International financial companies and payment systems, as well as law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, have revealed the fact that the Bill_line fintech company from Ukraine works with various online casinos and cryptocurrency exchanges, helping them receive payments and cash out illegal funds, thus violating Ukrainian and international laws.
The Bill_line Company received a fine and a warning from one of the international payment systems for working with shady online casinos and crypto exchanges that do not have a license. International payment systems have repeatedly noticed that Bill_line does not adhere to their AML policy. There is a high chance that Visa and Mastercard leading payment systems will cease cooperation with Bill_line in the nearest future. In addition, its real owner and founder Artem Lyashanov will be in prison for a long time.
The Bill_line payment system was founded in 2019 by Artem Lyashanov (Artsiom Liashanau) from Belarus. It was registered in Ukraine as Bill Line LLC later.
In 2021, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies opened criminal case no. 42021100000000283 against this company and its management, seizing its bank accounts and property. The company was suspected of laundering money obtained by criminal means and non-payment of taxes.
After that, the company changed its name to Tech-Soft Atlas LLC and also changed its management. Changing the name of the legal entity was caused as a result of numerous violations of international and Ukrainian financial legislation and an attempt to whitewash the reputation of the company.
At the end of July 2022, the owner of the Belarusian company, Artem Lyashanov (Artsiom Liashanau), fictitiously appointed Andrei Morgun as the head of the company to avoid sanctions and the attention of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, as well as the Ukrainian National Bank.
In an interview with the Ukrainian media, Artem Lyashanov stated that the main clients of the company are cryptocurrency projects and crypto exchanges. The website of the company also states that the clients of company can accept payments in cryptocurrencies and withdraw their earnings in USD or national currencies. It turns out that companies and individuals are able to avoid taxation and launder shady money through illegal crypto exchanges.
The WhiteBit cryptocurrency exchange is listed among Bill_line’s clients.
Ukrainian media recently informed that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine according to the decision of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, should conduct a pre-trial verification of the facts of financial fraud and the financing of the WhiteBit cryptocurrency exchange by a group of influential pro-Russian businessmen.
According to the public activists, a group of influential pro-Russian politicians and businessmen, including former deputies, founded the WhiteBit cryptocurrency exchange in order to create a financial pyramid, seize investors’ funds, tax evasion, as well as legalize and withdraw funds obtained by criminal means.
The daily turnover of the WhiteBit exchange reached $500 million. In addition, all transactions with cryptocurrencies were carried out without accounting and taxation, thus violating Ukrainian legislation.
In 2018, the WhiteBit crypto exchange, operated without creating a legal entity, through an individual entrepreneur for the purpose of tax evasion. In other words, they created an illegal cryptocurrency exchange office. In addition, the owners of the cryptocurrency exchange bought tokens without a special license.
Artem Lyashanov has been providing significant assistance in this criminal scheme since 2019 by using his Bill_line company.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and the National Bank of Ukraine are conducting an audit of Tech-soft Atlas LLC (TM of Bill_line) for laundering shady money and violations of Ukrainian financial legislation.
It is widely known that the main customers of the company are crypto exchanges, online casinos, as well as bookmakers in Ukraine, Russia, and other countries that do not have licenses.
In 2020-2021, Bill_line was actively advertised as a provider of popular payment methods for crypto exchanges in the CIS countries. All payments were accepted in rubles. However, the company did not have and does not have a corresponding license issued by the Bank of Russia to work in the territory of the Russian Federation, including working with rubles.
This is an example of advertising for crypto exchanges by Bill_line published in one of the Telegram channels on December 10, 2020.
It is also clear that Tech-Soft Atlas LLC and Artyom Lyashanov’s brother Daniel (born in 2001) were the owners of Finprogres Financial Company LLC. This company was also used to conduct shady financial transactions. As soon as payment systems refused to work with it, its activities attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies, and a criminal case was opened, the company was liquidated in 2022. Artem Savchuk, the former director of Finprogres LLC, is also associated with dozens of fictitious financial companies (FC Marketmaker LLC, Syncap LLC, FC Payfast LLC, FC Fastpay LLC, and others).
Criminal cases have been initiated against legal entities and individuals associated with these companies in Ukraine, and their activities are being investigated by law enforcement agencies. Ukrainian and foreign companies, as well as international payment systems, should understand that by cooperating with Bill_line they attract the attention of law enforcement agencies.
We would like to remind the audience that Alexander Vinnik, the founder of the Russian BTC-e exchange, is serving a sentence on similar charges in the USA. It was one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world with a daily turnover of $66 million that did not comply with anti-money laundering legislation. The court recognized the turnover of around $ 9 billion illegal and sentenced Vinnik to 55 years in prison.