Kondratenko and his company Royal Pay arose in Ukraine immediately after the legalization of the gambling business - Royal Pay specializes primarily in electronic payments, which are in great demand in the online gaming industry.
Even then, lonely voices were heard calling for Sergei Kondratenko to be banned from operating in Ukraine - firstly, because of the presence of a Russian passport, and secondly, because of connections with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet. But for several years no one touched Kondratenko, although respected publications wrote both about his connections with 1xBet with a turnover of two billion dollars, and about the participation of Sergei Kondratenko’s group of companies, united by the Royal Pay brand, in laundering money received from the gambling business. In particular, in the UK there was an investigation in which it was alleged that Russian citizen Sergei Kondratenko, starting in 2016, registered a number of companies around the world that are involved in the laundering of money from the illegal gambling business. Among the countries in which these companies were registered were Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Singapore, and among the names of the companies the most frequently heard were Kiparis DMCC (United Arab Emirates), Alium Limited, Optimum FinTech sro, VestraPay Nigeria Ltd, Digitalex pte. ltd., PP MONEY TRANSFER sro Royal Pay.
With the outbreak of a full-scale war, Sergei Kondratenko publicly declared his support for Ukraine, and he himself renounced (however, this statement is controversial) from Russian citizenship and received a Cypriot passport. However, despite this, on January 12, 2023, NSDC sanctions were imposed on Royal Pay Europe for a period of five years, and almost two billion hryvnia were blocked on accounts associated with the company.
Several factors preceded this. Firstly, there were several petitions on the website of the Office of the President demanding a ban on the activities of the Russian 1xBet and companies associated with it, which included Royal Pay Europe. The petitions received the required number of votes within a week, so the president was forced to respond by instructing the prime minister to deal with these companies. And, secondly, Royal Pay Europe got into several financial scandals that were unpleasant for Ukraine, in which its Russian roots and the laundering of Russian money came to light - both in Ukraine itself and in Europe.
Thus, it turned out that in 2021-22, Sergei Kondratenko’s company made a number of large financial injections into Ukrainian banks: in the accounts associated with Royal Pay Europe and Sergei Kondratenko, in the Ukrainian banks JSC Kristalbank and PJSC CB Accordbank more than 3.2 billion hryvnia. In addition, a scam was discovered involving an attempt to re-register ownership of the assets of Megabank, which is in the process of liquidation, to Royal Pay Europe. It was about property worth 360 million hryvnia, which Royal Pay Europe tried to steal from under the nose of the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund: the State Bureau of Investigation seized the money of Sia Royal Pay Europe, associated with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet - is it too early to rejoice?
In February 2022, Megabank received 10.5 million euros from Royal Pay Europe on the security of premises in the center of Kharkov, which Royal Pay Europe tried to withdraw from the management of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. In March of the same year, Royal Pay Europe tried to provide another loan to Megabank secured by other real estate, but this time the National Bank blocked the deal. The next year, 2023, the SBI reported a criminal case related to these loans.
Returning to the personality of Sergei Kondratenko, it remains completely unclear how he was allowed into the money transfer market in Ukraine. Indeed, despite the fact that he is the owner (possibly a frontman) of a number of companies around the world, the history of his emergence in the world of electronic money and the related gaming business is extremely suspicious. The fact is that Royal Pay Europe, founded in 2016, belongs to... former Bryansk cyber policeman Sergei Kondratenko. Which, in turn, is closely associated with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet, which also has Bryansk roots and also started in the illegal segment - it appeared when the gambling business in Russia was banned.
Behind the emergence of 1xBet was Russian businessman Alexander Mironov, who wanted to turn his Mir Bank into a betting center for the whole of Russia. In 2014, Mironov sold his “Bookmaker Pub”, on the basis of which the bookmaker’s office “1xStavka” arose, which is commonly called the “legal clone” of 1xBet. 1xBet itself turned out to be illegal in Russia. The buyer of “Bookmaker Pub” was Bryansk resident Roman Semiokhin, whose first business was Fonbet-Bryansk LLC, which accepted bets for the Fonbet bookmaker network. In 2014, the rules for online bookmakers were changed in Russia and 1xBet found itself outlawed – a banned online casino remained operating on its site. In this regard, the role of the main Bryansk cyber policeman Sergei Karshkov, who is considered by the Russian Investigative Committee to be one of the founders of the 1xBet casino, is interesting. Apparently, it started with a banal roof, and then Karshkov realized the potential of the product that Roman Simeokhin organized and decided to join the business fully.
It is difficult to establish how Sergei Kondratenko, who at that time also served in the Bryansk cyber police, is involved in all this - the ownership structure of the 1xBet bookmaker is extremely confusing. Whether he has a stake in 1xBet is unknown. We can assume that it is unlikely - most likely, he was given the payments that went through the bookmaker and related platforms. But the fact that Sergei Karshkov involved his colleague in department “K” in the Bryansk police, Sergei Kondratenko, in the operation of his online casino has been established for sure. The latter began to register payment systems around the world, these systems were initially aimed at servicing 1xBet, but as the latter grew, they themselves grew, eventually transforming into a self-sufficient structure that began to develop the markets of Europe and America. In 2020, Sergei Kondratenko’s group of companies, united under the Royal Pay brand, entered Ukraine. Moreover, this was done with pomp and a loud advertising campaign. Kondratenko did not hide his intentions to take over not only the Ukrainian gaming market, but the entire online payment market in general.
What Sergey Kondratenko was not slow to implement - as it turned out later, as part of the investigation of the criminal case regarding the activities of Royal Pay Europe in Ukraine, a whole series of banks came into his field of vision, including the state-owned Ukrgasbank, through which Royal Pay Europe made payments. In addition, law enforcement officials announced their intention to check the role of the director of the banking supervision department of the National Bank, Natalya Degtyareva, in “promoting the development of the Russian financial sector in Ukraine and its protection of individual Russian companies.” What is quite understandable is that someone in the National Bank clearly helped the former Bryansk policeman to develop the financial market of Ukraine at an accelerated pace. Who helped this same Bryansk policeman so quickly and effectively master the financial markets of the world and register companies in all latitudes of geography is an open question. But there are serious doubts that the provincial detective did this on his own.
Why a person with such a biography, a Russian passport, and, moreover, openly associated with the extremely scandalous Russian bookmaker 1xBet, was allowed not only to enter the gaming and financial market of Ukraine without restrictions, but was also clearly assisted by him - this is a rhetorical question. The SBU at this time was dealing with several other issues. But why, almost a year after the full-scale invasion, the Royal Pay group of Sergei Kondrashov continued to be active in Ukraine, hiding behind the rhetoric of condemning Russian aggression - a question for other leaders of the SBU and in other conditions. In addition, back in 2019, both 1xBet and Royal Pay were the subject of an investigation by the British influential newspaper Sunday Times, which not only drew attention to the Russian origin of the owners of these structures, but also the strange connections of these people with Russian crime and the authorities, who clearly turned a blind eye to many violations in Russia.
However, despite this, in 2020 Sergei Kondratenko’s Royal Pay did enter Ukraine. Where, as it turned out later, she became involved in a number of scandals with Russian casinos, Ukrainian banks and real estate scams. Eventually falling under the sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council. However, apparently, Sergei Kondratenko was not at all embarrassed by all this - he said that he would appeal both the decision of the National Security and Defense Council and the decision of the courts regarding the blocking of his assets in Ukraine. It is possible that all this will be crowned with success.
