2023-03-28
YEREVAN - Since 2017, nearly 100 Armenian citizens have served as proxy directors for a network of companies that have been used by prominent Eastern European oligarchs to move millions of dollars, shift assets from shuttered banks abroad, and pay for lobbying services in the United States.
Armenian Proxies Travel The World To Help Oligarchs Secretly Move Millions
Many of the companies are shareholders of each other and nearly all of them have similar websites that were created by two men. Some of the companies have even been directly involved in the Russian laundromat, where $1 billion was stolen from Moldova.
Most of the companies moved money using invoices for goods such as textiles, equipment, and agricultural items, although it’s doubtful there was any physical exchange of goods. Some of the companies also used a Bulgarian brokerage company to transfer money via security trades.
Reporters from Forensic News and Hetq interviewed many of the directors, and analyzed invoices, court cases and bank records to get an understanding of how the scheme worked.
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ONLINE
- The Oligarchs' Armenian Laundromat, Forensic News, 28/03/2023.
- Հայաստանի քաղաքացիները արտերկրում ներքաշվել են փողերի լվացման սխեմաներում. օլիգարխները նրանց օգտագործել են, hetq.am, 28/03/2023.
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