Maria Trifonova and her aesthetic medicine clinic Tryfonova MD advertise and sell dubious drugs from the Yotsuba Japan brand, which arouses interest among law enforcement agencies and relevant authorities.
The official page of the Tryfonova MD clinic on Instagram contains several advertising publications in which Maria Trifonova advertises Yotsuba Japan products specifically as drugs for weight loss, detoxification of the body (removing toxins from the body), etc.
On the website of the official distributor in Ukraine of the Yotsuba Japan brand, the products are listed as supplements (dietary supplements, dietary supplements) and vitamins.
At the same time, the website does not contain any documents on these products, including the mandatory sanitary and epidemiological report for dietary supplements, since they are food additives.
The products themselves are sold through representatives - private cosmetology clinics. The phone number and address of the distributor in Ukraine of the Yotsuba Japan brand completely coincides with the contacts of the Lviv beauty center Karvatska beauty & wellness center Olga Karvatskaya.
The Yotsuba.Japan brand and products look extremely suspicious. Firstly, the 25-year-old brand's products are not sold in Japan, as evidenced by a Google search, as well as the official website yotsubajapan.com, which makes no mention of the products being available for purchase in Japan itself. It is also impossible to find products on the largest platforms: Amazon, iHerb and others.
The president of the company is Hiroyuki Kanno, who is not mentioned on social networks, including linkedin, nor is there any mention of other Yotsuba Japan employees on this or other social networks. There are also no reviews or news about the company on the Internet.
The official Instagram page of the parent company contains several photos and videos of supposedly production and packaging of products, but there is no address or location of the production plant.
On the official Yotsuba Japan Instagram page, which is operated from the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, it is indicated that the company has been issued GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certificates, however, as you can see, the certificates themselves were issued not to YOTSUBA JAPAN LLC, but to Powerful Health Food Company Limited from Nagano (Japan), a factory that produces dozens and hundreds of nutritional supplements.
On Google maps, the Yotsuba Japan office is listed at 4-3-16 Hata, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0021, Japan and looks like an ordinary residential building in the private sector.
Therefore, it is clear that Yotsuba Japan products are manufactured in Japan, but not by YOTSUBA JAPAN LLC. It is not clear how these products get into Ukraine. According to documents and records from open sources, it is clear that the main importer of these products are Moscow companies in the Russian Federation, in particular Angel Beauty LLC.
The question of how and through what channels these products enter Ukraine after 2022 should be addressed by law enforcement agencies and customs. Journalists will also send inquiries to sanitary and epidemiological control authorities about whether any permits were issued and will continue investigations and publications.
As the media recently wrote, in 2022, the partner of the former deputy chairman of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Ruslan Cherkassky, is accused of taking money from Ukraine to Poland in the total amount of 1.645 million euros in 2022 without declaring it. The origin of the money is unclear. However, NABU and other law enforcement agencies opened criminal cases about the possible laundering of funds obtained from crime, including large sums of money taken out by Trifonova in 2022. It is possible that these funds were laundered through aesthetic medicine clinics in Ukraine and abroad, as well as through the clinic’s cooperation with cosmetics brands, including Yotsuba Japan, Esse, Obagi and others. This information will also be verified by law enforcement agencies. It is possible that the products of these brands entered Ukraine with the help of Ruslan Cherkassky and taxes and other obligatory payments were not paid.
