Kondratenko and his company Royal Pay appeared in Ukraine immediately after the legalization of the gambling business — Royal Pay specializes primarily in electronic payments, which are in great demand in the online gambling industry.
Even then, there were lonely voices calling for a ban on Sergey Kondratenko’s activities in Ukraine — firstly, because he had a Russian passport, and secondly, because of his ties to the Russian bookmaker 1xBet. But for several years, no one touched Kondratenko, although reputable publications wrote about his ties to 1xBet with a turnover of two billion dollars, and about the participation of the group of companies of Sergey Kondratenko, united by the Royal Pay brand, in money laundering. In particular, there was an investigation in the UK that claimed that Russian citizen Sergey Kondratenko, starting in 2016, registered a number of companies around the world that were engaged in legalizing money from illegal gambling. Among the countries in which these companies were registered were Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the most frequently mentioned names of the companies were Kiparis DMCC (United Arab Emirates), Alium Limited, Optimum FinTech s.r.o., VestraPay Nigeria Ltd, Digitalex pte. ltd, PP MONEY TRANSFER s.r.o. Royal Pay.
With the outbreak of a full-scale war, Sergey Kondratenko publicly declared his support for Ukraine, and he renounced (although this statement is controversial) his Russian citizenship and received a Cypriot passport. However, despite this, on January 12, 2023, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on Royal Pay Europe for five years, and almost two billion hryvnias were blocked on accounts related to the company.
Several factors preceded this. First, there were several petitions on the website of the President’s Office demanding to ban the activities of the Russian 1xBet and companies related to it, including Royal Pay Europe. The petitions gained the required number of votes within a week, so the president was forced to react by instructing the prime minister to deal with these companies. And secondly, Royal Pay Europe was involved in several financial scandals that were unpleasant for Ukraine, in which its Russian roots and money laundering surfaced, both in Ukraine and in Europe.
For example, it turned out that in 2021-22, Serhiy Kondratenko’s company made a number of large financial injections into Ukrainian banks: accounts related to Royal Pay Europe and Serhiy Kondratenko in the Ukrainian banks JSC Crystalbank and PJSC CB Akordbank hold more than UAH 3.2 billion. In addition, a scam was uncovered with an attempt to re-register the ownership of the assets of Megabank, which is in the process of liquidation, to Royal Pay Europe. The property in question was worth UAH 360 million, which Royal Pay Europe tried to take out from under the nose of the Deposit Guarantee Fund: SBI seized money of Sia Royal Pay Europe, associated with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet — is it too early to rejoice?
In February 2022, Megabank received €10.5 million from Royal Pay Europe as collateral for premises in the center of Kharkiv, which Royal Pay Europe tried to withdraw from the management of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. In March of the same year, Royal Pay Europe tried to provide another loan to Megabank secured by other real estate, but this time the National Bank blocked the deal. The following year, in 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation reported a criminal case related to these loans.
Returning to the personality of Sergiy Kondratenko, it remains completely unclear how he was allowed to enter the money transfer market in Ukraine. After all, despite the fact that he is the owner (possibly a fictitious one) of a number of companies around the world, the history of his emergence in the world of electronic money and related gaming business is extremely suspicious. The fact is that Royal Pay Europe, founded in 2016, belongs to… a former Bryansk cyber-police officer Sergei Kondratenko. He, in turn, is closely associated with the Russian bookmaker 1xBet, which also has Bryansk roots and also started in the illegal segment — it appeared when gambling was banned in Russia.
1xBet was created by Russian businessman Alexander Mironov, who wanted to turn his bank Mir into a betting center for the whole of Russia. In 2014, Mironov sold his Bookmaker Pub, which was the basis for the 1xStavka bookmaker, which is commonly called a «legal clone» of 1xBet. 1xBet itself was outlawed in Russia. The buyer of the Bookmaker Pub was Roman Semiohin from Bryansk, whose first business was Fonbet-Bryansk LLC, which accepted bets for the Fonbet betting network. In 2014, Russia changed the rules for online bookmakers and 1xBet was outlawed, as it remained an illegal online casino.
In this regard, the role of the chief cyber-police officer of Bryansk, Sergei Karshkov, who is considered by the Russian Investigative Committee to be one of the founders of 1xBet casino, is interesting. Apparently, it all started with a banal roof, and then Karshkov realized the potential of the product organized by Roman Simeokhin and decided to join the business fully.
It is difficult to establish how Sergei Kondratenko, who also served in the cyber police of Bryansk at the time, is involved in all this — the ownership structure of 1xBet is extremely complicated. It is unknown whether he has a stake in 1xBet. It can be assumed that it is unlikely — most likely, he was given control over payments that went through the bookmaker and related platforms. However, it is certain that Sergey Karshkov involved his colleague in the K department of the Bryansk police, Sergey Kondratenko, in the operation of his online casino. The latter began registering payment systems around the world, these systems were initially aimed at servicing 1xBet, but as the latter grew, they grew themselves, eventually transforming into a self-sufficient structure that began to develop the markets of Europe and America. In 2020, Sergiy Kondratenko’s group of companies, united under the Royal Pay brand, entered Ukraine. Moreover, it was done with pomp and a high-profile advertising campaign; Kondratenko did not hide his intentions to take over not only the Ukrainian gambling market but the entire online payment market.
As it turned out later, as part of the criminal investigation into Royal Pay Europe’s activities in Ukraine, he was looking at a number of banks, including the state-owned Ukrgasbank, through which Royal Pay Europe made payments. In addition, law enforcement officials announced their intention to check the role of Natalia Degtyareva, Director of the National Bank’s Banking Supervision Department, in «promoting the development of the Russian financial sector in Ukraine and its protection of certain Russian companies.» This is quite understandable — someone in the National Bank was clearly helping the former Bryansk policeman to master the Ukrainian financial market at a breakneck pace. Who helped this same Bryansk policeman to master the financial markets of the world so quickly and efficiently and to register companies in all latitudes of geography is an open question. But there are serious doubts that the provincial detective did it on his own.
Why a person with such a biography, a Russian passport, and openly associated with the extremely scandalous Russian bookmaker 1xBet, was allowed not only to enter the Ukrainian gaming and financial market without hindrance but was also clearly facilitated is a rhetorical question. The SBU was dealing with somewhat different issues at the time. But why, almost a year after the full-scale invasion, Sergei Kondrashov’s Royal Pay group continued to be active in Ukraine, hiding behind the rhetoric of condemning Russia’s aggression, is a question for other SBU leaders and in other circumstances. In addition, in 2019, both 1xBet and Royal Pay were the subject of an investigation by the British influential Sunday Times newspaper, which not only drew attention to the Russian origin of the owners of these structures, but also to the strange ties of these people with Russian criminals and authorities, who obviously turned a blind eye to many violations in Russia.
However, despite this, in 2020, Sergei Kondratenko’s Royal Pay did enter Ukraine. Where, as it turned out later, it became involved in a number of scandals with Russian casinos, Ukrainian banks, and real estate scams. She was eventually sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council. However, apparently, Sergey Kondratenko was not fazed by all this — he stated that he would appeal both the NSDC’s decision and the court decisions to block his assets in Ukraine. It is possible that he will succeed.