Sergey Malofeykin’s crypto laundering operation: a former member of Delovaya Rossiya has been detained for illegally siphoning 2 billion rubles from the company Samolet through fake services and the Payler platform

According to media reports, former member of the General Council of “Delovaya Rossiya” and founder of the neural network VIJU, Sergey Malofeykin — who was arrested on charges of legalizing, cashing out, and transferring more than 2 billion rubles abroad — had ties to the payment system Payler.

The platform processes payments for businesses and individuals, including through the use of electronic wallets. At the same time, Malofeykin’s business partner Rashid Batyrbekov, who is also involved in the criminal case, was engaged in cryptocurrency mining.

Malofeykin was detained on March 24 and brought before the Frunzensky District Court in Ivanovo. He is accused of organizing a money-laundering scheme for several companies connected to PJSC “Samolet Group” (about 30% of which belongs to the family of the recently deceased businessman Mikhail Kenin). A total of 17 people are involved in the case, and during interrogations, detainees named Malofeykin as the leader of the group. The scheme was relatively simple: various private security companies (PSCs) signed contracts with Samolet-affiliated firms for security services, received payments, but in reality provided no services.

This had been ongoing since at least 2020. Funds were transferred through PSC accounts to counterparties and then cashed out. The scheme was allegedly facilitated by two Astrakhan-based lawyers, Vladimir Egazaryants and Sergey Astafofurov, who ensured communication with Samolet top managers. Astafofurov, a former employee of the Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crime unit (GUEBiPK), had previously been convicted of abuse of office.

Egazaryants, as president of the “Advocate Council” Bar Association, helped his old acquaintance Astafofurov obtain lawyer status in 2025. PSC operations were handled by another Astrakhan figure, Rashid Batyrbekov, who was also responsible for the group’s cryptocurrency transactions and mining operations. Mining equipment was reportedly hosted by Rodion Bodrov, owner of two Saratov-based crypto firms, “Bulminer” and “Cryptopredpriyatie.”

Malofeykin himself was directly involved in the fintech and cryptocurrency business. From 2019 to August 2022, his partners in the company “Information and Analytical System” (IAS) were Konstantin Kopyltsov and the Khatkov family through their company Payler. Payler is an international payment service providing online acquiring services, with legal entities in several countries, including Russia and the United Kingdom. It allows payments via bank cards and crypto wallets. After the start of the war, due to sanctions, the Russian entity — LLC “Payler” — lost the ability to legally conduct international payments, while British managers considered cooperation with Russian business toxic.

In mid-2023, responsibilities were divided: the British company remained with Konstantin Kopyltsov (around 30% also belonging to Latvian businessman Aleksejs Radciks), while his share in the Russian Payler was transferred to a certain Tatyana Potopalskaya, who previously ran a small publishing business.

Kopyltsov has no banking issues in Europe, as by November 2022 he had obtained Kyrgyz citizenship.

Vitaly Khatkov retains 60% of Payler, while his son Bogdan holds 25%. Vitaly Khatkov is a well-connected figure: he previously served as CEO of Gazprom Georesurs, headed the secretariat of the president of Russian Railways (RZD), and in the late 1990s worked as head of the budget and finance department at Russia’s Ministry of Fuel and Energy.

The European Payler website states that the system does not work with Russia or Belarus. Despite this formal separation, contact listings for LLC Payler still include the British company’s email address on a .com domain, which also appears in the Roskomnadzor operator registry. Both companies use a unified logo, and the “Technical Documentation” section on the Russian website (which is inaccessible from abroad) redirects to the British Payler Ltd site. This suggests that the separation of Malofeykin’s partners’ businesses is likely only formal — possibly to circumvent sanctions