Front companies and fake directors: how Russian citizen and Russian business owner Andrey Matyukha siphons millions from Ukraine to offshores through Favbet

Front companies and fake directors: how Russian citizen and Russian business owner Andrey Matyukha siphons millions from Ukraine to offshores through Favbet

Like many other entrepreneurs in his industry, Andrey Matyukha prefers to keep a low profile.

This is understandable: after all, the reasonable question about the origin of Matyukha’s wealth remains unanswered. However, the Western press has tried to answer this question. For example, since gambling and betting in Ukraine have been banned since 2009, how did Andrey Matyukha make his fortune from them and eventually obtain a license? A simple question without an answer. Licenses from Curacao, you say? Or maybe the Cape Verde Islands? And how did FavBet operate all this time, with "small architectural forms" at every step where sports bets were placed? And finally, what social contribution, apart from the negative one, do FavBet’s metastases bring? In which companies united with the Russians does the money of the underground modest man Andrey Matyukha work? We cover this in our article.

What do we have against Andrey Matyukha? Well, aside from the fact that FavBet is funneling Ukrainian money to Russia, and the owner himself has a Russian passport. Probably greed and the obsession with whitewashing.

The company FavBet, owned by businessman Andrey Matyukha, does not have a license for bookmaker activities, and Matyukha himself turned out to be a person with dual citizenship – his second passport is Russian. Once this information made it to the media, Andrey Matyukha demanded its removal and quite successfully.

According to Ukrainian legislation, the activities of gambling companies, wholly or partially owned by Russian nationals, are prohibited on Ukrainian territory. Matyukha denied having a Russian passport for a while, but the British press reported that it was false.

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When information about the absence of a bookmaker’s license for FavBet, tax evasion, continued operation in both the Ukrainian and Russian markets, and the owner’s Russian passport became public in Ukrainian media, Matyukha tried to have all these articles removed. To some extent, he succeeded.

Media also reported that at the beginning of this year, Matyukha purchased the Voda Ua trademark and quickly became a supplier of this water to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the government.

“The major online casinos and bookmakers present in Ukraine, even if they didn’t have Russian roots, were historically heavily tied to the aggressor country. And it seemed that after February 24, 2022, when Russian missiles fell on Ukrainian cities, everything would change. Enough talking about any business with the Russians or in the aggressor country – it looks not only disgusting but also criminal,” noted British journalists.

Interestingly, the publication in the British edition also disappeared later, but we found its translation, which we cannot help but share with our readers.

Russian Andrey Matyukha tries to stay in the shadows. This is understandable: both his competitors in the bookmaker business FavBet, slot machines, and online casinos are known for their relatively low profile. His enterprise, FavBet, continues to operate in Russia. But of course, Matyukha will say that it is not his enterprise at all, just named similarly. As British journalists wrote in their investigation, Andrey Matyukha diversifies his business, yes. The latest news is that he acquired the Voda.ua trademark and won a tender to supply it to ministries and the Rada. But how he achieved such success and who he battles with, a short story about Andrey Matyukha with a Russian passport is in our material.

What is the Russian-Ukrainian company "Favorit-Sport" (FavBet)? Its main beneficiary is the non-public entrepreneur Andrey Matyukha. He has previously been accused of illegal gambling operations, financing terrorism, and tax evasion on a large scale through an affiliate, LLC “Lucky Land” – the relevant documents are in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions. Now Andrey Matyukha is appointed to supply mineral water to the Ukrainian parliament.

Andrey Matyukha will supply Voda.ua to Ukrainian government officials and deputies

In January 2024, it became known that Andrey Matyukha purchased the Voda.ua trademark from its founder, Dmitry Nikiforov. The water under this brand is extracted from the "Mizun" spring in the Dolynsky district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. With the arrival of the "servant of the people" party in power, journalists noticed that Voda.ua started appearing on the tables of deputies and ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada.

Andrey Matyukha and his family officially own several companies related to the online casino Favbet since the early 2000s. These are companies like “Favorit Bet,” “Favorit Jackpot,” “Planet of Sports,” “Bookmaker Office Favbet,” etc. He also owns catering establishments “Maracuya” and “Viller,” as well as the elite goods supermarket “Daily Market” in Obolon. Before that, the first store for VIPs worked in Ukraine before Good Wine appeared.

Victoria Skrynchenko, registered at the same address as Matyukha with certain information, is his wife and is also among the owners of the listed companies. Moreover, she controls the aesthetic medicine clinic “Aesthetic Life” in the same Obolon area. At first glance, there is no indication of connection with Russians.

Andrey Matyukha is connected with Russian business, and reportedly, he even has a Russian passport

However, before 2016, when Russia had already annexed Crimea and invaded Ukrainian Donbas, Andrey Matyukha was the founder of another company – LLC “Dorida Realty.” The company specializes in retail trade in grocery stores. It was created by Matyukha together with citizens of the Russian Federation – Andrey Lipanov and Yuriy Sprizhitsky. Although Andrey Matyukha left the list of founders of “Dorida Realty” in June 2016, his Russian partners remain beneficiaries as of September 2022. And this is the first thread connecting Favbet owner Andrey Matyukha with the tenants.

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Moreover, in the spring of 2022, during the peak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the publication Delo.ua conducted an investigation and found that, despite official statements from Favbet about its complete exit from the Russian and Belarusian markets, the company continued to allow Russians to register on its websites and even receive winnings. The money withdrawal scheme was complicated – a player had to state that they were not a citizen of Russia and had a non-Russian bank card. But if these two conditions were met, a hypothetical Vasiliy Petrov from Moscow could fully utilize the Favbet websites and receive winnings.

By 2023, Ukrainian media reported that Andrey Matyukha might have a Russian passport and even published a copy of it. However, no official confirmation could be found in official sources.

Andrey Matyukha will supply Ukrainian officials with live Voda.ua

It is important to note that bookmaker Andrey Matyukha purchased not a company but the Voda.ua trademark itself. The company of the same name, among the beneficiaries of which is Matyukha, was established only at the end of October 2023.

Nonetheless, despite its young status, LLC “Voda Ua” managed to win a tender for water supply to the state enterprise “Ukrservice” of the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine in December 2023.

The controversial and complex story of Andrey Matyukha

The companies had to publicly comment on accusations of illegality in their activities – they insisted on their innocence and denied these accusations. Particularly, Andrey Matyukha tried to refute apparent business ties with Russia.

In 2020, law enforcement agencies once again took an interest in Favorit Sport – searches were conducted at the company’s offices and employees’ homes. Initially, the fact of searches was denied. However, later they were confirmed by the press service, which stated that the reason for them was the actions of Russian companies, “who are dissatisfied with the norms of the draft law ‘On State Regulation of Activities in Organizing and Conducting Gambling Games,’ namely regarding the ban on activities in the gambling market of Ukrainian companies, whose ultimate beneficiaries are individuals or legal entities of Russian origin.” It is hard not to notice that there is a blatant hint at 1xBet, an aggressive player with Russian roots trying to penetrate the Ukrainian betting market.

At the time, when 1xBet managed to obtain a license from KRAIL, the market was actually divided among three main players: “Cosmolot,” FavBet, and PariMatch. None of them would be happy to see a contender for their piece of the pie. However, it is clear that the most active participant in the information war against the “Russian Cypriots” is FavBet by Andrey Matyukha.

Andrey Matyukha’s “Favorite” vs. 1xBet

Amidst debates among gambling leaders over who is associated with the aggressor country and who has more rights to fleece Ukrainian players, the interests of millions of Ukrainian families, whose members suffer from gambling addiction, are ignored. It is no surprise, as both bookmakers and casinos profit equally from them, as do the officials taxing the gambling lords.

In 2019, when supporters of President Zelensky’s administration began flirting with the idea of legalizing the gambling business, many had a premonition that it would turn into something monstrous. The state budget would not be replenished from selling licenses and paying taxes by casinos and sportsbooks, and the country would not turn into a flourishing Las Vegas. At least partly because not only were the ears but also the horns of the mafia were hidden behind the lobbyists of the corresponding law.

The major online casinos and bookmakers present in Ukraine, even if they didn’t have Russian roots, were historically tightly connected with the aggressor country. And it seemed that on 02/24/2022, when Russian missiles fell on Ukrainian cities, everything changed. Talking about some business with Russians or in the aggressor country seems not only reprehensible but also criminal.

The accusation of collaboration with the occupiers has become the main killer argument in the war of bookmakers for the wallets of gambling enslaves, unleashed by them in Ukraine.

The Wars of Gambling Oligarchs: Andrey Matyukha, his enemies, and allies

On September 2, 2019, six months after his election, President Zelensky greenlighted the legalization of the gambling business as a whole and bookmakers in particular. The public was presented with the idea that legalization would open the country to large foreign investment. However, the presence of Boris Baum, connected with the Russian “Luzhniki” gang, in this performance, especially in leading roles, raised suspicion that the gambling business would be legalized at Russian gangster hands.

However, experts noted even then that legalization (at least in the part of betting) was in the interest of the two largest domestic booking networks – “Pari-Match” and “Favorit” from FavBet.

Both "Favorit" and "Pari-Match" have a controversial history: the gambling empire of Andrey Matyukha

Behind the bookmaker FavBet ("Favorit," "Favorit Sport") stands the private entrepreneur Andrey Matyukha. During the game ban, it also operated in Ukraine as the lottery "Toto."

A number of companies under the management of Andrey Matyukha, under the Favorit brand, worked in the 2000s until the casino ban in 2009. The network partly transformed into "internet cafes," lotteries, sports "poker clubs," such as the casino "Grand Victoria" in the Obolon area of the capital. Partly it transformed into virtual format, legalizing itself in jurisdictions where all regulatory "doors" were open for gambling.

Existing court decisions show that most of Matyukha’s establishments from 2009 to 2020 continued to function in Ukraine without interruption. Naturally, illegally.

Most companies in Matyukha’s group are registered in Kyiv at the address: Marshal Tymoshenko Street, house 21, building 3. According to the Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission, by the beginning of this year, the group held the following licenses:

LLC "Bookmaker Company Favbet" (43457382) - organization and conduct of games of chance in a casino on the internet; brand Favbet, website favbet.ua; LLC "Billionaire Casino Company" (43457293) - organization and conduct of games of chance in casino gaming establishments, slot machines, gaming tables, brand Billionaire; LLC "Favorite Casino Classic Company" (44101120) - organization and conduct of games of chance in casino gaming establishments, gaming tables, roulettes, slot machines, brand Favbet; LLC "Slot machines Favbet" (43457335) - organization and conduct of games of chance in slot machine halls, brand Favbet.

At the same time, as the publication suggested, none of the companies registered under Andrey Matyukha had licenses to organize and conduct actual bookmaker activities, although separate permits are required in Ukraine for casinos, sports betting, esports, and online poker tournaments.

Matyukha also owns gambling websites, controlling them through the company Favorit United N.V. (121466), registered on the Caribbean island of Curacao. The managing director of this company is Ukrainian citizen Igor Sosonyuk – a business partner of Matyukha.

This company carries out gambling activities based on a sublicense issued by one of four licensees in Curacao – Antillephone N.V., signed on behalf of Favorit United N.V. by Matyukha himself.

In turn, Cypriot company Bintpash Ltd (registration number 359736) acts as a payment and processing agent, which is registered under Favorit United N.V., while Igor Sosonyuk serves as director.

Igor Sosonyuk is also the director of LLC "Planet Earth" (37047683), where from 2012 to 2016, Andrey Matyukha (90%) and Darya Matyukha (10%) were participants. The latter was the director of this company during those same years.

The different companies of Andrey Matyukha

In 2016-2018, a Belizean company, Roliatto Group Ltd. (124466), became the 100% participant of LLC “Planet Earth.” This company was also an applicant for one of the trademarks for goods and services – Favbet (application number m201220783).

According to the publication, Matyukha also owns the domain name favbet.com and is the ultimate beneficiary and director of companies registered in the UK: Andalidi Assets Ltd (08322630), Favbet Invest LLP (OC381256), Bet Invest Ltd. (08348255), Premier Property Invest Ltd. (08404215), and Maltese companies. Favbet Holding Limited (C84426), Favbet Limited (C84427), and the online casino favbet.eu, operating under a Maltese license.

According to the UK trademark register, rights to the FAVBET brand belong to the UK company Favbet Invest LLP, whose members are two UK companies – Andalidi Assets Ltd and Andalidi Invest Ltd. Both are fully controlled by Andrey Matyukha.

Reportedly, the British company Bet Invest Ltd is involved in software development and technical support for group websites, and its administration is located at: Kyiv, Stepan Bandera Avenue, 8.

In turn, Bet Invest Ltd is a 100% participant in two Ukrainian companies – "Atlant Triumph," primarily engaged in computer programming, and "City Gate." The latter is registered at the address: Stepan Bandera Avenue 8, building 39, 39a, Kyiv.

According to the decision of the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv dated September 11, 2020, case 755/1439/16-k, funds received from clients of the Favorit bookmaker office are credited to the accounts of LLC "Prime Fort," LLC "Neuron Gold," and subsequently transferred to companies LLC "Planet of Sports," LLC "Sport Arena," LLC "Sphere Max."

Andrey Matyukha and Yuriy Pilipenko are equal participants in LLC "Planet of Sports." The latter is a 100% participant in LLC "Sport Arena" and director of LLC "Atlant Triumph," whose ultimate beneficiary, through the British company Bet Invest Ltd, is Andrey Matyukha.

LLC "Sphere Max" belongs to Yuriy Sharipov. However, from 2017 to 2020, it was solely owned by LLC "Renaissance Group," which is controlled by Andrey Matyukha (99%).

The sole participant and director of LLC "Prime Fort" is Georgian citizen Irakli Djikia. According to the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute, in 2019-2020, this legal entity filed 27 trademark applications exclusively related to Favbet and Favorit.

History of relations of Andrey Matyukha with the police, prosecutor’s office, and SBU

Naturally, the activities of the semi-underground business empire of Andrey Matyukha periodically attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies.

In 2014, the Svytoshynsky district prosecutor’s office in Kyiv organized a check of the legality of the network of gaming establishments operated by the FavBet bookmaker office under the guise of distributing state lotteries. As part of the investigation into the criminal case under Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code (involvement in gambling activities), law enforcement officers conducted a series of searches, during which about 100 units of computer equipment were seized.

At the end of 2016, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the "liquidation" of Ukraine’s largest bookmaker office "Favorit." The message claimed that the company’s activities financed terrorist activities in eastern Ukraine, a crime under Article 258-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – financing terrorism. During investigative actions at 28 addresses in office premises and residences of persons involved in the company’s activities, law enforcement officers seized almost a thousand computer equipment units, documentation, gaming devices, and more than seven million hryvnias in cash.

In January 2020, reports emerged of yet another search at “Favorit Sport.” According to the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office, after checking the websites favbet.com and favorit.com.ua, it was found that the latter provided illegal access to gambling.

"During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that a group of persons with the aim of obtaining additional profits under the guise of releasing and selling lotteries ’Favorit Sport’ and the creation of the corresponding website on the Internet, actually engaged in illegal bookmaker activities, which fall under the norms of Ukrainian law ‘On the prohibition of gambling in Ukraine,’” the report said.

Subsequently, the company itself refuted these statements, accusing Russian companies (1xBet) of allegedly being dissatisfied with the provisions of the adopted law ‘On State Regulation of Activities in Organizing and Conducting Gambling Games’ and began an information attack.

Nonetheless, despite loud searches and statements by law enforcement agencies, this gambling empire continues to exist and actively develop. Its owner, Andrey Matyukha, has not been criminally convicted.

At the end of May this year, Matyukha’s FavBet became the target of a harsh informational attack. In the article "Nothing personal, just business: The Ukrainian bookmaker Favbet doesn’t pay taxes and works with Russians?" journalists convincingly accused this bookmaker of operating without the appropriate license and evading taxes on a huge scale. However, in Ukrainian realities, such accusations are unlikely to surprise anyone, so the authors, during an "investigative experiment," uncovered a highly defamatory piece of evidence: despite the bloody invasion of Russian forces, FavBet allegedly continues to take bets from Russians and pay them winnings. In other words, the publication concludes that Andrey Matyukha’s company cooperates with the occupiers and murderers.

The investigation was promptly removed, cleaned, and all its traces were lost.

On March 30, KRAIL issued a license for bookmaker activity to LLC "Your Bookmaker’s Office." According to registry data, this small firm is registered in the name of a front man, Sergey Petrovich Tsybin. It intends to carry out its activities under the 1xBet brand, which is well known to frequenters of "pirate" online movie theaters.

According to an investigation by the InformNapalm community, the legalization of 1xBet in Ukraine was personally lobbied by the abovementioned head of the KRAIL Advisory and Expert Council, Boris Baum. And presumably, his long-time associate in the organized crime group "Luzhniki," Mikhail Spektor, lobbied for the interests of this bookmaker even before Baum. One of the decisive factors influencing the commission’s decision to issue the license was allegedly the promise of "Your Bookmaker’s Office" to purchase state internal government bonds worth half a billion hryvnias.

As mentioned earlier, Matyukha’s FavBet has suspected Russian competitors for several years due to "attacks" by controlling bodies. It doesn’t take much to guess whom he is hinting at: 1xBet is probably the only conditional Russian company persistently trying to legalize and establish itself in Ukraine. This last part is unachievable without bumping off a giant that has long held the lion’s share of the Ukrainian betting market: the bookmaker network of Andrey Matyukha.

It is worth separately noting that Matyukha’s team managed to quickly extinguish this “negative outbreak.” As mentioned earlier, the source was cleaned, as were reprints in first-tier online publications. The information space was massively populated with positive stories about FavBet. Ukrainian media write about this bookmaker as if it were President Zelensky after the start of the large-scale invasion by the Russian Federation – either good or very good.

Excessive PR by Andrey Matyukha

In recent months, the internet has been filled with image-driven publications about how FavBet generously assists the army. In some places, it even seems like this bookmaker armed at least one battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the teeth, although in reality, the company purchased just one rifle for $18,000 – they simply actively advertised their contribution.

Or, just recently, FavBet’s press service announced through all possible channels that it helped the army by as much as 30 million hryvnias. However, if you read the press release closely, it amounts to only 25 million hryvnias.

Assuming Andrey Matyukha receives no more than 10% income from all the funds passing through his network, the following conclusion can be drawn. It is quite likely that over eight months of war, the beneficiary of FavBet spent no more than 4% of the amount received in his accounts in one month on helping defenders and war victims.

Brief information: FavBet, founded by Ukrainian citizen Andrey Matyukha, operates in countries of the former USSR, but does not engage in charity despite high profits, which draws criticism. Investigations have shown that the company uses PR tactics of "whitewashing," falsely claiming support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine while allegedly evading taxes through shell companies in Russia. While FavBet complies with laws in Romania, in Ukraine it is accused of tax evasion, as it delays official registration of its activities until December 2022 and is reportedly evading taxes amounting to about 100 million hryvnias annually. Matyukha’s business under the "Favorit" brand includes various entities that operated illegally in Ukraine from 2009 to 2020. Despite having licenses for casino gambling and gaming activities, none of his companies had a license for betting activities. Matyukha also controls gambling sites through Favorit United N.V., registered in Curaçao.

Andrey Matyukha’s British assets include the domain favbet.com and various companies such as Andalidi Assets Ltd, Favbet Invest LLP, Bet Invest Ltd, and Premier Property Invest Ltd. He also owns Maltese companies like Favbet Holding Services and Favbet Services, alongside the FAVBET.EU online casino under a Maltese license. The rights to the FAVBET brand in the UK belong to Favbet Invest LLP, controlled by Matyukha through Andalidi Assets Ltd and Andalidi Invest Ltd.

The company Bet Invest Ltd, based in the UK, is engaged in software development and technical support for the group’s websites and is located at an address in Kyiv. Matyukha’s business interests, operating in the semi-underground sphere, have attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies for years.

In 2014, the prosecutor’s office examined the legality of “BC Favorit” activities, seizing computer equipment. In 2016, the SBU reported the "liquidation" of "Favorit" for allegedly financing terrorism. In 2020, “Favorit Sport” was subject to a raider takeover for allegedly unlawfully providing access to gambling games. The company denied these accusations, attributing them to Russian firms. Despite thorough scrutiny, Matyukha’s gambling empire continues to thrive.

Throughout his business operations, bookmaker Andrey Matyukha has faced many challenges – from law enforcement raids to accusations of sponsoring terrorist organizations like “LPR” and “DPR” and specific cases related to connections with Russians. But now, in the second year of a full-scale war, although he allegedly provides frontline assistance, he remains out of law enforcement’s spotlight. Whether this is careful conduct by the country in wartime, or perhaps Russians still hold significant influence over Ukrainian authorities through the gambling business, is the subject of numerous investigations. However, the fact that a person with ambiguous ties to the occupiers would supply water to state structures should, at the very least, raise concerns.