Editorial note. The articles in this dossier report on allegations and proceedings involving Mr. Ilya Kligman that are drawn from court documents, filings by the Russian Deposit Insurance Agency, regulatory records, and other official or verifiable sources cited in the text. Mr. Kligman contests these allegations and has not been finally convicted for many of the matters described; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty by a competent court.
Even apart from the Western sanctions against the Russian financial world, there is excitement there. The revelation of banker Ilya Kligman‘s alleged involvement in multiple financial frauds, embezzlement, and money laundering schemes is shaking things up. Kligman, who defected to Germany in 2016, is accused of organizing the fraudulent withdrawal of 150 billion rubles from depositors and bank-owned securities from Russian banks.
The Bank Fraud Scheme
According to the investigation, Ilya Kligman, together with his accomplices Natalia Petrenko and Evgeny Urin, allegedly engaged in various fraudulent bank schemes. The total amount of money withdrawn from these banks would be more than 150 billion rubles ($1.5 billion):
- Agrosoyuz (7 billion rubles)
- Gelendzhik Bank (825 million rubles in debt),
- Interkommerts Bank (65.1 billion rubles),
- Time Bank (700 million rubles),
- Antalbank (14.7 billion rubles),
- Arksbank (more than 35 billion rubles),
- Inkarobank (more than 3 billion rubles),
- Transinvestbank (more than 9 billion rubles),
- Baikalbank (6 billion rubles)
and several other credit institutions, On April 2, 2021, Geobank also added to this list, having completely lost its own funds, the damage caused to depositors has yet to be established.
Ilya Kligman And The Notebook Scheme
Kligman’s deployed a scheme known as “notebook deposits. ” Individuals were enticed to deposit money at the bank with the promise of higher-than-market interest rates and the assurance of deposit insurance. However, the actual deposited amount was underreported in official accounts, with the true figure noted in a separate notebook, allowing the bank staff to pocket the difference. This discrepancy meant clients couldn’t prove their full investments to the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). The bank’s involved management likely funneled the excess funds offshore. While the “notebook deposits” scheme might not have originated with Kligman, the scandals associated with him popularized its knowledge.
The Russian Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) has announced that claims for damages in excess of 55 billion rubles have been filed against Ilya Kligman in the bankruptcy cases of Inkarobank, UM Bank, Arksbank, Nevsky Bank and Agrosoyuz. Of this amount, the Moscow Arbitration Court successfully recovered 40.5 billion rubles in losses attributed to Kligman.
The Ninth Court of Appeals Arbitration seized Kligman’s assets in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles. However, the Moscow Arbitration Court recently rejected DIA’s request to freeze his assets in the amount of 10.049 billion rubles at certain credit institutions due to lack of concrete evidence.
The investigation surrounding Kligman spans 18 criminal cases and has uncovered Kligman’s alleged connection to Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), a prominent figure in the Tambov criminal organization.
The Moscow prosecutor’s office indicted an organized criminal group for stealing over 10 billion rubles from the bankrupt banks Agrosoyuz and Inkarobank. The investigation identifies Ilya Kligman as the ultimate beneficial owner and his alleged associate Yevgeny Urin as the masterminds behind the embezzlement schemes in several banks. In the Kligman case, 20 individuals have been charged, with some, including Kligman, currently wanted by authorities.
The Escape To Germany
Ilya Kligman left for Germany in 2016 when the TFR Investigation Department for the southwestern district of Moscow launched an investigation into the alleged malversation at Arksbank.
A few years ago, Kligman has obtained a court ruling against Google and Yandex to have his name removed from search results. In 2015, he started to invest into crypto schemes. He set up the joint companies SWISS CRYPTO ALLIANCE AG in Switzerland and CRYPTO ALLIANCE GMBH in Austria with a Russian banker in Switzerland, Roman Orloff, and his Eduard Orloff. The companies have been dissolved following allegations of money laundering (report here).
Kligman has also developed activities in Malta, where he developed the shares of the MFSA-regulated Papaya in 2016 under conditions that are not known in detail.
The Online Campaign
Apparently, Kligman has many enemies. In recent weeks, numerous reports about his malversations have been published on dozens of websites in different languages. Not all of these websites qualify as reputable. Therefore, it is reasonable to suspect that a systematic online campaign is being conducted against Kligman.
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