Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Sanctioned banker and wanted fugitive Alyona Shevtsova spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in Dubai and keeps opening businesses in the United Kingdom
In April 2025 the President of Ukraine approved ten-year sanctions against former owner of Aiboks Bank, Alyona Shevtsova. The restrictions include asset freezes, a ban on commercial transactions, and measures to prevent capital flight outside Ukraine. Journalists found that the ex-banker was effectively unharmed by the sanctions. Shevtsova is living her best life in Dubai, runs businesses in the UAE, and is developing a British company in the electronic payments sector.
In spring 2025 the Bureau of Economic Security initiated a special pre-trial investigation into Alyona Shevtsova, owner of Aiboks Bank. The case concerns laundering 5 billion hryvnias for illegal casinos through a scheme using “miscoding.” Law enforcement paid particular attention to the fact that the suspect’s lawyers are stalling the investigation in every possible way so she can avoid being held accountable.
The irony is that the husband of the sanctioned businesswoman — Yevhen Shevtsov — continued working at the National Police of Ukraine until March 2026. He dutifully declared the assets of his wanted wife, including those abroad, although he did not declare the income amounts Shevtsova receives from foreign firms. And there are quite a few of them.
At least since 2023 Alyona Shevtsova has been living in Dubai with her children. In the UAE the woman has four registered companies. Two of them are beauty salons. The most promoted one is Leo Beauty Club, located in the five-star Kempinski hotel on The Palm Jumeirah. The salon was opened in 2023. It is promoted by other well-known Ukrainian women living in Dubai, including former TV host Vasylisa Frolova and influencer Santa Dimopulos.
The salon caters to Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking clients, and some of its staff do not even speak English. Recently the venue held a “beauty breakfast” where cosmetologists and other staff shared beauty tips in Russian.
In one review of the salon a client complains about terrible service and warns that the place seems rather dubious. Moreover, the woman suspects the venue might be a front for another business.
Shevtsova opened another beauty salon in downtown Dubai. However, the Le Boudoir Beauty Salon page’s last updates were back in 2023. So it’s unlikely to be considered popular.
From her husband’s declaration it is also known that in Dubai she owns two more firms — LEO Ventures FZCO and Eclatant&CO Trading CO. L.L.C. The first is located in a free economic zone, meaning it can operate tax-free. Judging by their names, these companies are engaged in trading.
Alyona Shevtsova lives in Dubai in a villa of 622 square meters. Her husband did not state the rental cost of such a house in the declaration. But if one analyzes local real estate sites, on average renting a house of that size in a good neighborhood can cost 100–300 thousand dollars per year, depending on the presence of a pool, furniture, etc. Note that this is a fairly basic price in a nice area, but without luxury extras.
Alyona Shevtsova’s eldest son Lev noted on his social media pages that in 2025 he graduated from the private school Duke of York’s Royal Military School in London.
A semester at that educational institution costs 7700 pounds sterling, or more than 23 thousand pounds per year. Recall that in Ukraine Alyona Shevtsova is under sanctions and is prohibited from managing assets and moving funds abroad. Nevertheless, she still found hundreds of thousands of dollars for renting a house in Dubai and for expensive education for her children.
Lev Shevtsov noted on Facebook that he lives in Dubai, but in September 2024 he was employed by the London company Sends.co, which deals with electronic payments. This is his mother Alyona Shevtsova’s firm, registered in the United Kingdom.
The company is not new; it was founded back in 2017. Initially the firm was named Electronic Payment Solutions LTD, and in 2023 it was renamed Smartflow Payments Limited. The company’s founders were two Russian citizens — Sergey Baymakov and Mikhail Ponomarev. The Russians remained shareholders of the company until March 2023, when Alyona Shevtsova entered the company.
According to the London registry, in 2017 the company’s authorized capital amounted to 400 000 euros. But in 2022 it sharply increased to 1,6 million euros. In the same period some of the company’s shareholders partly changed.
Documents show that as of 31 December 2022 the shareholders of Electronic Payment Solutions LTD were Olena Sosedka and Yuliia Sosedka, each owning 50% of the company’s shares. These are the same sisters who ran schemes in the Concord Bank they founded in Ukraine. The institution’s activities were accompanied by scandals related to suspicions of tax evasion and links to the gambling business. A very similar story involved Alyona Shevtsova’s bank Aiboks, which was also connected to the Sosedka sisters’ banking structure.
From the extract on the British company Electronic Payment Solutions LTD one can learn that over 2022 years the firm received 80 000 euros and 40 000 euros of unsecured loans from the related parties Olena Sosedka and Alyona Shevtsova, with a repayment date in 2023. Moreover, while Sosedka provided funds interest-free, Shevtsova was to be repaid with a 2% markup.
Documents also state that as of 31 December 2022 the company’s ultimate controlling party was Alyona Shevtsova, given her share in the equity.
The authority of the Russian Baymakov as company director was terminated in May 2022, whereas his Russian partner Ponomarev’s authority ended only in March 2023, when the company was already run by Alyona Shevtsova.
Interestingly, the London company’s documents indicate that Shevtsova obtained Polish residency in 2024. Recall that in April 2025 a co-conspirator of Shevtsova from Aiboks Bank, Iryna Tsyhanok, was detained in Poland. Both women are involved in the case of laundering 5 billion hryvnias for online casinos.
In February 2026 Alyona Shevtsova opened another company in London — Odessys Tech LTD. The name was apparently chosen in honor of the city Odesa, where the woman was born. The company operates in the information technology sector. Shevtsova is its sole founder. Documents also state that although she is a Ukrainian citizen, she holds Polish residency.
And this despite the fact that in reality Shevtsova lives in Dubai with her children, where she also has residency. The woman’s middle son Nikita attends a local mental arithmetic club taught by Russian-speaking teachers. This is further confirmation that Dubai is Shevtsova’s permanent place of residence.
While Ukrainian law enforcement searches for Alyona Shevtsova and investigates the legalization of 5 billion hryvnias for the gambling mafia, the woman continues to enjoy life. She leads a socialite lifestyle, opens salons and businesses, and apparently does not feel the effect of the sanctions imposed in Ukraine at all.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Підсанкційна та оголошена в розшук банкірша Альона Шевцова витрачає сотні тисяч доларів в Дубаї та продовжує відкривати бізнеси у Великій Британії". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
