Finkelshtein Yakiv Semenovych

Owner of Nemiroff and Slots City, citizen of Israel

Yakiv Finkelshtein is one of the wealthiest and most private entrepreneurs in Ukraine, whose business empire spans vodka, concrete, agribusiness, online casinos, and now demining. Widely known in Ukraine as Yakiv Grybov, the businessman led Nemiroff—one of the leaders in the alcohol market—together with partners Stepan Hlus and Anatoliy Kipisha. After acquiring Israeli citizenship, he changed his surname to Finkelshtein—possibly attempting to distance himself from numerous scandals.

Slots City and the path through the Belfort fund

LLC "Gamedev," operating under the brand Slots City, initially belonged to Ruslan Nonka. Control over the closed corporate fund "Belfort," which owns 100% of Gamedev, was established by Finkelshtein in November 2021 after obtaining the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine's permission to purchase over 50% of the fund's shares. The ultimate beneficial owner of LLC "Gamedev" remained Yakiv Finkelshtein until September 2024—the key figure of the "Finkelshtein family group." The company's revenue for 9 months of 2025 amounted to UAH 6.6 billion.

Zelensky, the "Russian trace" and the Entrepreneur Council

The "Finkelshtein family group" attracted media attention when its representative joined the Council on Entrepreneurship Support under President Zelensky. Media outlets wrote about the "strange company" of entrepreneurs with a "Russian background" gaining access to the presidential advisory body. Antikor.info published an article titled "The Russian trace of Slots City casino owner Yakiv Finkelshtein."