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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
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Sihalov, Punin and councilman Prymakov discussed gambling while property in Ukraine was seized and a license was revoked
On the Côte d'Azur, at the restaurant La Guérite, three people were filmed at the same table whom the market and investigators place at different nodes of the same scheme.
🔸Maksym Sihalov — former deputy of the Krasnohvardiiskyi district council of Dnipro, whom participants in the gambling market and sources at the NBU consider the real beneficiary of Diamond Pay.
🔸Dmytro Punin — a citizen of the Russian Federation, whom Kyiv officially sanctioned as the owner of the Pin-Up (Red Core) brand.
🔸Kamil Prymakov — head of the European Solidarity faction in the Dnipro city council, head of the transport commission, former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration. In the city he is nicknamed the “gel deputy.”
According to those who leaked the footage, the conversation was about scaling Russian online casinos in Ukraine and restoring Sihalov’s payment schemes after the NBU in July 2024 suspended and revoked Diamond Pay’s license.
📁 Formally LLC Diamond Pay (40169405) is registered through Diamond Consult to Kharkiv resident Viktoriia Holubieva, the wife of “converter” Oleksandr Cherdak. The market, foreign publications and NBU sources name others: Sihalov and Azerbaijani citizen Rasim Surkhay ogly Taghiyev.
In 2024 the NBU suspended the company’s services, and on 22 July revoked the license. The decision cites false information in documents and control of the structure by representatives of the Russian Federation. At its peak Diamond Pay handled about 70% of gaming payments in Ukraine, including internet acquiring for brands like Pin-Up. The head of Diamond Pay was listed as Russian citizen Irakli Dzhikiia — the same person who filed trademark applications for gambling brands that did not leave Russia.
The second company in the network is LLC E-Pay (36495136). The BEB calculates: between 2021–2022 it understated revenues by 21,8 billion UAH, unpaid corporate income tax — 3,9 billion. Through Diamond Pay the investigation is pursuing another 1 billion UAH that should have been blocked after NBU decisions. The turnover of Sihalov’s and Taghiyev’s infrastructure is estimated at least 275 billion UAH, of which about 238 billion over two years went through a P2P circuit servicing illegal gambling. After the license was revoked the funds were attempted to be moved out through shell companies and controlled business disputes: late August 2024 — nearly 49 million, autumn — another over 150 million.
The court seized Sihalov’s property in criminal proceeding No. 72022000400000003: part 3 of article 212, part 2 of article 203–2, part 2 of article 229, part 1 of article 209 of the Criminal Code. He himself is abroad. He is also not on consolidated sanctions lists like OpenSanctions. Instead he tried to clean up Google search results via DMCA.
Taghiyev: an old trail at the NBU
While Sihalov sits in Marbella, Taghiyev, according to sources, holds no legal entities in his name but remains one of the real beneficiaries of the payment system. This is not his first entry into the payments circuit. In February 2017 the SBU detained Taghiyev for handing 35 thousand dollars to the head of the NBU Payment Systems Department Serhii Shatskyi. Formally it was about a license for the “Ukrop” system through VAP Capital, which he was considered a co-owner of.
Connection between Sihalov and Pin-Up
The brand is held by Cyprus-based Guruflow Team Ltd. Until February 2022 its share was held by Punin, then it was transferred to his wife Maryna Ilina (CEO of Pin-Up Global). From December 2023 to April 2024 Ukrainian Ukr Game Technology paid her over 6,2 million euros in royalties. In May 2025 by decree No. 344/2025 Ukraine imposed sanctions on Punin and nine companies, including Guruflow and Ukr Game Technology, for 10 years. The operator’s license was revoked. The Cypriot prosecutor’s office received a request from Kyiv.
The tax authority tried to collect from the Pin-Up network more than 20 billion UAH in unpaid taxes and fines — not directly from the casinos, but through Diamond Pay, which on paper owed operators of Pin-Up (Redcore) tens of billions in receivables. The court refused due to the risk of double collection of the same funds. That is, the Cypriot entity brought in the brand, the Ukrainian payment company funneled the turnover. Two legal entities, one circuit.
Sihalov’s brother Ihor lives in Moscow and owns the online casino Inbet. This is the third point on the same map: a Russian product, a Cypriot cover, a Ukrainian cash desk.
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