Sihalov Maksym Yuriyovych

Former deputy from Dnipropetrovsk region linked to payment "empire" for online casinos

Maksym Yuriyovych Sihalov (Sigalov) is a Ukrainian businessman, former Dnipropetrovsk politician, and a key figure in a high-profile investigation by the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) and other law enforcement agencies into illegal gambling business.

Casinos, cryptocurrency and tax evasion

Sihalov is a former regional council deputy who built the financial infrastructure for illegal gambling: a "bridge" between online casinos and cryptocurrency, through which the state budget lost billions of hryvnias in taxes. According to these reports, law enforcement agencies are "unraveling the scheme." The former deputy whose "empire" so far exists mainly in headlines.

He is a co-owner and manager of companies in the financial services sector. In particular, Sihalov controlled the payment system "E-PEY" (LLC "E-PAY") and the company "Diamond Pay" (LLC "Diamond Pay"). He is accused of evading taxes in especially large amounts (state losses are estimated in billions of hryvnias), illegal organization of gambling, and legalization (money laundering) of income using cryptocurrency and "drop cards."