Lawyer Andriy Dovbenko—who is currently wanted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on charges of orchestrating a 500-million-UAH embezzlement scheme involving state assets managed by the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA)—may still maintain direct control over top Ukrainian online gambling brands, including Slots City and Beton. A investigative analysis of public corporate registries reveals a complex web of shell entities, shared IP addresses, and proxy managers used to systematically launder illicit proceeds through the gambling industry.
Dovbenko initially rose to prominence through his legal practice, managing the Evris law firm and maintaining close ties to Seychelles and Belize offshore structures. In 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC) issued an in-absentia arrest warrant for Dovbenko over his role in siphoning off seized grain, urea, sand, and prime real estate in the Odesa region.
Despite fledging Ukraine and settling in London to evade prosecution, law enforcement materials suggest that his operation remains functional. Investigators traced financial activity across entities such as Soil Company LTD, Brante, and N&D, discovering that these corporate accounts were systematically operated using identical IP address networks.
The connection between the fugitive attorney and Ukraine’s booming online casino market operates through a tightly linked group of associates and former Evris employees:
Slots City Network: Key associate Dmytro Hron, an Evris alumnus, heads the Georgia Closed Investment Fund, which controls trademarks for the financial brand Finkit. His business partner, Roman Bilan, previously led GameDev LLC—a entity holding rights to over 100 gambling trademarks, including Slots City and My City Fest. Bilan also founded Play Smart LLC, owner of the «SL Kyiv» trademark.
Beton Casino: Corporate filings connect associate Roman Balashov to Citycode LLC, the legal owner of the trademark behind the Beton online casino operator.
Centralized Registration: Crucially, corporate registry filings show that the trademark applications for Slots City, Beton, and Finkit were submitted by the same authorized representative, Anastasiia Synytsia, indicating coordinated operational execution.
«The high density of shared corporate addresses, cross-directorships, and unified trademark filings demonstrates that wanted lawyer Andriy Dovbenko likely maintains ultimate beneficial control over at least three major online gambling operations,» noted investigative journalists at Antikor.
Beyond legal services and online gambling, Dovbenko’s commercial interests extend into Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Registries show multiple agricultural firms registered at a single Kyiv address co-owned by Dovbenko and Oleksiy Olenchenko—a legal representative for former Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solskyi, who was recently detained over fraudulent grain transactions.
Dovbenko’s political influence traces back several years, highlighted by his high-profile 2019 wedding in Saint-Tropez attended by prominent figures including former Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Bohdan and property developer Andriy Vavrysh. Legal entities linked to Dovbenko were also active in representing business interests in high-stakes disputes over the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant against the Russian «Luzhniki» group.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies continue to audit the complex ownership structures and financial flows of these affiliated entities to identify and freeze illicit assets.