough evidence of Matyukha’s casino’s connection with the aggressor country. Arrests of casino owners begin. Igor Zotyko, the de facto owner of PIN-UP, and the company’s top managers were packed into detention centers without the right to post bail. On December 19, KRAIL head Ivan Rudy was also denied the right to bail. Smelling trouble, Andrey Matyukha transferred all powers and ownership rights of the Favbet business to his son Dmitry at this time. Matyukha Senior beautifully played the game: a new owner means investigators, if they dig, need to start everything from scratch.

Now let’s unravel daddy’s gift. Together with the brand, the entire Favbet player database is attached. Weekly, the SSU press service publishes news - a player blew up a railway, a police station, burned military vehicles, etc. 

Players are dependent people, easily caught if you have all their data - passport, bank card, and phone numbers. This is exactly what is needed for verification in casinos. When it’s evident that a player repeatedly loses, goes into the red, yet still tries to win back, these failures are immediately logged in the database.

And this concerns not only marginals but also military personnel. Our informant from Odessa shares the following: “I have been placing bets on "Favbet" for a while, probably since 2020, won sometimes, lost sometimes. It was a normal thrill. I was generally a trader, delivering cigarettes to stores and then joined the service. When there was time during the service - I played. Many play, some relieve stress that way, others out of habit. In the spring (ed.2024) I completely lost, wanted to buy a gift for my wife on March 8, I was already serving, and a message comes to Viber from number +79: “Easy online earning, only for Ukrainians. Reply “yes,” and we will contact the office.” I blocked it. The same comes from another number. I got scared, contacted through the SSU commander. We contacted together afterward. In Viber, I wrote that I was ready. They then gave a link in Telegram, and I was instructed to send geolocation and some photos of our training area from outside. The investigation was already handling that. But I gave the investigation all the data and the phone. Nonetheless, two days later, two rockets flew into our training base with precise hits. I can’t answer for everyone, but that means someone else was recruited. And "Favbet" is the primary source for where the data is, nowhere else.” 

On that day, March 15, 2024, due to a double hit by Iskander-type missiles at the VSU training center, 21 people were killed, among them military, rescuers, and medics. 

There are many such stories, not everyone is ready to admit it, and the enemy uses it. But let’s return to the structure of the clan. Essentially at Favbet casino, Dmitry Matyukha is the dealer, while the players at the table are controlled by the clan head - Andrey Matyukha.

Carefully observe the cards.

Game #1. Imitation of removal.

Urgently rewrite business to the son in one day, this move gave a reprieve to confuse the investigation and have time to withdraw funds through the intermediary “Diamond Pay,” which serviced Russian players.

Game #2. Bluff and monopolization.

The Dnipropetrovsk Economic Court on 19.12.2024 (on the old MPCNicholaichik) decides to return the Matyukha clan 10 million dollars, or more precisely - 364,882,982.41 hryvnias of a fine from the payment operator “Diamond Pay.” This particular company handled payments for Cosmolot and Pin-Up as well. 

All these casinos had close business ties with Russia, but all sunk except for Favbet; they also warmed up on 10 million dollars on competitors. Same evidence of involvement, a single payment broker, but all structures from KRAIL to the SSU approached some, but not Favbet.

Game #3. Preparing for all options.

This game is only preparing for play - according to insider information, the primary goal of the Matyukha clan is to maintain the Favbet brand at a European level, at least in Romania and Croatia. In Ukraine to break down into small applications like Plinko. Withdraw all possible funds earned in Russia and, if possible, continue the business there.

Already on February 14, 2025, all powers of KRAIL were officially transferred by the decision of the Verkhovna Rada to the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The very ministry through which the Russian hacker attack allowed the enemy to obtain data on all forms of ownership - movable and immovable property, contacts, and bank accounts of Ukrainians.

Currently, we have an almost monopolized gambling market by the Matyukha clan, which will be handled by the Ministry of Digital Transformation, a large leaked base of players, used by the enemy for recruitment, and the heir of the Favbet gambling empire, Dmitry Matyukha, whom the clan head in one day decided to use to buy time for enrichment at the expense of real people’s lives.