“From Moscow to Diia: who stands behind the Cosmolot gambling business and how Fedorov helped it”

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

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

The informational weapon worth millions with no visible income for media magnate Snopko

In 2023 a new player appeared on the Ukrainian media market — Tatiana Snopko, who over the course of a year made a series of large acquisitions of media resources and corporate rights. She became the sole owner of LLC “Communication Hub ‘Economics’” and LLC “Mediamania,” which control the well-known sites Delo.ua, Womo.ua, MMR.ua and the magazine TOP-100. In addition, Snopko founded LLC “Hub Glavcom” with capital of 10 million hryvnias, owns the rights to the publisher of the site “Glavcom” — LLC “Ukrainian Media Systems” — and is the beneficiary of the “Media Hub Ukraine” project 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 Tatiana Snopko has a very different profile: no large business, official incomes 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 year of manufacture, and no official employment until 2023. Against these data it raises the question of where the funds came from for investments of more than 13 million hryvnias in charter capitals and millions in media assets.

Research points to a close professional connection between Snopko and Polyakov — a well-known businessman, founder of the technology holding Noosphere, which is linked to IT, digital platforms and gambling. For 8,5 years she worked in Polyakov’s PR structures, and he likely became the financial driver of the new media expansion, the architect of the influence network, and the guarantor of ties with 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 an informational weapon that selects a target, launches informational pressure, and offers a “solution” for money. The cost to remove or neutralize publications is 1 500–2 000 dollars, accepted in cryptocurrency through intermediaries.

Involved in publishing investigations for “BlackBOX OSINT” are Illia Chudnovskyi, former director of “Kapital” and current head of Delo.ua, which belongs to Snopko; Oleksandr Klimashevskyi — a financier who handles crypto payments; Oleksandr Harmash — a content moderator responsible for informational pressure; and Petro Terentiev — a security administrator who ensures anonymity and encryption.

Connections between Snopko and the gambling business of Russian citizen Sergey Tokarev, owner of the Cosmolot and Cosmobet brands, have also been established, which gives grounds to assume 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 with the residential complex Taryan Towers, where personal data of investors and fake accusations were published 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 benefit while hiding behind the facade of a media business. Public responsibility in this scheme lies not only with Snopko, who is merely the face, but with deeper, more powerful centers of influence aiming to monetize fear through the media.

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

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

Cosmolot in Ukraine operates 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 more than 60 companies; German Arnulf Damerau, who lives in the United Kingdom; and a U.S.-registered company “Nevada Gaming Holding.” However, analysis shows all three serve as cover. The real owner and beneficiary is Tokarev — a Russian with direct ties to the FSB, businesses in gambling, propagandist structures, and organizations that for years have supported the Putin regime.

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

Tokarev’s father, Oleksandr, is a member of the Council of the Interstate Union of Hero Cities of Russia — an organization that since 2004 has promoted integrative processes between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and unrecognized Abkhazia. Tokarev himself also has connections with Malofeyev — a Russian oligarch described as one of the main ideologues of the “Russkiy mir” and a curator of special operations in Ukraine. It was through his networks that Tokarev promoted the banned casinos “Vulkan” and “Vulkan.bet,” which are under FSB control.

In Ukraine, after his sanctions were lifted in 2020, Tokarev launched a “white” legalization of his assets: he created the Roosh investment fund and later joined the special legal regime for IT companies “Diia.City.” In this way the Russian gained access to preferential taxation, state institutional support, and new opportunities to mask real financial flows under the cover 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 funds of 700 million hryvnias were frozen on the accounts of entities associated with Cosmolot. 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 “gray” gambling operations and the uncontrolled withdrawal of millions.

Financial flows ran through the offshore XGen Solutions LTD (Cyprus), which supposedly sold Cosmolot’s software. The company recorded 300 million hryvnias in fictitious royalties, which reduced profit tax by 63 million. Another 53 million hryvnias were funneled into fictitious advertising via shell companies: “Influence Skill,” “Stroy City Management,” “Spektr System LTD.” A separate element was the “deposit return” scheme, through which players were allegedly refunded 4,5 billion hryvnias. In reality taxes and the military levy on these amounts were not paid, allowing avoidance of an additional 1,01 billion hryvnias in personal income tax and 83 million hryvnias in military levy.

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

The online casino Cosmobet operated by an identical scheme: it created the legal entity LLC “NeuroLink,” registered to a straw man — Zborovskyi, who has a dubious reputation and nearly zero declared income. Offshore entities were also involved in LLC “NeuroLink”’s financial operations, thereby channeling millions in gambling profits out of Ukraine.

Based on the collected materials, we appealed to law enforcement and regulatory bodies demanding an investigation into the activities of Snopko’s media group and its ties to Sergey Tokarev’s gambling business. The discovered facts indicate systematic use of media for pressure, extortion and money laundering, financing of terrorism through the still-operating Russian business, and—importantly—the involvement of Ukrainian officials in the schemes, which poses a threat to Ukraine’s information security and economic stability. We insist on a thorough review and bringing those responsible to justice.