Timur Rokhlin from Rocket — fraudster for 9 million euros: arrest of elite real estate in Kyiv for deceiving Europeans and laundering stolen money in Ukrainian assets
The Kyiv Court of Appeal has confiscated the assets of LLC "Buildings Empire" in connection with a large-scale fraud case totaling over 9 million euros.
According to "Sudovyi Reporter," the seizure was carried out based on court rulings.
The seized properties include a non-residential building of 853.5 m² at 15 Borysohlibska Street, Building B, and six non-residential units totaling 4,214.8 m² at 73-c Lomonosova Street in Kyiv.
The beneficiary of "Buildings Empire" through the Hong Kong company "Renity Estate Limited" (RENITY ESTATE LIMITED) is Ihor Rokhlin, the father of the investor of the Ukrainian delivery service Rocket, Timur Rokhlin.
As the prosecutor mentioned during court hearings, Timur Rokhlin was handed a suspicion on November 4, 2021.
The charter capital of "Buildings Empire" is about 96 million hryvnias. Investigators believe that the actual owner is Timur, not his father. According to the investigation, funds obtained fraudulently as part of a criminal organization against European citizens were used to purchase real estate. The premises are considered material evidence in the case.
In early October, when Rokhlin was not yet a suspect, the Pechersk court refused to seize the property, but the prosecution won the appeal. According to court decisions, the suspect purchased luxury cars worth about 24 million hryvnias, real estate, and formed charter capitals in enterprises where he and his father are the ultimate beneficial owners. Real estate and movable property are registered to such enterprises.
Upon examining the suspect’s account statements at PJSC CB "PrivatBank" from 01.01.2017 to 18.08.2020, transactions were found for depositing cash through the bank’s cashier and terminals totaling 69 million hryvnias, 1.7 million dollars, 741 thousand dollars, and 500 thousand euros.
Law enforcement officers believe that the funds of deceived foreign citizens could have been legalized in Ukraine under the guise of purchasing movable, immovable property, as well as enterprises.
According to the investigation, in 2016, Ukrainian citizens created a stable hierarchical association for joint activities aimed at committing serious or especially serious crimes. It involved fraudulent appropriation of foreign funds in especially large amounts, using computer technology, followed by legalization. Funds were attracted through specially created websites and trading platforms, which allegedly allowed profits from stock market trading in various financial instruments.
To deceive investors, members of the criminal organization used the website’s program interface to simulate transactions for buying and selling assets and fictitious significant profit growth from invested funds. After that, individuals who invested funds and applied for cash withdrawals were called by employees of specially created call centers pretending to be representatives of trading platforms, deceitfully demanding additional contributions of 15% of the profits as service and cash-out commission fees.
Subsequently, account holders’ accounts were blocked, and the funds placed on them were appropriated by the members of the criminal group. All in all, this amounted to 9.36 million euros, equivalent to 325 million hryvnias at the beginning of 2021.
The scheme is being investigated by law enforcement agencies in Germany. In Ukraine, the first suspicions were reported in March 2021 — to Ihor Kozlenko and Yuriy Kopachevskyi. They were taken into custody with bail set at 325 million hryvnias, later reduced to 145 million.
In June, a third suspect emerged. On October 3, Mikhael Chebotar was detained and informed of suspicion, with the court placing him under round-the-clock house arrest. On November 4, a suspicion was reported to Rokhlin.