“Diia.City for Kremlin Gambling: How Fedorov Legalized Cosmolot and Cosmobet in Ukraine”

In 2023, the Ukrainian media space underwent large-scale changes: Tetyana Snopko emerged on the scene — a media magnate who quickly consolidated a number of popular online resources and Telegram channels such as “All-Seeing Eye” and “BlackBOX OSINT.” But behind the shiny facade of the media business lie complex schemes of extortion and informational pressure on businesses. Through her channels, Snopko organizes “black PR” and public exposés that effectively serve as instruments of blackmail — entrepreneurs are forced to pay to have compromising materials removed. At the center of this network is also Russian businessman Sergey Tokaryev, who, under the cover of a legal IT business, promotes his gambling businesses Cosmolot and Cosmobet in Ukraine.

Against the backdrop of obvious shadow schemes and large-scale financial fraud, the passivity of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the newly created SE “PlayCity,” the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Bureau of Economic Security is striking. The searches and investigations carried out by these bodies have mostly been formal and have not led to real results. Such inaction not only creates the impression of covering up large violations but also undermines trust in state institutions that are supposed to fight corruption, shadow influence, and criminal schemes.

Information weaponry worth millions with no visible income for media magnate Snopko

In 2023, a new player appeared on the Ukrainian media market — Tetyana Snopko, who during the year made a number of large acquisitions of media resources and corporate rights. She became the sole owner of LLC “Communications Hub ‘Economics’” and LLC “Mediamania,” which control the well-known sites Delo.ua, Womo.ua, MMR.ua and the TOP-100 magazine. In addition, Snopko founded LLC “Hub Glavkom” with a capital of 10 million hryvnias, owns the publishing rights for the site “Glavkom” — LLC “Ukrainian Media Systems,” and is the beneficiary of the project “Media Hub Ukraine” with capital of 3 million hryvnias. The total value of these assets is estimated at 3,2–4,3 million dollars. At the same time, plans to buy influential Telegram channels have emerged, indicating the creation of an information network.

However, in official documents and tax reports, Tetyana Snopko has a completely different profile: no large business, official income for 2018–2021 years — less than 1,1 million hryvnias per year, minimal assets in the form of an apartment of 42 sq. m and a BMW X3 2017 model year, and no official employment until 2023. Against these data, the question arises where the funds came from for investments of over 13 million hryvnias into charter capitals and millions into media assets.

The investigation points to a close professional connection between Snopko and Polyakov — a well-known businessman, founder of the technology holding Noosphere, which is associated with IT, digital platforms, and gambling. For 8,5 years she worked in Polyakov’s PR structures, and he likely became the financial engine of the new media expansion, the architect of the influence network, and the guarantor of ties to the gambling business.

Telegram channels “All-Seeing Eye” and “BlackBOX OSINT” play a special role in Snopko’s system; they publish anonymous and often manipulative exposés. In reality, these are not just channels but information weapons that pick a target, launch informational pressure, and offer a “solution” for money. The cost of removing or neutralizing publications is 1 500–2 000 dollars, which are accepted in cryptocurrency through intermediaries.

In the publication of investigations by “BlackBOX OSINT,” Ilya Chudnovskyi, the former director of “Kapital” and current head of Delo.ua (which belongs to Snopko), Aleksandr Klimashevskyi — a financier who manages crypto payments, Aleksandr Harmash — a content moderator responsible for informational pressure, and Petro Terentyev — a security administrator who ensures anonymity and encryption, are involved.

Links have also been established between Snopko and the gambling business of Russian citizen Sergey Tokaryev, owner of the Cosmolot and Cosmobet brands, which gives grounds to suspect external financing, commissioned attacks on competitors, and the use of “BlackBOX OSINT” as a hybrid instrument of influence in the interests of the gambling market.

An example of the scheme’s application is the case of the Taryan Towers residential complex, where personal data of investors were published with fake accusations to force them to pay.

Thus, we see a systematically organized group that, through formally legal media and a Telegram channel, influences business, creates public pressure, and gains financial profit while hiding behind the facade of a media business. Public responsibility in this scheme lies not only with Snopko, who is only the face, but with deeper, more powerful centers of influence aiming to monetize fear through the media.

Cosmolot and Cosmobet: how a Russian sanctions subject built a transnational gambling empire in Ukraine under the cover of “Diia.City”

Online casinos Cosmolot and Cosmobet are not just entertainment platforms that formally operate under a license. They are a well-constructed, multi-level, financially integrated system with all the signs of an organized criminal group. At its core is Russian Federation citizen Tokaryev, also known as a figure on the RNBO sanctions list for financing the terrorist organizations “LNR”/“DNR.” He is the organizer of a large-scale scheme to evade taxes, launder income, transfer funds abroad, and retain control through nominal owners and offshore intermediaries.

Cosmolot operates in Ukraine under the name LLC “Spaceix,” a company that has held a state license to organize online gambling since 2021. The formal beneficiaries of “Spaceix” are Ukrainian citizen Potapov, who owns over 60 companies, German Arnulf Dammerau, who resides in the United Kingdom, and a US-registered company “Nevada Gaming Holding.” However, analysis shows that all three act as cover. The real owner and beneficiary is Tokaryev — a Russian with direct ties to the FSB, gambling business, propaganda structures, and organizations that have supported the Putin regime for years.

This same Tokaryev is a former organizer of the banned-in-Russia online casinos “Vulkan,” Azino Group, “Pharaoh” and “Eldorado,” and a co-founder of the company Lucky Labs, which operated through the offshore GGS Net Ltd.

Tokaryev’s father, Oleksandr, is a member of the Council of the Interstate Union of Hero Cities of the RF — an organization that since 2004 has worked on establishing integration processes between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and unrecognized Abkhazia. Tokaryev himself also has ties to Malofeyev — a Russian oligarch regarded as one of the main ideologists of the “Russian World” and a curator of special operations in Ukraine. It was through Malofeyev’s networks that Tokaryev promoted the banned casinos “Vulkan” and “Vulkan.bet,” which are under FSB control.

In Ukraine, after his sanctions were lifted in 2020, Tokaryev launched a “white” legalization of his assets: he created the investment fund Roosh and later joined the special legal regime for IT companies, “Diia.City.” Thus, the Russian gained access to preferential taxation, state institutional support, and new opportunities to mask real financial flows under the guise of a legal IT business.

Cosmolot’s illegal activity was accompanied by large-scale fraud. According to the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, on 5 February 2024, 700 million hryvnias were seized from accounts associated with Cosmolot-related structures. The total amount of tax evasion is estimated at 1,2 billion hryvnias. The company used more than 30 “mirror” sites with identical functionality through which payments were routed without tax accounting. This allowed parallel operation of “gray” gambling and the uncontrolled outflow of millions.

Financial flows passed through the offshore XGen Solutions LTD (Cyprus), which allegedly sold Cosmolot’s software. The company recorded 300 million hryvnias as fictitious royalties, which made it possible to understate profit tax by 63 million. Another 53 million hryvnias were diverted to fictitious advertising through shell companies: “Inflens Skill,” “Stroy City Management,” “Spektr System LTD.” A separate element was a “deposit refund” scheme, through which players were supposedly refunded 4,5 billion hryvnias. In reality, taxes and the military levy on these amounts were not paid, which allowed avoidance of another 1,01 billion hryvnias of personal income tax and 83 million hryvnias of military levy.

Money flows were split through a network of financial companies: “AP.MI Finance,” “Diamond Pay,” “FC Resonance-Capital” (now — “Finkit”), and were moved via P2P transfers using cards of Oschadbank, Universal Bank and Bank Vostok. Such an architecture complicated the identification of users and transactions.

The online casino Cosmobet operated under an identical scheme: it created the legal entity LLC “Neurolink,” registering it under a straw person — Zborovskyi, who has a dubious reputation and virtually zero declared income. In its financial operations, LLC “Neurolink” also involved offshores, thereby extracting million-dollar profits from gambling in Ukraine.

On the basis of the collected materials, we appealed to law enforcement and regulatory bodies requesting investigation of Snopko’s media group and its ties to Sergey Tokaryev’s gambling business. The discovered facts point to the systematic use of media for pressure, extortion, and money laundering, financing of terrorism through the still-operating Russian business, and — most importantly — the involvement of Ukrainian officials in schemes that pose a threat to Ukraine’s information security and economic stability. We insist on a thorough examination and that those responsible be held accountable.