Approximately 400 Europeans deceived and 10 million euros gained: how Timur Rokhlin cheated people through fake trading platforms

Former Rocket co-owner Timur Rokhlin is in serious trouble: he was detained in Israel, while assets worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias remain in Kyiv. What is really behind this story?

According to dou.ua with reference to the Israeli publication Posta, Rokhlin was detained as early as 20 December 2021 in Israel when he was about to fly to Kyiv.

The arrest and Germany’s extradition request are the result of a two-year investigation by the competent authorities of Germany and Ukraine into a large scam that affected about 400 Europeans. According to the investigation, in 2017 — 2020 they invested approximately 10 million euros in financial products that do not exist. German investigators claim that Timur Rokhlin was at the helm of the scheme, and the amounts that the fraudsters extorted from “investors” were routed through his UK company. Ukrainian law enforcement is now working on a version that these funds were used to buy VIP cars and real estate in Ukraine.

As part of the investigation, courts have already placed seizures on some Ukrainian assets linked to the businessman — cars, real estate objects. The sanctions did not affect the Rocket delivery service. Recall that in 2019 Timur Rokhlin bought a controlling stake in the group discount service Pokupon. Forbes wrote that with this Rokhlin saved Rocket from “ending up in the startup graveyard.” 100% investor in Rocket now is Timur’s father — Israeli citizen Ihor Rokhlin. The son ceded his place to his father in 2020 when the Bamberg prosecutor’s office in Germany was already conducting its investigation.

However, Rocket did start to be rocked. According to Ain.ua, in December 2021 — January 2022 Rocket significantly reduced its staff in Ukraine — more than 50 people. The main reason for this move was allegedly a reduction in funding from the investor at the end of the year, which came as a surprise to management.

How is Timur Rokhlin connected to Rocket?

In 2019 Timur became the majority owner of the delivery service, which at the time was still called “Raketa.” He bought it from Ukraine’s largest coupon seller Pokupon, Forbes wrote. Minority owners became the developers of “Raketa” — Oleksii Yukhymchuk and Stanislav Dmytryk (at 7% each). Later the ownership structure changed. In April 2020, when an investigation into fraud was already underway, and in December the assets of Ihor Rokhlin were seized, Timur left the company, and the founders Yukhymchuk and Dmytryk left in August of that year. Currently the registry lists Tisea Fresh Food Ltd as the founder of “Rocket Delivery,” and the ultimate owner as Timur’s father — Ihor Rokhlin.

Rocket responded to LIGA.net’s inquiry that Timur Rokhlin has no relation to the company.

Little is known about the Rokhlins. A Forbes piece from early 2021 says that Ihor Rokhlin graduated from the Baku Institute of Oil and Chemistry and since 2005 has been an Israeli citizen. The media wrote about him when he was a member of the board of directors of the Romanian oil refinery RAFO Onesti, which was sold in 2006 to Russian businessman Yakov Goldovsky, who later resold it to Moldovan businessmen.

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

Why was Rokhlin detained?

In mid-November Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova posted photos on her Facebook page of two cars — a Lamborghini Aventador SJV and a Rolls-Royce Phantom — with a total value of over 1 million euros. At Boryspil airport they were being loaded into the hold of an An-12 before being sent to Germany. The prosecutor general clarified that the photos show the transfer of “evidence” by German competent authorities in a case concerning a large international fraud scheme related to investment in financial products that do not exist.

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

That the Ukrainian is on the list of people possibly involved in this case first became publicly known in September 2021 from an article in dev.ua, which cited materials from the court registry.

Thanks to the article in the Israeli publication Posta and the court registry data, one can learn details of the high-profile case. In 2017 — 2020 the organizers of the scam created several websites and trading platforms that simulated 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 allegedly real trading on the stock market in various financial instruments, including binary options, currencies, cryptocurrencies, etc.

More than 100 IT specialists worked at various times on the software interface for the sites that simulated placing buy-sell orders for assets and the “growth of returns on invested funds.” Several “call centers” in Ukraine, Bulgaria and Serbia “helped” and “advised” clients.

When investors tried to withdraw their investments in cash, the fraudsters posing as operators of the trading platforms demanded that they pay a service fee and a cash-out commission — 15% of the investment amount. After payment, investors’ accounts were blocked. In this way the participants managed to seize about 10 million euros.

According to the German investigation, the fraudsters routed the proceeds through a number of companies with nominal directors and owners. At the end of the chain was the company RIJV HOLDINGS LTD, which, investigators say, is linked to Timur Rokhlin. To date the investigation knows of 10,8 million euros that passed through this company. Ukrainian investigators indicated that RIJV HOLDINGS LTD in 2019 became the founder of a number of companies into which it injected about 500 million hryvnias.

In December 2020 companies of Timur’s father Ihor Rokhlin were seized in Ukraine: Spectorg, Ukrdonbud, Buildings Empire (owner of the building in Kyiv housing Timur Rokhlin’s BeeWorking coworking), Renome Rent (owner of an office center of 11 00 sq. m). The seizure on Spectorg and Ukrdonbud was lifted in 2021. But at the same time arrests were placed on the real estate itself — several thousand square meters of commercial space in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian investigation explains the seizures by stating that part of the money obtained fraudulently from Europeans may have been used to buy assets in Ukraine. The case materials, for example, specify that in 2018 — 2019 as the ultimate beneficiary of Ukrdonbudivnytstvo (now its beneficiary is father Ihor Rokhlin) Timur Rokhlin “actually acquired ownership rights” to a number of real estate objects — non-residential premises and parking spaces (at Sichovykh Striltsiv St., 62), whose approximate market value is about 214 million hryvnias. In the autumn investigators secured the seizure of these assets. Another more than 4000 “square meters” were seized on Lomonosova Street, where Beecoworking is located. Earlier Forbes wrote, citing Timur’s lawyers, that the funds and assets of their client that are mentioned in the investigation were obtained legally.

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

What will happen to Rocket?

From December last year to January this year Rocket carried out staff reductions. According to the company, more than 50 people were dismissed, 40% of whom were technical specialists. “Due to market changes and reduced funding there was a need to change financial plans and look for additional investments,” Rocket said. According to ain.ua, the layoffs of specialists were related to the delivery service’s investor — Ihor Rokhlin, who stopped funding, which came as a surprise to the founders — Oleksii Yukhymchuk and Stanislav Dmytryk (they continue to work at the company).

Rocket only recently began searching for external financing. “Negotiations with potential investors are currently ongoing, but details will be announced by the company only after agreements are reached,” the Rocket press service said. In a comment to Forbes the company clarified: “...Such news in the information space can negatively affect communication with funds.”

Rocket’s positions in the Ukrainian market are stable; market share continues to grow, as do order numbers and new partners, the press service says. “In 2022 we plan to improve unit economics, delivery speed and other business financial indicators, although the spending plan for the first half of the year has undergone some changes. 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 markets of seven EU countries where Rocket is already present, as well as to expand the grocery delivery segment. We continue to be competitive and grow in EU markets, in some of them growing much faster than competitors,” LIGA.net was told by the press service.

When asked whether the owner — Ihor Rokhlin — is considering selling the delivery service, the company responded: “We do not comment on the shareholder’s position.”

Rocket is one of Glovo’s main competitors. Over a fairly short period — since aggressive investing began (from 2019) the company expanded beyond Dnipro and now operates in 31 cities in Ukraine. The service also entered foreign markets and now operates in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Hungary and Cyprus. The company opened five “dark kitchens” in Ukraine (restaurants that operate only for delivery) and planned to continue expanding the network and open more “dark stores” (stores without customers), but due to the halt in investment had to put development of these directions on pause.

A former employee told ain.ua that the company is now self-sustaining — it can spend only what it earns. For the three quarters of 2021 the company’s revenue was 153 million hryvnias, and the loss was over 68 million hryvnias, Forbes reports citing SPARK-Interfax. For comparison, in 2020 the service’s revenue was 157 million hryvnias, and the loss 47 million hryvnias.