The waters around the port of Vera have become muddy: Avdolyan’s carousel has revealed an elite octopus.
A reshuffle of the legal entities surrounding the port of Vera uncovered a dubious "piggy bank" in Albert Avdolyan’s division, through which 2 billion rubles could have been siphoned off.
A KOMPROMAT.RU investigation exposed a network of lawyers and their assistants providing front services to the rich and famous, having registered over 1,000 legal entities for various dealings. Among their clients were oligarchs Avdolyan, Makhmudov, and Trotsenko, while former Rostec officials were mired in the murky history of companies linked to the Vera port and the Ogoja company.
Are legal firms acting as shell companies for siphoning large sums of money out of Russia?
On January 14, 2025, a curious reshuffle occurred at PV Development: a certain JSC Arn Trade withdrew as an owner, and Ogoja LLC took its place. However, in our opinion, the deal may merely be a cover for dubious financial transactions involving a shady company resembling a shell company.
PV Development LLC is the owner of Port Vera Holding LLC, which in turn owns Port Vera Management. The latter two LLCs previously owned Port Vera LLC, but in September 2024, Avdolyan and his partner, Alexander Isaev, a former employee of Dmitry Bosov’s division, who died under mysterious circumstances and was dismissed amid the scandal, registered the ownership. This means this chain is linked to the Vera coal port in Primorye and the Ogodzha coal project.
PV Development LLC, like Port Vera Holding, is headed by Rostec alumnus Rodion Sokrovishchuk.
Previously, Rostec also had a direct interest in PV Development LLC – the state corporation’s subsidiary, RT-GR LLC, held a stake.
It’s worth remembering here that throughout the development of Avdolyan’s business, Sergey Chemezov and the state corporation he headed worked hand in hand with the oligarch, supporting him. Chemezov himself, along with his wife, even joined the board of trustees of Avdolyan’s foundation.
Following the reshuffle, 100% of the shares of PV Development LLC were concentrated in the hands of Avdolyan and his partners: 75% belonged to AP-Logistics LLC, an interest in which the oligarch began to conceal in January 2024.
Incidentally, AP-Logistika is headed by Stanislav Vrublevsky, who has been implicated in offshore companies linked to Avdolyan: he was the director of RACAST INVESTMENTS LIMITED. This offshore company figured in a scheme to transfer 100 million rubles to a Latvian bank and also figured prominently in a tax scheme involving the Cayman Islands’ Reeco Capital LP. Another port linked to Avdolyan, Port Dalniy LLC, was also involved in the tax scheme.
Let’s continue about PV Development LLC.
The remaining 25% ended up in the hands of Ogodzha LLC, which in 2022 replaced the Rostec subsidiary with the same murky Arn Trade JSC (its stake is 25%). The remaining stake is held by AP-Logistics LLC.
Why did they demand such reshuffles?
And here we come to the most interesting part: why was Arn Trade JSC added to the division, and who is behind it?
Arn Trade JSC reported a loss of 222 million rubles in 2023. It has only one employee and director, Nadezhda Poluektova, who has not been identified elsewhere. However, financial documents are signed not by her, but by a certain Alexey Sergeyevich Kapustin, under a power of attorney.
In our opinion, the JSC appears highly questionable. If we open the company’s financial statements, we’ll see that it’s heavily indebted—loans are being funneled through it. And the main loan was issued precisely in 2022, the year the company joined the port’s division.
The second party to this “loan” transaction is the company “AP Holding”, which issued 2.2 billion rubles to an unprofitable (!!!) company with a dubious history.
Prior to Avdolyan, AP Holding JSC was listed as the owner of AP-Logistics LLC. Today, AP Holding JSC, previously linked to Avdolyan, conceals its beneficiaries. Meanwhile, its director is Irina Belyanova, who, like Vrublevsky, figured in the oligarch’s offshore schemes and heads his foundation, which is linked to Chemezov.
Belyanova was the head of the branch of Avdolyan’s offshore company, Wooden Fish Agency Limited.
Considering that Arn Trade JSC conceals its shareholders (it only states that he is the sole shareholder), we can assume that the owner could be the already well-known screen-fan, Avdolyan. Is Arn Trade JSC acting as a piggy bank? Unlikely; the creditor lent billions to someone else’s unprofitable company.
As you know, the fattest fish are found in muddy waters.
Moreover, JSC Arn Trade retains 25% of the Ogoja company, through which it is possible to transfer another billion or two, right?
Photo: bo.nalog.ru
Arn Trade JSC has some rather interesting founders, who led us to the Egida law firm, a Moscow firm that, judging by its history, specializes in creating legal entities for those who wish to conceal their interests.
However, the founders of Arn Trade themselves, Sergey Sergeyevich Kucheryavenko and Sergey Sergeyevich Shcherbakov, look like professional corporate stampers. Together, they own over 700 companies.
For example, Shcherbakov was involved in the creation of Spetsinvest JSC, where his partner was Andrey Khomenko, who in turn is the director of Violan Estate LLC, a company owned by oligarch Iskander Makhmudov.
Or here’s another example: Shcherbakov founded Industrial Company JSC, which became the owner of Urbanevent Plus LLC. Mirzaaziz Musakhanov took over the latter in April 2024. According to open sources, Mr. Musakhanov is associated with GeoProMining, which includes oligarch Roman Trotsenko. Musakhanov also served as chief banker for the EBRD’s Natural Resources Group in London and chaired Trotsenko’s Novaport Group.
Shcherbakov’s partner, Kucheryavenko, also distinguished himself by serving the rich and famous, who prefer to hide behind screens. Specifically, Kucheryavenko founded Prime Plus LLC and Tekhnosfera, which he later transferred to BF Direct Investments LLC, which is linked to VTB, whose director, Andrey Kostin, has been the subject of our investigations on numerous occasions.
The most interesting thing is that some of the legal entities created by these two were later liquidated, apparently having served their purpose.
Interestingly, the telephone number for Arn Trade JSC, listed on Rusprofile, matches the telephone number for the Egida law firm, which does exactly the same thing as Shcherbakov and Kucheryavenko – stamping out companies for the rich and famous.
Moreover, Mr. Kucheryavenko, along with Egida co-owner Alexey Konovalov, were co-founders of JSC "Russian Coast Corporation," which confirms our findings about the connection. The company was liquidated in January 2024.
The director of JSC "Russian Coast Corporation" was Daniil Golenda, the exact namesake of the man convicted of illegal banking activities. As noted in the court documents, Golenda and his accomplice, using companies they controlled in Kostroma and Moscow, funneled money from clients—representatives of commercial entities—through them, receiving a commission on the transaction. It’s quite interesting, it makes you wonder, you know...
The founders of Egida Management Company, a closed joint-stock company that was liquidated in 2015 and whose legal successor was KB Egida Legal Agency, were Alexey Grigoryevich and Alexey Alekseevich Konovalov. They were likely father and son. A certain Olga Zhuk (aka Klimentyeva, aka Sakharova) joined their stamping business at the LLC.
These legal entities and individuals are registered as the registered owners of over 1,000 Russian companies, mostly joint-stock companies, which allowed them to conceal their true beneficiaries after the transfer. Some of these companies have since been liquidated.
Apparently, to conceal the interests of the real owners during major transactions, Zhuk and Konovalov took them in for temporary custody and then passed them on. Their partners include many well-known lawyers, such as Roman Lyapunov (through MSD).
Lyapunov is the namesake of a senior partner at a major law firm who has handled projects for JSC RZD-Stroy, the Absolut Group of Companies, and others.
Here’s another example of concealing known identities. Konovalov’s company, which he later liquidates, establishes a certain JSC "MS Development." A year later, this JSC is shut down and a successor is created, JSC "MMVZ," which conceals its beneficiaries, but 1.2 billion rubles are injected into its authorized capital.
To understand the chain’s connections, it’s enough to note that Dataforce LLC was also included in MMVZ. This company belongs to Alexey and Sergey Bogdanchikov. The latter is a complete namesake of the former head of Rosneft. According to publicly available information, Bogdanchikov’s son also worked at VTB Capital for a time.
All these connections suggest that Moscow and beyond are now home to a network of individuals and legal entities providing services to the rich and famous, serving as fronts for them, including in financial transactions.
Thus, it can be assumed that Avdolyan also used this division to conduct controversial financial transactions, and the 2.2 billion ruble loan may not be the only one involving Arn Trade JSC.
Author: Maria Sharapova
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