Sergey Tron: from connections with Donetsk to crypto businessman

Cooperation with Nurulislam Arkallaev - ex-people's deputy from the Party of Regions, known in certain circles under the nickname "Nurik" or how Sergei Tron became a successful businessman

Ukrainian IT business is rightfully considered one of the flagships of the Ukrainian economy, especially in wartime. But it turns out that businessmen with a very dubious past have been attracted to this area, which does not prevent them from being considered IT business gurus.

One of these businessmen can be called the founder of the company “White Rock Management”, specializing in IT business and the construction of data centers, Sergei Nikolaevich Tron.

In the Ukrainian information space, the businessman has gained fame over the past 2 years as a successful IT businessman, a specialist in cryptocurrency mining, and he probably likes this reputation.

Self-made-man Sergey Tron

“The self-made man” is what the US calls the embodiment of the notorious “American Dream”, from poor man to millionaire.

Needless to say, many Ukrainian businessmen position themselves this way, and their official biography looks accordingly. The same can be said about the official biography of Sergei Tron, published in the media.

Thus, according to the publication “Left Bank”, a native of the city of Kamenskoye, Dnepropetrovsk region, already at the age of 22 headed ST-Trans LLC, which was engaged in such a difficult but profitable business as trading in fuel.

However, according to various registers, Sergei Tron was not listed as the owner of this company, that is, he acted exclusively as a manager.

In 2009, Tron founded Ekooil LLC (Donetsk). The enterprise specialized in oil production and production of refined petroleum products. Then there were:

— Global Financial Management Group LLC, a company operating in the field of non-specialized wholesale trade, providing advice on commercial activities, management, etc.;

— position of first vice-president of the corps of vice-presidents of the apparatus at the supervisory board of the bank CJSC City Commercial Bank;

— in 2016 founded the company “White Rock Management”, engaged in investments in the IT sector and construction of data centers;

— co-founder and subsequently chairman of the supervisory board of the UkrTVS company (nuclear fuel production);

— in 2020 founded the international investment fund “Parea Foundation”. The Fund's specialization: investing in the IT sector, logistics, and energy in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada, Sweden, and Liechtenstein.

Billion in state tenders: Tron is a partner of the authorities of the Donetsk organized crime group

It is not clear how Sergei Tron managed to head a fuel company at the age of 22, but much more is known about his business project, Ecooil LLC. The company is interesting because of Sergei Tron’s business partners and its participation in government tenders, or more precisely, the amount it earned from this.

Thus, according to Clarity project info, the co-founders of the company, together with Sergei Tron, were residents of Donetsk Nurulislam Arkallaev and his brother Roman Arkallaev. Moreover, it was Nurulislam who owned a slightly larger part of the company - 33.4%, the other two partners each had 33.3%.

A possible explanation for the success of Ecooil was Nurulislam Arkallaev, since November 2007 a people’s deputy of Ukraine from the Party of Regions. You can find information on the Internet that a person with the first and last name Nurudislam Arkallaev is a crime boss nicknamed “Nurik”.

At the same time, the dynamics of business development, according to the YouControl analytical system, looked extremely strange. For example, in 2010, Ecooil earned about 5 million UAH, in 2011 no more than 100 thousand, in 2012 it was about 69 million UAH, in 2013 over 230 million UAH.

But the company received its main income from government tenders, especially from the Ministry of Defense and Ukrzaliznytsia.

Thus, in 2011, UZ managed to sell fuel worth UAH 469 million for the needs, in 2012 - for UAH 586 million, including the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and in 2014 a record was set - UAH 1 billion 313 million

As Our Pennies wrote then, Ecooil took third place among the largest suppliers of Ukrzaliznytsia.

However, by 2012, according to the official biography of Sergei Tron, he had already taken up other business projects: Global Financial Management Group LLC and the bank CJSC City Commercial Bank.

Sergey Tron: How to bankrupt your bank and make money on it

In September 2014, the then Ministry of Internal Affairs opened criminal proceedings in which they suspected that officials of City Commercial Bank CJSC and the offshore company MELFA GROUP LTD, under the guise of a loan for this company, withdrew more than 59 from City Commercial Bank CJSC million euros that the Ukrainian bank held in the Austrian bank MEINL BANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT.”

According to court documents, the management of the Ukrainian bank, allegedly knowing that the loan would not be repaid, guaranteed its return with their own money, which CJSC City Commercial Bank ultimately lost in the amount of 59.3 million euros.

But something else is much more interesting - as part of the investigation, Ukrainian law enforcement officers seized the property of one of the participants in the scheme, who owned 25% in Global Financial Management Group LLC and 154,179 hryvnia in the authorized capital of Ecooil LLC.

According to the YouControl analytical system, 154,179 hryvnia in the authorized capital of Ecooil belong to Roman Arkallaev, the same brother of Nurik.

Let us remember that it was Sergei Tron who was the vice-president of the First City Bank at that moment, and the wording of the investigation - “officials and management of the bank” - may include different names.

It should also be emphasized that even after formally leaving Ecooil, Sergei Tron continued his joint business with the Arkallaev brothers.

And Global Financial Management Group LLC itself belongs to four offshore companies, so there are no less questions about how Sergey Tron pays taxes on his business in Ukraine than about the composition of his business partners.

In fact, the company “White Rock Management”, which he advertised in the information space of Ukraine, is completely registered in Switzerland, where the fiscal burden is very liberal in comparison with Europe. But the main thing is that the company is not registered in Ukraine and therefore does not pay taxes here, but only earns money. And it’s not for nothing that Sergei Tron himself pays so much attention to his image in Ukraine.

This means that it is very likely that somewhere near this IT business there are the Arkallaev brothers - Nurik and Roman.