About 400 deceived Europeans and 10 million euros in his pocket: how Timur Rokhlin scammed people on fake trading platforms

The former co-owner of Rocket, Timur Rohlin, has serious problems: he was detained in Israel, and assets worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias remain in Kyiv. What really lies behind this story?

According to dou.ua, citing the Israeli publication Posta, Rohlin was detained in December 20 2021 in Israel, as he was preparing to fly to Kyiv.

The arrest and Germany’s extradition request stem from a two-year investigation by competent authorities in Germany and Ukraine into a large fraud that affected about 400 Europeans. According to the investigation, in 2017 — 2020 years they invested about 10 million euros in financial products that do not exist. German investigators say that at the helm of the scheme was Timur Rohlin, and the sums extorted from “investors” passed through his British company. Ukrainian law enforcement now are examining a version that these funds were used to acquire VIP cars and real estate in Ukraine.

As part of the investigation, courts have already ordered arrests of some Ukrainian assets connected to the businessman — cars, real estate properties. The Rocket delivery service itself was not affected by sanctions. Recall that in 2019 Rohlin bought a controlling stake in the collective-discount service Pokupon. Forbes reported that this saved Rocket from “being buried in the startup graveyard.” 100% of Rocket is currently owned by Timur’s father — Israeli citizen Igor Rohlin. Timur ceded his position to his father in 2020, when the prosecutor’s office of the German city Bamberg was already conducting its investigation.

However, Rocket began to wobble. According to Ain.ua, in December 2021 — January 2022 Rohlin significantly reduced the staff in Ukraine — by more than 50 people. The main reason for this step was allegedly reduced funding from the investor at the end of the year, which surprised the management.

How is Timur Rohlin connected with Rocket?

In 2019 Rohlin became the majority owner of the delivery service, which at that time was still named “Raketa.” He bought it from Ukraine’s largest coupon issuer Pokupon, Forbes wrote. Minorities became the developers of “Raketa” — Oleksii Yukhimchuk and Stanislav Dmytryk (at 7%). Subsequently, the ownership structure changed. In April 2020, investigations into fraud were already underway, and in December arrests were imposed on Igor Rohlin’s assets; Timur left the company, and the founders Yukhimchuk and Dmytryk left in August of the same year. Currently, in the registry, the founder of “Rocket Deliveries” is listed as Tisea Fresh Food Ltd, and the ultimate owner is Timur Rohlin’s father — Igor Rohlin.

Rocket, when asked by LIGA.net, responded that Timur Rohlin has no relation to the company.

Little is known about the Rohlins. In Forbes’ piece at the beginning of 2021 year it states that Igor Rohlin graduated from the Baku Institute of Oil and Chemistry and since 2005 year is an Israeli citizen. In the media he was written about when he was a member of the board of RAFO Onesti, a Romanian oil refinery that was sold in 2006 year to Russian businessman Yakov Goldovsky, who later resold it to Moldovan businessmen.

Timur Rohlin, a citizen of Ukraine and Israel, graduated from the Rotterdam School of Management. He moved to Ukraine a few years ago. Forbes notes that at the start of 2021 year, besides Rocket, Timur owned a coworking space BeeWorking, a venture fund BeeVentures, and several IT businesses. He also owned a car fleet that included a Rolls-Royce Wraith worth approximately $500 000.

What was Rohlin arrested for?

In mid-November, on his Facebook page, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova posted photos of two cars — Lamborghini Aventador SJV and Rolls-Royce Phantom — with a total value of more than 1 million euros. At Borispil airport they were loaded into the cargo compartment of an An-12 before being sent to Germany. The prosecutor general clarified that the photos show the transfer of “proofs” in Germany to competent authorities in a case of a large international fraud scheme linked to investing in financial products that do not exist.

Venediktova did not name the car owner, only noted that the fraudulent scheme was organized by Ukrainian citizens, and their victims were residents of Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, and other European countries. As can now be seen from the registry of court decisions, these cars are registered to Czech company Beryltrans, owned by Timur Rohlin. Senior partner Ivan Starosta of the law firm Klechkov and Partners, who represented Timur Rohlin in court, did not respond to LIGA.net’s request at the time of publication.

That a Ukrainian was on the list of possible suspects in this case first became publicly known in September 2021 year from a dev.ua article that cited materials from the court registry.

Thanks to an article in the Israeli publication Posta and data from the court registry, you can learn details of the high-profile case. In 2017 — 2020 years the organizers created several sites and trading platforms that mimicked stock-market activity: Trade Capital (www.tradecapital.com); Fibonetix (www.fibonetix.com), Nobel Trade (www.nobeltrade.com), Forbslab (www.forbslab.com), Huludox (www.huludox.com). The pseudo-investment platforms promised clients profits from alleged real trades on the stock market in various financial instruments, including binary options, currency, cryptocurrency, etc.

Over the user interface for the sites that simulated negotiating purchases and sales of assets and “growth in profits from invested funds,” at various times more than 100 IT specialists worked. Several call centers in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia “helped” and “consulted” clients.

When investors tried to cash out their investments, fraudsters posing as platform operators demanded a maintenance fee and a cash-out transfer commission — 15% of the investment amount. After payment, investors’ accounts were blocked. Thus participants managed to siphon off about 10 million euros.

According to German prosecutors, the scammers routed the received sums through a chain of firms with fictitious directors and owners. At the end of the chain was RIJV HOLDINGS LTD, which, according to investigators, was controlled by Timur Rohlin. The investigation has documented 10,8 million euros that passed through this firm. Ukrainian investigators noted that RIJV HOLDINGS LTD in 2019 year became the founder of several companies into which about 500 million UAH was poured.

In December 2020 Ukraine-based companies owned by Timur’s father Igor Rohlin were arrested: SpetsTorg, Ukrdonbud, Buildings Empire (which owns a building in Kyiv housing BeeWorking), RenoMe Rent (owns an office center at 11 00 square meters). 2021 year the arrest of SpetsTorg and Ukrdonbud was lifted. But simultaneously the arrest was imposed on the real estate itself — several thousand square meters of commercial space in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian investigators explain the arrests by the fact that part of the money fraudulently obtained from Europeans could have been funneled into acquiring assets in Ukraine. In case materials, for example, it is specified that in 2018 — 2019 years as the ultimate beneficiary of Ukrdonbud (now it is owned by Timur’s father, Igor Rohlin) Timur Rohlin “effectively gained ownership” of a number of real estate objects — non-residential premises and parking spaces (at Sichovykh Striltsiv Street, 62), with an approximate market value of about 214 million UAH. In the autumn investigators secured arrests of these assets. More than 4000 square meters were arrested on Lomonosova Street, where BeeWorking is located. Forbes previously wrote, citing Timur’s lawyers, that the funds and assets of their client involved in the investigation were obtained legally.

Sanctions against father and son Rohlin did not affect the Rocket delivery service.

What will happen to Rocket?

From December last year to January this year, Rocket reduced its workforce. According to the company, over 50 employees were laid off, 40% of whom were technical specialists. “Due to market changes and reduced funding, there was a need to adjust financial plans and seek additional investments,” Rocket said. Ain.ua reports that staff cuts were related to the service’s investor — Igor Rohlin — who stopped funding, which surprised the founders — Oleksii Yukhimchuk and Stanislav Dmytryk (who continue to work at the company).

Rocket’s search for external financing recently began. “Negotiations with potential investors are ongoing, but details will be announced by the company only after reaching agreements,” said Rocket’s press service. In a Forbes interview, the company added: “Such news in the information space can negatively affect fundraising.”.

Rocket’s market position in Ukraine remains stable; its market share continues to grow, as do orders and new partners, the press service says. “In 2022 year we plan to improve unit economics, delivery speed, and other key business metrics, though the capex plan for the first half of the year has been adjusted. We also do not plan to launch in new countries in the first half of the year. The priority is to consolidate positions in the seven EU countries where Rocket already operates, as well as expanding the segment of product delivery from stores. We remain competitive and poised to grow in the EU markets; in some of them we are growing much faster than competitors,” LIGA.net’s press service said.

When asked whether owner Igor Rohlin is considering selling the delivery service, the company replied: “We do not comment on the stake holder’s position.”

Rocket is one of Glovo’s main competitors. In a relatively short period — since aggressive investment (from 2019 year) — the company expanded beyond Dnipro and now operates in 31-th city in Ukraine. It has also entered foreign markets, now operating in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and Cyprus. The company opened five “dark kitchens” in Ukraine (restaurants that operate for delivery only) and planned to further develop these directions and open more “dark stores” (store without customers), but due to funding suspension development has been paused.

One former employee told ain.ua that now the company is self-sustaining — it can spend as much as it earns on itself. For the three quarters 2021 of the year, the company’s revenue was 153 million UAH, and losses were over 68 million UAH, Forbes cites SPARK-Interfax. For comparison, in 2020 year the company’s earnings were 157 million UAH, and losses 47 million UAH.