ABLV Bank

2021: Suspected refund of part of customers after bankruptcy through Vincit Advisory

The bankrupt Latvian bank ABLV, which in 2018 the United States accused of "institutionalized money laundering," during the self-liquidation could secretly return money to a group of customers. 

After obtaining permission to self-isolate, ABLV entered into deals with dozens of high-risk customers to help them recover frozen funds. Of the at least 42 clients under such agreements, 20 had ties with Russia.

Even before the charges of money laundering, ABLV secretly registered its banking services division for corporate clients in a separate organization - Vincit Advisory. Formally, ABLV and Vincit were separated, but their connection is indicated by the fact that the chief executive officer of Vincit was Vadim Reinfelds, who previously served as deputy general director of ABLV.

Vincit has signed asset recovery agreements with two Bahamian-listed fictitious companies, SISI Inc. and SFOC Inc. They belonged to the former top managers of the Russian rocket and space corporation Energia Nikolai Cherlenyak and Oleg Volkov. In Russia, they are suspected of embezzling money from a state corporation through fictitious subcontractors. The director of offshore was the former director of the research company Center for Technical Rearmament of the Space Flight Control Service Vasily Ikomasov, who also appeared in the theft case. Leak documents published in October 2021 show that Volkov and Cherlenyak tried to hide the ownership of offshore companies by issuing them for a fund in Belize, founded in 2015.

Vincit's customers also included two offshore deputies and the former owner of the Chelyabinsk energy company Sergey Weinstein - Nortoholme Investment Ltd. and Elmex Holdings S.A.

All offshore companies for high-risk customers were registered by Alpha Consulting, a company of Russian origin based in Seychelles. The company had close ties with ABLV, it opened accounts with the bank to serve the offshore structures of its customers.

2020: Suspected money laundering

In June 2020, large-scale searches are taking place in Latvia in the framework of criminal money laundering cases, which include ABLV Bank employees. Searches took place at 46 addresses, about 300 law enforcement officers of Latvia were involved in them. The police reported that the searches are related to a case of possible laundering of hundreds of millions of euros. Reports delfi.

2019: Recovery through court from singer Kirkorov €651000 mortgage loan

In December 2019, the Tagansky Court of Moscow upheld the civil lawsuit of the Latvian bank ABLV, which demanded to recover mortgage debt from singer Philip Kirkorov, including a fine, a penalty and interest. In favor of the bank from Kirkorov, the court recovered €651,000. The trial was held behind closed doors.