OFFSHORE SHELL COMPANIES [PART 1] | Discovering the People And Companies Involved In The Murky World Of Russian Money And Offshore Banking
Mother Jones published an article the other day about how a former Trump campaign aide, Nick Muzin, was paid $675,000 in lobbying fees, $150,000 of which was from a mysterious unknown Russian backed offshore shell company Called Biniatta Trade L.P.. This was revealed in amended FARA documents submitted by Muzin in March 2017 (see FARA document below).
Source
To be fair to Mother Jones even though at every twist and turn in the story they try to point the evidence back to Russian collusion they did do a thorough job researching the article, even contacting and visiting people and places they uncovered during their investigation.
There's no denying the fact that Nick Muzin was paid for lobbying work by an anonymous offshore company, and this post isn't an attempt to debunk that fact. What I'll be doing here is taking a closer look at how the offshore shell companies involved in this story operate, and who's behind them. To understand the rest of this post it's worth reading the Mother Jones article below.
How a Russian-Linked Shell Company Hired An Ex-Trump Aide to Boost Albania’s Right-Wing Party in DC | Mother Jones - 03/06/2018
A former Trump campaign aide working as a lobbyist, a half-million-dollar payment, a conservative Albanian political party, four Republican congressmen, Breitbart News, a kosher restaurateur in New York City, an online dating service that promotes “beautiful” Ukrainian women, and Russian-linked shell companies—these are some of the elements in a bizarre tale of influence-peddling that spurs the suspicion that Russians covertly used Republicans in Washington in an effort to foment political conflict in the Balkans.
Above is a handy graphic from the Mother Jones article. Below is a recap of the story with the relevant source material.
Nick Muzin was paid $150,000 by Biniatta Trade, an anonymous shell company registered in Scotland, for lobbying work he did for the Albanian government.
Biniatta Trade is controlled by 2 companies, Liminez Commerce Inc and Asverro Corp. Both companies are registered to an address in Belize.
Liminez Commerce Inc and Asverro Corp also control 2 other companies, KF Global Management and Babyonica LLP. Both of these companies are registered in London.
Significant control of KF Global Management LLP is held by a Russian named Konstantin Ferulev. Significant control of Babyonica LLP is help by another Russian named Mr Evgeny Sheremetyev.
"is world top class"
There are a few parts to this story that interest me and a few leads that have yet to be looked into further. Although the article does a good job at investigating many of the leads, they fail to look beyond the Russian collusion narrative.
The first part of the story that I found most interesting was the part about the text on the Biniatta Trade website. The text on the homepage reads " is world top class of Agro industry, textile and artificial fur material supplier specialising in high quality textile products for sportswear ", this text also appears across a number of other websites, all of which are connected, either directly or indirectly, to the address Biniatta Trade is registered to. Another interesting lead in the story is the telephone number that connects Biniatta Trade to a Ukrainian dating website (more about this later).
So, lets take a closer look at these connections and try to find out more about the accounting and financial companies that set up these offshore shell companies. To make it easier to understand I've compiled a list of all the companies and websites that display the same poorly worded copy that appears on the Biniatta Trade website.
BINIATTA TRADE L.P.
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone |
|---|---|
| Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 6SW | +441316080146 |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexey Nikitin | Shevchenko ave. 12, Odessa N/A 65044 UA | +380637906558 | [email protected] |
Company Details
| Company Number | Registered Office | company status | Company type | Registered On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL022707 | Suite 2 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 6SW | Active | Limited partnership | 8 September 2015 |
GLOBAL DELTA TRADE
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| PO BOX:337188, Office 507 , Jumeirah Bay X2 Tower, JLT, Dubai. UAE | +971501414953 | N/A |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domains By Proxy | N/A | N/A | N/A |
BLACKSHIRE UNITED
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| 196 Rose Street, Suite 3, Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom, EH2 4AT | N/A | [email protected] |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domains By Proxy | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Company Details
| Company number | Registered Office | company status | Company type | Registered On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL030150 | Office 1 145 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G41 3JA | Active | Limited partnership | 10 February 2017 |
CONTOFORM LP
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Office 1, 145 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow, G41 3JA | N/A | N/A |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexey Nikitin | Shevchenko ave. 12, Odessa N/A 65044 UA | +380637906558 | [email protected] |
Company Details
| Company number | Registered Office | company status | Company type | Registered On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL030151 | Office 1 145 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G41 3JA | Active | Limited partnership | 10 February 2017 |
WEST BERTON IMPEX
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Suite 3, 196 Rose Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 4AT | N/A | N/A |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrej Lystov | Suite 3, 196 Rose Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 4AT | +44138099117013 | [email protected] |
Company Details
| Company number | Registered Office | company status | Company type | Registered On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL025531 | Suite 1 4 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 1JE | Active | Limited partnership | 15 March 2016 |
AGROTEX LTD
Contact Details on Website
| Contact Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Office 106, Al Neyeli Building, Hor Al Anz East Dubai, PO 94895, UAE | 0294-678456 | [email protected] |
WHOIS Domain Lookup
| Name | Mailing Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrej Lystov | Suite 3, 196 Rose Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 4AT | +44138099117013 | [email protected] |
Company Details
| Company number | Registered Office | company status | Company type | Registered On |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OC394605 | Unit 5, Olympia Industrial Estate, Coburg Road, London, N22 6TZ | Disoleved (11/01/2016 | Limited liability partnership | 4 August 2014 |
LOVE.CLUB
Bear with me here, I know there is a lot of information to take in but I want to show you how it all connects to 2 companies that are ultimately controlled by one person. The Mother Jones Article picked up on the fact that the contact number (+441316080146) on the Biniatta Trade website was the same as one that appears on a Ukrainian dating website called love.club.
Source
Source
On the Love.club website it mentions a company (which I assume is the parent/holding company) called STELSI UNION LP. UK companies House shows the company as registered to Suite 2 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 6SW, the same address as Biniatta Trade L.P. is registered to.
So who is the owner of Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 6SW? Well, further digging reveals that this address is linked to an offshore accounting firm called LAS International, as identified in this 2016 article by the Scottish Herald below.
Creators of Scotland's limited partnerships are revealed | Scottish Herald - 11/28/2016
THE creators of “zero-tax offshore companies” who file no accounts but are registered in Scotland can be laid bare today. Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) have been embroiled in a series of scandals ranging from the £1 billion looting of banks in Moldova to acting as alleged fronts for arms-dealing and porn sites.
Las International (UK) Ltd - This London agency created several SLPs featured in The Herald in recent weeks as it investigated so-called “binary options” sites, essentially unregulated high-risk financial gambling firms with addresses in St Vincent Street, Edinburgh. One such site belonged to Israeli binary options magnates arrested on tax evasion charges.
The investigation into shady Scottish companies conducted by the i Newspaper confirms that the address (Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street) that appears on both the Biniatta Trade website, and as the business address of STELSI UNION LP, are connected to LAS International. In total, the are 747 Scottish Limited Partnerships registered there. Below is another article by the i Newspaper that looks into the problems Scotland faces with SLP companies.
Ministers rush to close Scottish corporate secrecy loophole amid money laundering claims | i News - 06/24/2017
Urgent legislation was yesterday enacted by ministers to close a loophole which has made Scotland an unlikely focal point for allegations that Britain is facilitating money laundering on a vast scale. Campaigners have revealed for the first time the full extent of the dramatic growth in a little-known legal entity – Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) – which have given rise to multiple claims that they were being used to process the proceeds of crime and corruption in Russia, Eastern Europe and beyond.
Of those SLPs registered last year, 71 per cent were controlled by corporate partners based in offshore jurisdictions such as the Seychelles, Belize and Dominica, which allow beneficial owners to conceal their identity. One particular attraction of SLPs is that they have their own “legal personality”, meaning that they can enter into contracts, own assets and open bank accounts, providing a further layer of secrecy to those who operate them. Duncan Hames, director of Transparency International UK, said: “We have seen how SLPs are being used as the UK’s home-grown corporate secrecy vehicle. They allow corrupt individuals to hide their real identity when laundering vast sums of money out of the country they have stolen from, whilst assuming the respectability of a UK incorporated legal entity.”
LAS INTERNATIONAL
The LAS International Scottish address is known as a virtual office address and is used as a UK mailing address by many offshore companies to conceal their original identities. LAS International even advertise that they provide virtual office space on their website.
LAS International, known officially as LAS IH LTD (LAS International Holdings Limited), is a UK company registered at 5 Percy Street, London, W1T 1DG. According to Companies House records LAS IH LTD is owned by a Mrs Elena Yael Dovzhik. Her LinkedIn profile also supports this.
So, all the different addresses these different companies are directly or indirectly associated with are in fact virtual office addresses set up or run by LAS International. The addresses I have identified so far as being connected to LAS International are:
Principle Address
- 5 Percy Street, Fitzrovia, London
Virtual Office Address
- Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland
- Suite 1, 4 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland
- Suite 3, 196 Rose Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 4AT
- Office 1, 145 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow, UK, G41 3JA
During the course of my research I've roughly added up all the offshore shell companies that are registered to these addresses and estimate there to be well over 2000. Many of the companies registered at these addresses by LAS International are owned or controlled by Russians, Ukrainians, and Latvians.
RECAP
- Biniatta trade paid Muzin $150,000 for lobbying work.
- Biniatta Trade website displays the text "is world top class"
- Other companies that also display "is world top class" on their websites are Global Delta Trade Ltd, Blackshire United, Contoform LP, West Berton Impex, Agrotex Ltd.
- Contact telephone number (+441316080146) at the bottom of the Biniatta Trade website also appears on the Love.club website. Love.club parent company is Stelsi Union LP.
- Both Stelsi Union LP and Biniatta Trade are registered to Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Suite 2, 5 St Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Scotland is a virtual office address for LAS International, an offshore finance company.
- LAS International head office address is 5 Percy Street, Fitzrovia, London
- Elena Yael Dovzhik holds significant control, and is the director of LAS International
This shady network of financial and offshore shell companies runs very deep
In part 2 we'll be taking a closer look at one person in particular that kept turning up during my research. This person has their signature over many of the legal documents making them the director of most of the companies in question, at least on paper anyway. We'll also be traveling the globe from Cyprus to Belize uncovering the companies behind some of the other addresses these shell companies are registered to in an attempt to discover who the real owners are.
If it’s criminal money laundering and dodgy deals you’re into look no further than this little island I live on. Great Britain is a haven for anyone into this kind of crime as long as they are Uber rich. The flagrant hypocrisy of our politicians here is epic, they talk about cracking down on this kind of activity but only for those who can’t buy their protection. The majority of the worlds tax havens were set up by the British to stash the cash of the elites away from the tax man and for slush funds for bribery and nefarious deals. It’s no surprise to me to see addresses in England and Scotland being used here.
More great work @fortified
Thanks. Yes I knew that London was the financial capital of the world but I had no idea that so many offshore companies would be registered there. It's totally hypocritical. I bet 90% of politicians that are against offshore companies actually use them. I can't see them going away any time soon.
To be honest I hate the current financial model so I'm not against tax evasion or avoidance if it was open to all, equally. But as it stands it's only for the rich, and that sucks big time.
Thanks
@fortified
Excellent research!
I can appreciate how much time and effort it takes to wrap your mind around how shell companies actually operate. To think that 2000 shell companies may be related to this web you're attempting to unravel is truly mind-boggling.
The panama papers / paradise papers / offshore leaks are revelations, yet it's not easy to follow they intricate dealings of many of these operations. There's significant overlap in ownership and control in many instances often with dozens of shells masking the activities and muddying the waters so thoroughly that it makes tracing payments nearly impossible.
I commend your efforts, as this is truly an area that deserves greater scrutiny.
Edit: Your ability to present complex matters clearly is so impressive, thanks for breaking it down!
Thank you. Yes, unless you are an accountant or lawyer it's very hard to work out how these companies operate, and if they are actually breaking the law by money laundering. The Panama Papers etc are a great source of material once you've familiarized yourself with all the jargon.
I wouldn't of been able to fit the pieces together if it wasn't for my trusty old graph. :)
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Great work/research @fortified in relation to London I feel it could have something to do with the city of London being a private entity. I has it's own courts, it's own police force, laws and it's own flag., as a corporation I don't believe it pays it's own taxes. From there the web spreads into Greater London and the rest of the world. I will write a post on that aspect soon. Thanks for all your hard work on this!
Hi. Yes, the City of London owned and ran by the elites. It's definitely something they don't like to draw attention to.
Thanks. Look forward to your post about it.
great post @fortified. are you a journalist?
Lol. no, I'm just a human with an inquisitive mind.
no,no. your mind is more than inquisitive. It's great. never seen such before. I'm following you already.
Respect to you. Thank you.
Great info about OFFSHORE SHELL COMPANIES. Interesting facts. very brief. The way you brief is definitely appreciatable. Must upvote and resteem. Thumbs up!
Great research!
WARNING!!!: This Article is a DEFAMATORY STATEMENT, created and published by an Anonymous Blogger @fortified, about Las International (UK) Ltd, now Las IH Ltd (“Las International”, “We”, “Our” or “Us”), Elena Yael Dovzhik, Ineta Sarah Utinane and Lisa Varushenyeva.
We have legal evidence to prove that the article, hosted by this Website contain serious, untrue and highly defamatory comments towards Us, some of which contain malicious falsehood. In doing so, defamatory comments are being communicated to thousands of people throughout the world, posing a serious threat to our reputation.
These comments seem designed to damage Our reputation in the market place rather than have any fair comment basis, supported by verified information. We are not against freedom of speech and recognise the value of fair comment, but this Article does not comply with the Code of Ethics for Professional Journalists.
LAS INTERNATIONAL have been a regulated Company Formation Agent and Registered Office Address Service provider in the UK. Over years We filed more than 10,000 company formation applications (online or on paper) to the Companies House for various types of companies (LTD, LLP & LP) on behalf of their business owners. Like any other Professional Company Formation Agents and Registered Office Address Service providers, We are not involved in the business activities of the companies that purchased Our services.
Our historic addresses only included those at Percy Street, St Vincent Street and Queen Street.
In relation to Mrs Sandra Gina Esparon (Maiden Name Kilindo), who purchased our registered address for companies with her directorship, we do hold certified IDs for this person according to KYC & AMLR Compliance procedures. We can clarify that Mrs Sandra Gina Kilindo/Esparon changed her surname due to marriage (with certified documented proof). Her signature apparently did not change after the marriage.
We do not know the reasons why this Anonymous writer @fortified published such misleading information under concealed identity, but he/she clearly lacks understanding of how the Company Formation Industry works and about the statutory compliance behind the UK registered companies (including Scottish LPs) .
For any further information that can be verified and supported by legal facts, from the regulated, compliant and transparent source, please contact Us on [email protected]
It's a benefits to all people. hope everyone will be help on this.keep sharing.go on your way.