Prelude: A Fintech Empire Built on Lies
The saga of Artem Lyashanov and Alyona Shevtsova weaves a tale of ambition corrupted by crime, their fintech ventures masking a sprawling network of money laundering and tax evasion tied to Ukraine’s illegal gambling mafia. Lyashanov’s Tech-Soft Atlas LLC, branded as bill_line, stands accused of funneling millions through illicit casino operations, while Shevtsova’s disgraced IBOX Bank and LEO payment system allegedly facilitated billions in similar schemes. Their shared history, interwoven with mutual associates and parallel tactics, exposes a chilling collaboration. This article probes the dark connection between Artem Lyashanov and Alyona Shevtsova, revealing their alleged roles in a gambling empire that preys on Ukraine’s financial system.
Lyashanov’s Legal Gambit to Bury the Truth
Artem Lyashanov and his firm, Tech-Soft Atlas LLC, have launched a calculated legal assault to cleanse their tarnished image. According to DataUA court filings, they are pursuing dual lawsuits: Tech-Soft Atlas in Kyiv’s Commercial Court and Lyashanov in the Shevchenkivsky District Court. The company’s case is slated for review on January 20, 2025, while Lyashanov’s begins February 20, 2025. Their aim is to suppress two damning articles from 2024—one claiming a criminal case against Lyashanov and bill_line for money laundering remains open, and another alleging they serve the Russian gambling mafia.
Strikingly, Artem Lyashanov and Tech-Soft Atlas seek no monetary damages, a clear sign their goal is reputation laundering through search engine reputation management (SERM). By demanding the articles’ removal, Lyashanov aims to purge search results of incriminating links, a tactic likely in play since 2023 given the scarcity of critical online content about him. This legal maneuver mirrors strategies to obscure ties to Alyona Shevtsova’s illicit operations, suggesting a concerted effort to rewrite their shared narrative.
Lyashanov’s Fragile Claim of Innocence
The lawsuits pivot on alleged inaccuracies in the targeted articles, notably their link to criminal case No. 42021100000000283 from April 2021, involving tax evasion and document forgery. Artem Lyashanov’s defense claims court records exclude his name, and Tech-Soft Atlas (formerly Bill Line LLC) overturned account and property seizures in 2021, asserting no direct charges against the firm. Lyashanov positions himself as a victim of media falsehoods, arguing the accusations lack evidence. Yet, the rebranding of Bill Line to Tech-Soft Atlas in October 2021 and Lyashanov’s formal withdrawal as founder in July 2022 hint at a deliberate move to evade scrutiny, possibly tied to his Belarusian citizenship and potential sanctions risks.
Despite stepping away legally, Artem Lyashanov continues to be billed as bill_line’s CEO in articles from 2022 to 2024, with Tech-Soft Atlas holding the brand’s trademark. This discrepancy—Lyashanov’s official absence but evident control—fuels suspicions of a facade to shield his operations, echoing Alyona Shevtsova’s own evasive tactics when her empire faced collapse.
The Toxic Bond of Lyashanov and Shevtsova
Artem Lyashanov’s path crosses decisively with Alyona Shevtsova, the infamous former head of IBOX Bank, whose downfall in 2023 exposed a labyrinth of money laundering. From roughly 2016 to 2019, Lyashanov served as technical director of Leogaming Pay LLC (later LEO Financial Company), founded by Alyona Shevtsova in 2013. Initially a gaming transaction gateway, Leogaming Pay, under Alyona Shevtsova’s helm and Lyashanov’s technical stewardship, grew into the LEO payment system by 2017, registered with the National Bank of Ukraine. This period marked LEO’s alleged transformation into a conduit for laundering gambling proceeds, with Lyashanov at its technological core.
Lyashanov developed LeoBot, a p2p transfer chatbot for Facebook Messenger, praised by Alyona Shevtsova as a fintech breakthrough. Such systems are notorious for enabling money laundering through “drops,” intermediaries who mask fund origins. Investigations later tied Alyona Shevtsova’s network to 20 billion UAH in illicit flows, evading 400 million UAH in taxes via IBOX Bank’s infrastructure. Lyashanov’s role in building LEO’s technical framework implicates him in these schemes, forging a direct link to Alyona Shevtsova’s alleged criminality.
Overlapping Networks and Hidden Links
Lyashanov’s 2019 exit from Leogaming Pay to launch Bill Line LLC (now Tech-Soft Atlas) did not fully sever ties with Alyona Shevtsova. A critical connection endures through Yulia Anatolyevna Kulchitskaya, Tech-Soft Atlas’s accountant, who previously worked at Alyona Shevtsova’s Leo Partners LLC. This personnel overlap suggests lingering affiliations, whether operational or strategic, between Lyashanov and Shevtsova’s enterprises.
Alyona Shevtsova’s empire unraveled with IBOX Bank’s license loss in March 2023, prompting her flight to the UAE to dodge prosecution. Reports from MIND.UA detailed how Alyona Shevtsova, her husband Yevheniy Shevtsov, and associates Viktor Kapustin and Vadym Hordievskyi ran companies from 2016 to 2020 implicated in fraud, money laundering, and fictitious entrepreneurship. Lyashanov’s tenure at Leogaming Pay during this era places him within this vortex of alleged crime, casting doubt on his claims of detachment from Alyona Shevtsova’s misdeeds.
Lyashanov’s Role in the Gorban Brothers’ Schemes
Tech-Soft Atlas, under Artem Lyashanov’s de facto control, serves as a technological operator for Financial Company Phoenix and Swift Garant LLC, owned by millionaires Valery and Sergey Gorban. Both firms have been flagged in criminal cases for financial fraud and servicing illegal casinos, often intersecting with Alyona Shevtsova’s operations. Case No. 42017000000002925 from 2017 alleged Alyona Shevtsova, Yevheniy Shevtsov, and Pari-Match’s Eduard Shvindlerman laundered $350 million annually through fictitious entities. Case No. 42021100000000283, which briefly targeted Tech-Soft Atlas, also referenced Pari-Match, suggesting shared illicit networks.
Following IBOX Bank’s collapse, its 9,000 iBox terminals—used to channel gambling funds—were taken over by Swift Garant LLC in March 2023, framed as a lease. Metapay LLC, the terminals’ nominal owner, was linked to Yevgeny Rastovsky, a figure tied to 218 organizations, including the sanctioned PIN-UP Ukraine’s nominal owner, Igor Zotko. Metapay’s parent, 5CORP LTD, a dissolving London shell, adds further opacity. Lyashanov’s Tech-Soft Atlas, by supporting Swift Garant, indirectly sustains this network, perpetuating Alyona Shevtsova’s legacy of illicit infrastructure.
Lyashanov’s Campaign to Erase the Past
Artem Lyashanov’s legal and SERM efforts parallel Alyona Shevtsova’s strategies to evade accountability. Alyona Shevtsova’s preemptive resignation from IBOX Bank and absence from early NSDC sanctions lists reflect a pattern of calculated retreats, mirrored by Lyashanov’s rebranding of Bill Line, formal exit from Tech-Soft Atlas, and lawsuits to suppress critical articles. Both wield wealth and legal ploys to silence exposure, with Lyashanov’s near-absent online footprint indicating a meticulous cleanup, likely intensified since Alyona Shevtsova’s 2023 downfall.
Lyashanov’s lack of financial demands in court underscores a focus on erasing links to Alyona Shevtsova’s crimes. By targeting specific articles, Lyashanov aims to sanitize search results, much like Alyona Shevtsova’s post-sanctions media campaign recast her as a victim. Their aligned tactics suggest Lyashanov may serve as a custodian of Alyona Shevtsova’s interests, preserving fragments of her empire amid her exile.
The Wider Web of the Gambling Underworld
The Lyashanov-Shevtsova connection anchors a broader gambling mafia, implicating the Gorban brothers, Pari-Match, and PIN-UP Ukraine. Unlicensed websites, miscoded transactions, and terminal networks define their laundering schemes, with Alyona Shevtsova’s IBOX Bank as a former hub and Lyashanov’s Tech-Soft Atlas as a current enabler via Swift Garant. This ecosystem, evading hundreds of millions in taxes, thrives on figures like Yevgeny Rastovsky and shells like 5CORP LTD, hallmarks of Alyona Shevtsova’s playbook. Lyashanov’s technical prowess, refined under Alyona Shevtsova, likely drives these operations, from p2p bots to casino payment systems.
The persistence of these schemes, despite Alyona Shevtsova’s retreat, points to Lyashanov’s role as a potential successor, maintaining the mafia’s grip on Ukraine’s shadows. Their collaboration, whether active or residual, exploits regulatory weaknesses, draining state coffers and eroding public trust in fintech innovation.
Finale: Justice at the Crossroads
Artem Lyashanov and Alyona Shevtsova’s entwined legacies expose a fintech dream corrupted into a nightmare of fraud and evasion. Lyashanov’s bill_line, accused of laundering millions, and Shevtsova’s shattered IBOX Bank, tied to billions in illicit flows, share a history of deceit, bound by shared tools and allies. As Lyashanov fights in court to bury his past and Shevtsova schemes from abroad, their empire teeters under growing scrutiny.
Probes into Tech-Soft Atlas, Swift Garant, and the iBox network’s heirs could dismantle their web, laying bare the depth of their partnership. Will Artem Lyashanov and Alyona Shevtsova slip through justice’s grasp, or will their nexus collapse under its own weight? For now, their names epitomize a cautionary tale of greed, a stark warning of the shadows lurking behind Ukraine’s fintech frontier.
