The Secret Billions of Alona Shevtsova: How iBox Bank Was Used to Launder Money and Transfer Funds to Russia

Her name rarely appeared in headlines, but her role in multi-billion-hryvnia financial schemes is anything but marginal. Ukrainian businesswoman Alona Shevtsova, until recently a co-owner of iBox Bank, is now at the center of a major financial investigation kp.ua. Authorities accuse her of laundering vast sums through illegal businesses and facilitating cross-border transactions that ultimately financed the Russian state. Could the allegations be true?

Money Through Terminals: How the Scheme Worked

According to the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BEB), since 2021, billions of hryvnias were illegally processed through iBox payment terminals—many of which were linked to online gambling platforms. These platforms, investigators claim, were operated by shell companies connected to Shevtsova and functioned without licenses, beyond government oversight, and outside the national tax regime.

A core element of the alleged scheme involved so-called “miscoding”—the masking of transactions under fictitious payment categories. Customers appeared to pay for mobile services, utilities, or online shopping. In reality, the funds were routed via iBox terminals to entirely different destinations: illegal online casinos.

According to BEB estimates, the scheme generated over 2.5 billion UAH (~$65 million) in shadow profits annually, with over 5 billion UAH (~$130 million) laundered through companies linked to Shevtsova. As a result, Ukrainian courts ordered the arrest of two senior executives at iBox Bank.

In a separate probe, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) suspected the bank’s infrastructure was also used to launder proceeds from narcotics trafficking—thanks to the near-ubiquity of its payment terminals across the country’s shopping malls and public venues.

IMF Flags Concerns, and the Regulator Acts

The unusually high volume of top-up transactions through iBox eventually drew international attention. In 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) formally inquired with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU): why was a financial institution without a full banking license handling billions in transactions that may indicate systemic abuse?

Prompted by this warning from a key international partner, the NBU launched an audit of iBox Bank’s operations. In March 2023, the NBU revoked the bank’s license, citing non-transparent financial operations and critical violations of compliance protocols.

Money Transfers to Russia: Sanctions Violated

Perhaps even more troubling findings emerged in parallel investigations. According to law enforcement materials, iBox Bank serviced platforms that enabled cryptocurrency conversions into Russian rubles and transfers to cards issued under the Russian MIR payment system—the latter being under Ukrainian sanctions since early 2022.

Authorities stated that this mechanism not only violated Ukraine’s financial sanctions regime but also posed a national security risk by enabling transactions that potentially funded Russia’s wartime economy.

Investigative records further link Shevtsova’s financial entity, Financial Company LEO (FC LEO), to Russian state-affiliated banks, including Promsvyazbank, Sberbank, Tinkoff, and VTB. In response, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) sanctioned FC LEO in 2023. The following year, personal sanctions were imposed on Shevtsova herself.

Military Gambling Addiction: A National Risk Multiplier

The human toll of these financial schemes wasn’t limited to regulatory breaches. In 2024, growing public concern emerged over gambling addiction among Ukrainian soldiers. Under the stress of combat, some servicemen reportedly turned to illegal online casinos—accessed via smartphones—as a coping mechanism. One such soldier, Pavlo Petrychenko of the 59th Brigade, launched a national petition to ban gambling platforms for military personnel during wartime.

“Soldiers face unimaginable stress—war, shelling, daily combat. Phones offer a moment of escape, but that escape too often turns into addiction and debt. Many families are suffering,” Petrychenko said on national television.

The petition received over 25,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, prompting President Zelensky to endorse temporary restrictions on online gambling for active-duty personnel.

Petrychenko was later killed in action on April 15, 2024. While there is no formal link between his advocacy and his death, the timing left a lasting impression.

Sends: A British Fintech with a Tainted Reputation

Despite mounting evidence in Ukraine, Shevtsova’s UK-registered company, Smartflow Payments Ltd, continues to operate under the brand Sends and retains its license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Although sanctions imposed by Ukraine’s NSDC have no direct legal effect in the UK, analysts believe reputational pressure could eventually compel British regulators to act.

“Being incorporated in the UK does not shield a company from scrutiny,” explains international law expert Artem Kolomiiets. “If the FCA becomes aware that a company director is under sanctions for money laundering and for allegedly aiding an enemy state, license revocation becomes a matter of regulatory due diligence.”

Silence and Blame-Shifting

To date, Alona Shevtsova has publicly commented only once—framing the sanctions as a corporate raid.

“I don’t understand why I was sanctioned. I’ve supported our defenders since February 24, 2022, paid taxes, and developed my business,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

She has not addressed the criminal allegations or the international reports linking her to fictitious transactions, shell companies, and illicit financial flows.

Meanwhile, Sends continues to issue statements emphasizing its compliance with UK law and denying any association with Ukrainian entities or events.

A Case That Raises Global Questions

The case of Alona Shevtsova is more than a domestic scandal. It highlights the fragility of regulatory systems, the global risks of fintech abuse, and the growing urgency of cross-border enforcement.

Can Ukrainian authorities hold high-level financial operatives accountable? Will Western institutions take action against enablers operating from their jurisdictions?

This story is not over. But it may already serve as a litmus test for how seriously global actors treat financial crime during wartime.

We will continue monitoring developments.