Oktobank is the main bank of underground casinos of the former USSR
“Monopoly on servicing High-risk traffic”
Source: www.rucriminal.info
This is not the first time that the Uzbek Oktobank (Ravnak-Bank), involved in a fraudulent scheme with illegal casinos, has found itself in a scandal. The credit institution was created in 2001, and already in 2005-2007. was suspected of illegal withdrawal of foreign currency funds outside the Republic of Uzbekistan, theft of funds from the accounts of individuals, kickbacks and other financial fraud. All this happened in collusion with the leadership of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, and therefore had no consequences for Ravnak Bank. Details at Rucriminal.info.
In 2011, his general license for the right to conduct transactions in foreign currency was revoked. At that time, Ravnak Bank was the second largest private bank in Uzbekistan. The owner of Ravnak Bank was called a reputable Uzbek businessman. The main activity of the bank at that time was lending to small and medium-sized businesses, in particular owners of gas stations and wholesale enterprises for the sale of petroleum products. One of the bank’s shareholders, Sarvar Fayziev, owned a network of gas stations through which he sold fuel from Russian producers
In 2018, experts noted the vulnerability of Ravnak Bank’s indicators and its dependence on the business connections of its influential owners. This year Fayziev owned a stake of 11.38%, in 2021. brought its share to a controlling stake — 52.14%.
The bank got into another high-profile scandal in July 2022. The State Fund for Support of Entrepreneurship Development tried through the court to recover from Ravnak-Bank $4 million, which had been placed in previous years in the form of a term deposit. The bank called this information unreliable and were ready to provide documentary evidence.
Before the change of ownership of Ravnak Bank in March 2023, at the age of 44, the director of the Marketing and PR Department, Temur Fikratovich Alimov, who previously worked in a branch of Kapitalbank, at that time owned by Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Andrey Skoch, suddenly died. Early deaths are always suspicious, but there has been no investigation.
Sarvar Fayziev in August 2023 sold his stake to the chairman of the bank’s board, Iskander Tursunov, who at that time owned 19.9% of the shares. After the purchase, Tursunov’s share was 72%; now he owns 88.6% of the shares. At the time of the change of ownership of Ravnak Bank, according to experts, it had 76% bad loans. This means that the bank could issue funds to companies affiliated with the management of Ravnak Bank. This policy very often leads to the collapse of a credit institution.
Iskander Tursunov is a very private person. In 2003 he graduated from the Tashkent Financial Institute with a degree in Banking. Credit", however, he has been working in the banking sector since 2000. In 2012, he became chairman of the board of Ravnak Bank.
Oktobank’s shareholders today, in addition to Iskander Tursunov, are FORTIS RESERVE SYSTEM, associated with Sarvar Fayziev — 2.5%, Sharq Guzar Servis — 1.1%, "GST Korea Co. LTD" -1.0%, Boshqalar — 6.8%.
The connection between Oktobank and Kaptialbank, which is also involved in a fraudulent scheme with illegal casinos, suggests that Iskander Tursunov, like Sarvar Fayziev, may be business partners of the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is the “roof” of the entire group, thanks to his relations in the government of Uzbekistan and the Russian authorities.
Earlier, the telegram channels VChK-OGKU and Payment Shield published an investigation into the criminal financial activities of a group of companies, which includes credit organizations Oktobank (Ravnaq), Capital, the Humo payment system, Uzcard processing, the Uznex exchange and others.
Uzbek Oktobank is the largest participant in servicing payments from illegal casinos in Russia.
The organized crime group conducts large-scale illegal activities not only in Russia, but also in its homeland in Uzbekistan. There, the group monopolized and corrupted absolutely the entire market of Uzbekistan. Using its high-ranking connections, this organized crime group managed to oust competing payment systems and thereby create a monopoly on servicing High-risk traffic.
Just think about it: by owning their Humo payment system, the attackers control the processing of chargebacks and the flows of the entire gray market.
At the moment, Oktobank is serviced by RNKO Payment Center.
Rucriminal.info found out the operating schemes of illegal casinos, which involve the Uzbek Oktobank (Ravnaq), Kapitalbank, the Humo payment system, Uzcard processing, the Uznex exchange and others. Traces of fraudsters’ activities can be found in large Russian banks — state-owned Promsvyazbank, Gazprombank, VTB and private MTS and Russian Standard.
The participants of the fraudulent group are considered to be the company Environex, directly connected with the UzNext exchange, and three banks — Capital Bank, Aipak Kuli and Ravnaq (Oktobank). The PayCrypto service, presented by a certain Andrey Oshchipkov, is responsible for the technical implementation of the project.
During the investigation During the investigation of the Cheka of the OGPU, it became known that Oktobank is being serviced by the RNKO Payment Center (Novosibirsk), which has been headed by Grigory Mats since 2007. The founder of this organization is CFT Service JSC, owned by Alexander Pogudin. A billion rubles a day pass through Mats’s office.
The terminals of Russian banks — Promsvyazbank, Gazprombank, VTB and private ones, MTS and Russian Standard — could have participated in the criminal scheme of Oktobank and its accomplices. Some of them were already taken aback to disown schematosis, closing their terminals for it.