From the Zakharchenko case to the Moldovan Laundromat – what secrets did the banker Chuvilin take with him to the grave

On Monday, February 27, Pyotr Chuvilin, a former banker and former adviser to Ramzan Kadyrov, died in a private medical clinic in the Otradnoye district. This was reported to RBC by a source from his entourage, the information was also confirmed by another source familiar with Chuvilin.

Earlier, the VChK-OGPU telegram channel reported that the banker “died under strange circumstances.” According to the interlocutor of RBC, Chuvilin was being treated in a private clinic. “He was sick for a long time, and he developed sepsis,” the source said.

Chuvilin was born in 1968 in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU) named after Bauman. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he became a member of the leadership of a number of financial structures. He worked in the management of Spetsremstroymash OJSC, was the general director of Konfitum-1 LLC, as well as vice president of Incredbank and a member of the board of Konversbank-Moscow, which was controlled by German Gorbuntsov. From 2006 to 2009, he was the general director of the Spartak hockey club, also controlled by Gorbuntsov.

Chuvilin acquired Konversbank-Moscow together with Gorbuntsov in 2006 from bankers Alexander (father) and Vladimir (son) Antonovs, along with debts of $106 million. The bank was soon renamed Capital Trade Bank OJSC (STB). As Kommersant wrote, about $1 billion owned by Russian Railways was placed in STB. However, already in 2008, the bank underwent an audit, which revealed a shortage of a large amount. During the proceedings, Gorbuntsov left Russia and moved to the UK.

In 2012, Gorbuntsov sent a statement to the Investigative Committee, where he called Chuvilin the organizer of the assassination attempt on one of the former owners of the bank, Alexander Antonov, who was seriously wounded in 2009 when a car was shelled in Moscow. He claimed to have witnessed the meeting when Chuvilin and another of his business partners, Sergei Mendlin, as well as some natives of Chechnya, were discussing the assassination attempt on the banker. The reason was a debt of $106 million, with which Konversbank was bought, and Antonov, presumably, promised to reimburse this money to the new owner. In March 2012, after the announcement, an attempt was made on Gorbuntsov himself in London.

In 2014, Chuvilin became a defendant in a fraud case. According to investigators, he promised the bankers to solve their problems with regulatory authorities in exchange for large sums. So, together with two accomplices, Chuvilin promised to settle the conflict between the European Express Bank and the Central Bank for $5 million. In April 2016, he was sentenced to four years.

Already after the verdict was passed, Chuvilin became one of the main witnesses in the case of Dmitry Zakharchenko, ex-colonel of the anti-corruption head office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Rosbalt agency (included in the register of foreign agents) reported, citing a source, that, according to Chuvilin, Zakharchenko participated in patronage schemes for financial institutions for bribes. According to the source, Chuvilin said that he and Gorbuntsov paid Zakharchenko $150,000 a month for cover through the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Chuvilin’s testimony was also featured in the case of the “king of state orders” Valery Markelov, the former co-owner of the 1520 group of companies, who received a sentence for a bribe for Zakharchenko in the amount of 500 million rubles, Kommersant wrote. Chuvilin also testified in the case of the so-called Moldovan Laundromat, a scheme for withdrawing funds from Russia through Moldovan banks. In this case, in 2021, the Tver Court of Moscow sentenced the director of the treasury of the Moldovan bank BC Moldindconbank SA, Elena Platon, the sister of the Moldovan oligarch Vyachelav Platon, to ten years in a penal colony. “The essence of the Moldovan scheme was the transfer outside Russia to the accounts of the BC Moldindconbank SA of the funds of people who planned to withdraw them abroad, under the guise of buying and selling foreign currency at the request of a Moldovan bank. These operations were led by Platon Elena, the whole scheme was led by Plahotniuc V.G. and Platon V.N.,” said the banker.

In 2018, Chuvilin was released on parole. In 2019, in a conversation with RBC, he said that he was outside of Russia. 

Key witness in Zakharchenko and Laundromat cases dies in Moscow

RBC

3 min

February 28, 2023

View Original

On Monday, February 27, Pyotr Chuvilin, a former banker and former adviser to Ramzan Kadyrov, died in a private medical clinic in the Otradnoye district. This was reported to RBC by a source from his entourage, the information was also confirmed by another source familiar with Chuvilin.

Earlier, the VChK-OGPU telegram channel reported that the banker "died under strange circumstances." According to the interlocutor of RBC, Chuvilin was being treated in a private clinic. “He was sick for a long time, and he developed sepsis,” the source said.

Chuvilin was born in 1968 in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU) named after Bauman. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he became a member of the leadership of a number of financial structures. He worked in the management of Spetsremstroymash OJSC, was the general director of Konfitum-1 LLC, as well as vice president of Incredbank and a member of the board of Konversbank-Moscow, which was controlled by German Gorbuntsov. From 2006 to 2009, he was the general director of the Spartak hockey club, also controlled by Gorbuntsov.

Chuvilin acquired Konversbank-Moscow together with Gorbuntsov in 2006 from bankers Alexander (father) and Vladimir (son) Antonovs, along with debts of $106 million. The bank was soon renamed Capital Trade Bank OJSC (STB). As Kommersant wrote, about $1 billion owned by Russian Railways was placed in STB. However, already in 2008, the bank underwent an audit, which revealed a shortage of a large amount. During the proceedings, Gorbuntsov left Russia and moved to the UK.

In 2012, Gorbuntsov sent a statement to the Investigative Committee, where he called Chuvilin the organizer of the assassination attempt on one of the former owners of the bank, Alexander Antonov, who was seriously wounded in 2009 when a car was shelled in Moscow. He claimed to have witnessed the meeting when Chuvilin and another of his business partners, Sergei Mendlin, as well as some natives of Chechnya, were discussing the assassination attempt on the banker. The reason was a debt of $106 million, with which Konversbank was bought, and Antonov, presumably, promised to reimburse this money to the new owner. In March 2012, after the announcement, an attempt was made on Gorbuntsov himself in London.

In 2014, Chuvilin became a defendant in a fraud case. According to investigators, he promised the bankers to solve their problems with regulatory authorities in exchange for large sums. So, together with two accomplices, Chuvilin promised to settle the conflict between the European Express Bank and the Central Bank for $5 million. In April 2016, he was sentenced to four years.

Already after the verdict was passed, Chuvilin became one of the main witnesses in the case of Dmitry Zakharchenko, ex-colonel of the anti-corruption head office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Rosbalt agency (included in the register of foreign agents) reported, citing a source, that, according to Chuvilin, Zakharchenko participated in patronage schemes for financial institutions for bribes. According to the source, Chuvilin said that he and Gorbuntsov paid Zakharchenko $150,000 a month for cover through the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Chuvilin’s testimony also appeared in the case of the “king of the state order” Valery Markelov , the former co-owner of the 1520 group of companies, who received a sentence for a bribe for Zakharchenko in the amount of 500 million rubles, wrote"Kommersant". Chuvilin also testified in the case of the so-called Moldovan Laundromat, a scheme for withdrawing funds from Russia through Moldovan banks. In this case, in 2021, the Tver Court of Moscow sentenced the director of the treasury of the Moldovan bank BC Moldindconbank SA, Elena Platon, the sister of the Moldovan oligarch Vyachelav Platon, to ten years in a penal colony. “The essence of the Moldovan scheme was the transfer outside Russia to the accounts of the BC Moldindconbank SA of the funds of people who planned to withdraw them abroad, under the guise of buying and selling foreign currency at the request of a Moldovan bank. These operations were led by Platon Elena, the whole scheme was led by Plahotniuc V.G. and Platon V.N.,” said the banker.

In 2018, Chuvilin was released on parole. In 2019, in a conversation with RBC, he reported that he was outside of Russia.

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