The former owner of the bankrupt Delta Bank, Nikolai Lagun, who is on the international wanted list, transfers the burden of criminal cases related to him, as well as his assets, to three women from his circle. We are talking about Laguna’s sister Antonina, the former chairman of the board of Delta Bank Elena Popova, as well as the bank’s former lawyer, with whom Laguna has romantic feelings, Anna Gutsalyuk.
According to the registers and a number of investigative journalists, it is these three women who now control the main fortune of the ex-banker. The financier’s lawyers also plan to blame part of Lagun’s criminal cases on his assistants.
Nikolai Lagun is the author of one of the most high-profile bankruptcies of recent decades. Delta Bank and related financial and credit institutions that bought up Laguna went bankrupt as quickly and loudly as they gained their weight in the early 2010s against the backdrop of a general thirst for consumer lending from the population.
Collecting citizens' funds like a vacuum cleaner, Lagun gradually pumped them offshore with the help of a number of financial schemes and foreign institutions. This resulted in several hundred criminal proceedings, within the framework of one of which Laguna was put on the international wanted list in October 2023. In constructing the schemes, he was assisted by his closest associates, among whom a special place is occupied by three women - sister Antonina and probable mistress Anna Gutsalyuk, to whom the property was transferred after bankruptcy, as well as the ex-chair of the board of Delta Bank Elena Popova, who lives abroad. In 2016 year, hiding there from Ukrainian justice, and to which, according to the Laguna lawyers, all legal matters should be gradually transferred the burden of abuses alleged against the ex-owner of Delta.
Rich relative
Relatives, always ready to lend a helping hand and sign on dubious documents, are a traditional channel for the distribution of abuses for numerous criminals not only in Ukraine, but throughout the world. It is not surprising that since the beginning of the 2010s, Lagoon has been rewriting part of his fortune and appointing his own sister Antonina to manage his banks and non-financial businesses.
Antonina Lagun was born on May 24, 1979. At various times, she was part of the management, and was also the founder of a number of Lagun-related businesses - Bank 3/4 JSC, Money Mag LLC, KKG LLC, Lagun-A OK, FC Favorit LLC, PrJSC SK Delta Life, LLC Citadel Holding Ukraine, LLC Agalem, LLC Krem-1, JSC Otke, LLC AMC Sky Capital Management”, LLC “Woodrest”, LLC “Graffiti-2”, LLC “FC Ipocredit”, LLC “TM Holding”, LLC “DK Europe”, LLC “Belgrade”, LLC “Borodyaninvestments”. In addition, she also had control over the shares of Zodiac-Center LLC, ZhK Solnechny LLC in Crimea.
Antonina Lagun’s key asset is AMC Sky Capital Management LLC, which in 2018 was transferred to Lagun’s partner Vadim Sergienko. The company has assets under management of more than UAH 400 million. Among other things, AMC actively participated in transactions with the resale of the right to claim under loan obligations to Omega Bank (formerly Swedbank), owned by Lagun. FC Ipocredit was also involved in this process. This institution is involved in a criminal case regarding the withdrawal of almost $149 million of depositors’ funds from Delta Bank in favor of offshore companies during 2012-2014. Graffiti-2”, the beneficiary and founder of which was the same “Sky Capital Management” and Antonina Lagun.
Through Woodrest LLC, Sky Capital Management and its partner Vadim Sergienko, Lagun can influence the situation with heat supply in the small town of Nizhyn. Also, Woodrest is still a shareholder of the First All-Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories, thanks to which Lagun or his management can have access to hundreds of thousands of credit histories of Ukrainian citizens and, if desired, reopen a financial and credit institution (although, probably no longer your name). It may also have an impact on the companies Chernigrad and Borodyan Investments, which are engaged in leasing their own real estate. Their total authorized capital exceeds UAH 80 million. In addition, Lagun personally retains control over the stake in the construction company Belgrade LLC and Belgorodvodokanal LLC, which ensures the provision of public services in the village of Belogorodka near Kiev.
A company with the inconspicuous name Krem-1 also took part in multi-billion dollar transactions. Antonina Lagun acted together with her brother as a guarantor of the agreement between Ukreximbank and Marilkomfrukt LLC (formerly Agronovok LLC) for a loan in the amount of $38.3 million and UAH 19.5 million. Antonina mortgaged three apartments to the bank, and Lagun acted as a guarantor for this loan for Marilkomfrukt LLC. In addition, the mortgage collateral for the loan was provided by Krem-1 LLC. The loan “burned”, and Antonina’s real estate and land plots belonging to Krem-1 were recovered from her.
A number of Cypriot and Virginia companies were registered in Antonina's name, which are now rewritten as denominations. For example, in the BVI we are talking about GABWOOD INVESTMENTS LIMITED, MELBRIDGE HOLDINGS LIMITED, Delta Financial Investmens Ltd, CANBURY CORPORATE LIMITED, MELSTONE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BERNVILLE ENTERPRISES LIMITED, STARWELL ENTERPRISES LIMITED. In Cyprus, it included FEDOMAR FINANCE LIMITED, GANVER FINANCE LIMITED, STARMELOR CONSULTING LIMITED, SONILTA GROUP LIMITED, LENHOUSE MANAGEMENT LIMITED, GOTCHER LIMITED, AGALEM HOLDINGS LIMITED, EAGLES LIMITED, CHRISTEX ENTERPRISES LIMITED, CLIFFBAY ENTERPRISES LIMITED, COMBERG MANAGEMENT LIMITED, WATKINO INVESTMENTS LIMITED , ARNWELL ENTERPRISES LIMITED.
All of them have now been rewritten as nominees - Elizaveta Dremina, Irakli Dzhikia or BSM Nominees. At the same time, the connection with the Lagoons is maintained. For example, Dremina also became the director of a number of Ukrainian family companies, in particular, Yuzhnoberezhny Holding LLC and Yuzhnoberezhny Holding-1. The first one owns LLC “ZhK Solnechny”, and the second one owns the private enterprise “At the Nikitsky Gate” (restaurant complex) in the occupied Crimea, in Yalta.
Among Dremina’s Cypriot assets is the company Christex Enterprises Limited, until recently the majority shareholder of the Yalta LLC Zodiac-Center and Titan-Energo-Yug, which own part of the beach infrastructure in Yalta. Now the formal owner of the Zodiac is Vladimir Startsev, whose tax code coincides with the tax code of the Yandex-Taxi partner in Moscow.
Titan-Energo-Yug LLC, which is engaged in development on the southern coast of Crimea, is owned by Artem Nesterov. He is also the founder of the Moscow Talent LLC, Agroinvestgroup LLC (AIG), which probably concentrated part of Laguny’s agricultural assets in Crimea, and Sok Management Group LLC.
Previously, offshore Laguna and his sisters owned a number of businesses in Russia and Belarus. For example, the Cypriot Sakler Trading Limited owned the Russian Max Petroleum and the Belarusian Sakler, the Cypriot Watkino Investments Limited owned the Belarusian New Partnership LLC and Chieveley, the Cypriot Belarussian Development Investments Limited was a shareholder of the Belarusian Spetsprodmash.
In the UK, Antonina Lagun is still the beneficial owner of a company with the euphonious name SALO NETWORKS LIMITED, registered in 2023, providing computer programming services.
Lawyer face value
An equally important role in managing Laguna’s assets is played by former Delta Bank lawyer Anna Gutsalyuk. Unlike Laguna, as well as the entire top management of Delta Bank, who are officially accused of embezzling billions of state funds and directly signed documents on the withdrawal of funds to offshore companies, Gutsalyuk and his law company are not particularly concerned.
Anna Gutsalyuk was born on April 26, 1980. She has been with Lagoon since the 2008 financial crisis, when she served on the board of insurance company Delta Life. Subsequently, she also represented the offshore business interests of the Laguna family. As the media wrote, they may also be connected by a romantic relationship. In particular, journalists drew attention to the fact that Lagun and Gutsalyuk at different times used cars with the same license plate combinations.
Yes, first two black Range Rovers of 2014, and then a Mercedes S 63 AMG and a Volkswagen Multivan were registered to Laguna, and subsequently to Gutsalyuk.
The media wrote that the key asset of the ex-lawyer is now PE Investments Limited (Cyprus), which was transferred to her by Lagoon. Because of this company, she owned an Austrian real estate rental business, OMS Immobilien GmbH. This is a company associated with the OMS Overseas Metal Service GmbH group, which was owned by Irina and Andrey Lunev (probably Russians living in Spain). The website of the Russian Ruspolimet LLC indicates that Lunev is its affiliate, in particular, he founded the German trading “daughter” of the company. According to decisions of Ukrainian courts, PE Investments is the successor company to Rempton Holdings Limited (Belize). According to the K2 Intelligence investigation, it was through Rampton that Lagoon tried to negotiate an agreement to sell 50% of the Ilyichevsk grain company (transshipment terminal Olir Resources), which could have become part of a corruption agreement between him and the entourage of then President Petro Poroshenko.
In Ukraine, right now PE Investments Limited is the ultimate beneficiary of Agro Green Management LLC (45151539). Gutsalyuk founded this agribusiness last year together with Denis Tarasyuk, former head of the legal department of Delta Bank. Tarasyuk, as the media has repeatedly noted, is the only one from Laguna’s entourage remaining in Ukraine; he is a defendant in criminal cases involving the withdrawal of funds from Delta, but has not yet been held accountable.
Together with Tarasyuk, Gutsalyuk also has a company, Biright Advocacy LLC. This is a law firm whose lawyers often represent the ex-owner of Delta Bank and his company in legal disputes in Ukraine. Also, formally, on behalf of Laguna, Gutsalyuk owns a number of other agricultural businesses (the former banker probably decided to repurpose himself as a farmer). These are All Green LLC (44910517) and Agrien LLC (45077686) - both owned through the Cyprus Ecovel Limited. This Cypriot company also founded Ridds LLC (42879774) in Ukraine. In addition, Gutsalyuk had a stake in Ferrara-Agro LLC and Ferrara Group - these are the companies of the father of her child, Alexander Romanovsky.
Director-beater
The least enviable role in Laguna’s schemes went to the former head of the board of Delta Bank, Elena Popova. She, as a senior official in the institution, as well as the head of the credit committee, signed all agreements that related to the withdrawal of billions of hryvnia to offshore accounts. Therefore, Popova is now being investigated in criminal cases as an accomplice to crimes related to Lagoon.
Elena Popova was born in 1974 in Dnepropetrovsk, and began working with Lagun no later than 1999. At this time, they crossed paths at Ukrsotsbank, where Lagun worked from the late 90s to the early 2000s and went through a career path as head of the money markets department of the treasury department, head of the treasury, and deputy chairman of the board. In February 2006, Lagun created Delta Bank. It is known from open sources that at Ukrsotsbank Popova worked her way up from the head of the accounting and control of dealing operations sector to the deputy head of the treasury. In 2006, Elena Popova began working at Delta Bank as deputy chairman of the board of directors, in 2007 she was appointed first deputy, and in 2008 she became chairman of the bank’s board of directors.
Obviously, it was Popova who was the most informed person about how Lagoon was withdrawing client funds from Delta Bank and the conglomerate of financial institutions that the banker gradually acquired. This is also reflected in the suspicions in criminal proceedings announced by Popova over the past 7 years. In particular, she was the main suspect in the episode involving the transfer of funds worth $87.3 million to the shell company Laguna Silisten Trading Limited (British Virgin Islands) through Meinl Bank. The essence of the deal was that Silisten Trading Limited received from Meinl Bank loan secured by a deposit from Delta Bank. After the Virginia company did not repay the loan (in fact, it kept the funds for itself), Meinl wrote off the money from Delta's accounts. That is, formally it was a “regular” business transaction, although in fact, money was withdrawn through a chain to unknown accounts.
The episode was investigated separately by the National Police, SBU, and NABU, but the results of the investigation are still missing. In total, more than $1 billion was siphoned off because of Silisten, according to investigators who conducted the investigation for the American bankruptcy court. funds for dubious transactions for more than 50 companies in Cyprus, Hong Kong, Panama, Seychelles, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. Many companies had beneficiaries, directors or accountants clearly associated with Delta Bank.
In addition, in March 2017, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced to Elena Popova a suspicion of proceedings regarding the withdrawal of NBU refinancing funds from the bank in the amount of UAH 1.7 billion. She was put on the international wanted list. In 2019, the amount of damage caused was increased to UAH 4.4 billion.
Popova left Ukraine at the end of 2016 and never returned. In an interview with Glavkom, she reported that she took this step due to her health condition and the need to give birth to twins. But it is now obvious that this was a premeditated scheme to escape responsibility. After all, until October 2021, no serious claims were made against Nikolai Lagun regarding the bankruptcy of Delta - everything was “written off” to the chairman of the board and her deputies, that is, formal executors who allegedly plundered the bank without the will of the owner.
Only in October 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office brought more or less serious charges against Lagun himself - in the amount of UAH 1.4 billion. As part of the investigation into the bank's bankruptcy, 14 searches were carried out, Laguna's assets worth UAH 790 million and two hundred land plots in the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were seized. As for Popova, they allegedly even managed to seize $1 million in her account in an unnamed Swiss bank.
Now the name of Elena Popova is expiring in the media and court registry due to a lawsuit by the Deposit Guarantee Fund, which is trying to sue Lagun, his former chairman of the board and other managers of Delta Bank for almost 23 billion UAH. damage caused to the state during the sale of assets of a bankrupt financial institution. Formally, Delta had a lot of assets as collateral, but when the Fund started selling them, it turned out that we were talking about junk loan obligations, almost unsecured. This means that the funds that the Fund paid to Delta investors after its bankruptcy have nothing to cover. Lagun's lawyers are thinking about how to return Popova to the information field and - against the backdrop of Lagun's own bankruptcy case - again shift public responsibility for the fact that such a large bank collapsed solely on unprofessional managers.
Unlike Laguna, who does not hide his stay in Austria, Popova does not disclose her current location. However, from informed sources it is known that she lives in Vienna. Although four years ago she stated in an interview that her place of residence was known to the investigators with whom, as she claimed, she then collaborated. Since Popova has been under investigation for much longer than Laguna, the statute of limitations in criminal cases may soon begin to expire. That is, in fact, the task of Laguna’s defenders is to transfer as many charges against the ex-owner of Delta Bank as possible to the ex-top manager of the financial institution. And within the framework of her business - to bury her.
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Despite a number of legal intricacies, the fact remains obvious that Nikolai Lagun personally stands behind the operations and actions of Antonina Lagun, Anna Gutsalyuk and Elena Popova. Therefore, responsibility for his actions should not be diffused onto the women under whose skirts he is actually trying to hide from justice. Another thing is that the investigative authorities and courts do not much prefer not only to understand the intricacies of the family-administrative labyrinth, but also in general tend to finally write off the most notorious bankruptcy of recent decades in the annals of history, generously forgiving those involved in the plunder of the country for more than $1 billion through schemes for withdrawing funds to shell companies.
