Portnov Sergiy Yuriyovych

Official biography

Co-owner and Chairman of the Board of the betting holding company, responsible for its strategic development since August 2011. Until September 2012, he held the position of Marketing Director. In 2010, he received a bachelor’s degree in gambling and entertainment management from the University of Salford in Manchester. Sergey’s father was a professional gambler and he made his first bet at the age of 12. Mr. Portnov is a graduate of Cass Business School in London and holds Cypriot citizenship.

Related games

• none

Dirt

Related companies

According to the registers, Sergiy Portnov is mentioned in relation to the following companies: “KP-ADVERTISEMENT” PUBLIC ORGANIZATION “ALL-UKRAINIAN UNION OF BOOKMAKING DEVELOPMENT” “PARK AND GO” “TRUST-325”

Portnov Sergiy Yuriyovych is listed as a director in the companies “KP-REKLAMA”

According to the latest information, Portnov Serhiy Yuriyovych held the following positions: director, founder, beneficiary

Career growth at Parimatch

Portnov was introduced to the business by Shvindlerman in 2011. The founder was friends with his father, Yuri, a professional card player. In 2005, Schwindlerman paid for Portnov’s education in England: he studied gambling at the University of Salford. “There was no agreement that I would return to Parimatch,” Portnov says. — “But there is a story of growing up.

After returning to Ukraine, they had a conversation. “I’m not particularly interested in this business anymore. Do what you want,” Portnov recalls the words of the Parimatch founder. Schwindlerman’s daughter confirms that her father did not force her to work for the company either. Today, Portnov is the second largest shareholder in the company. Belorusskaya has a controlling stake.

The arrival of Portnov and Belorusskaya was the beginning of Parimatch’s rebirth. “We were building a skyscraper on an old foundation,” Portnov says. “Schwindlerman strengthened the foundation from the start by investing $500,000. Then they grew on their own, constantly reinvesting everything, Portnov says.

According to him, Portnov was handed over the CEO’s functions for four years “in parts.” He took the position in 2014 and received full authority in 2015. “Then we immediately accelerated, nothing stopped us,” he says.

Compromising facts about Portnov

• According to the Arbiter telegram channel, the offshore companies Avdivo Holdings Ltd. and Fabers PTE. Ltd. may be owned by Ukrainian citizens Tatiana Belorusskaya and Sergey Portnov. Tatiana Belorusskaya and her husband Eduard Shvindlerman are the founders of Parimatch.
• Indeed, the Ukrainian media contain quite contradictory information about the founder of Parimatch. A mathematician by training, he is, according to his daughter, a “professional gambler”. Portnov’s father, who was friends with Schwindlerman, was allegedly a gambler as well. The latter paid for the future top manager to study in London and in 2011 introduced him to the company’s management, having lost interest in it himself by that time.

The old Russian trace in Parimatch’s activities and the direct involvement of Sergey Portnov

After the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the well-known gambling operator Parimatch hit the headlines for a different reason than it should have. The company, headed by Sergey Portnov, shamelessly conducted illegal gambling in Donetsk and Crimea even during the escalation of the conflict. Portnov himself boldly boasted that he would change Russian gambling laws.

In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion. While Ukrainian citizens gave their lives defending their homeland, Sergey Portnov and his partner Roman Sirotyan chose a completely different path. They organized an illegal withdrawal of funds from Ukraine through a complex scheme at the Ibox bank. The consequences were serious: Parimatch faced sanctions for collusion with Russia. The Economic Security Service and the Security Service of Ukraine brought charges against the company and its shareholders.

More recently, Parimatch’s illegal gambling activities were exposed, operating without a license and in violation of sanctions. But the shame did not stop at the borders of Ukraine. Czech media reported that the reincarnation of Portnov and Parimatch, Beter, run by Elrich Gal, is under investigation in the Czech Republic on charges of illegal gambling and money laundering. Palimatch’s shameful stain is spreading around the world. The Brazilian press reported that the Botafogo soccer club may cut ties with the company. Meanwhile, the Indian authorities accused Parimatch of laundering the proceeds of illegal online gambling without paying taxes in the pages of the authoritative Economic Times newspaper.

Today, the spotlight has shifted to London. Recently, the London Evening Standard reported that Syrotian, a Parimatch shareholder, is investing in a London-based fintech company along with Gazprom CEO Miller. This step proves that Parimatch’s business interests are indeed intertwined with the aggressor and that Zelenskyy was right when he said he would impose sanctions on Parimatch for financial schemes with the Russians. Parimatch and its shareholders are embroiled in a web of investigations in various jurisdictions into illegal activities aimed at joint investment with Russians.

Ban on Parimatch’s activities in Ukraine

On March 10, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced “personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)” by the National Security and Defense Council against 120 individuals and 287 legal entities. The list includes the Ukrainian betting company Parimatch and related legal entities. UAH 270 million of user funds have been blocked on Parimatch’s accounts.

According to Forbes , citing an anonymous source at the Gambling Commission of Ukraine, Parimatch was included in the sanctions list at the initiative of the SBU. The latter, together with the BES (Bureau of Economic Security), conducted an investigation. The official reason was ties to Russia.

Church.

In a commentary to Forbes, a source from the company’s management confirmed that at some point there was a risk of being sanctioned because of the religious preferences of the co-owner, chairman of the supervisory board of Parimatch and the company’s second largest shareholder, Serhiy Portnov. “The SBU insisted that the company had not actually left Russia and Belarus, and that Serhiy Portnov was a major sponsor of the Moscow Patriarchate,” a member of the Servant of the People party told Forbes. However, there is no mention of this in the NSDC decision.