The law enforcement officers informed a well-known Kyiv blogger of suspicion — he is suspected of tax evasion for 213 million hryvnias. His property was seized.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Bureau of Economic Security (BES).
According to the investigation, in the period from January 2020 to August 2023, the suspect acquired unjustified income. Itʼs about virtual assets in cryptocurrency, which at the official rate of the National Bank are worth more than a billion hryvnias.
The prosecutorʼs office writes that the blogger received funds thanks to an unregistered company that provides services for the so-called arbitration of Internet traffic. The suspect transferred funds to cryptocurrency using payment systems and electronic wallets registered to him and his proxies. Later, this money was withdrawn and received in cash in various cities.
All acquired assets of the suspect were not indicated in his declarations of property status and income for the years 2020-2023, and taxes were not paid on them. The investigation claims that he evaded paying taxes for a total of 213 million hryvnias. He legalized part of these funds — he bought luxury real estate and premium class cars.
The suspect tried to hide the purchased property — he registered the ownership rights for relatives and friends. He was informed of the suspicion of deliberate tax evasion in particularly large amounts and the legalization of property obtained through crime. The investigation is ongoing, looking for other possible participants in the scheme.
The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office has not disclosed the suspectʼs name, but the published photos indicate that he is probably blogger Oleksandr Slobozhenko, the owner of the “Traffic Devils” firm, which has been engaged in traffic arbitration in the gambling and betting fields since 2019. Hromadske and Forbes also write about the fact that Slobozhenko is the suspect, citing sources.
In June 2020, the National Police already filed a case against Slobozhenko for tax evasion, which he called fabricated. It stopped at the stage of pre-trial investigation.