Detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine together with the SSU exposed a large-scale scheme of legalization of money received from illegal gambling. The scheme involved the owners and officials of a Kyiv commercial bank who helped underground online casinos launder almost UAH 5 billion.

To implement the criminal scheme the group of individuals created more than 20 controlled business entities that opened accounts with the said financial institution.

Players of illegal online casinos used these companies to deposit money to their gambling accounts. At the same time the purpose of the payment was to pay for non-existent goods and services. From each transaction the organizers of the scheme received their "percentage" which was cashed out through affiliated commercial entities.

Based on the evidence collected the detectives of the ESBU served three high-ranking officials of the bank, one of whom is its co-owner, suspicion notices under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

- part 2 of art. 203-2 (illegal activities in organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries)

- part 3 of art. 209 (legalization (laundering) of the proceeds of crime).

The issue of choosing a type of detention for the persons involved in the criminal proceedings is being decided. The article provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing and all the circumstances of the crime and the full range of persons involved in the scheme are being established. In March 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine revoked the license of a financial institution controlled by the suspects.

The complex measures were carried out in cooperation with the National Bank, the State Tax Service, the State Financial Monitoring Service with the operational support of the SSU and under the procedural guidance of prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office.

It is worth reminding that after the start of the ESBU investigation the gambling business has already paid four times more taxes than for the entire last year.