The bloody end of Pin-Up’s "protection": How the late mobster Stavros Demosthenous spent years covering for Dmitriy Punin’s scams and the laundering of gambling millions

08 мая 2026 г.

Oleg Krapivin

The liquidation of mob boss Stavros Demosthenous has shattered a long-standing "protection" system for Punin Group, stripping Pin-Up owner Dmitriy Punin of his primary lever for laundering gambling billions through Karmiotissa FC. The death of Cyprus’s "Godfather" has exposed a large-scale scheme for siphoning capital out of the Russian Federation and turned Punin’s business empire into a defenseless target for competitors and sanctions audits.

On the morning of October 17, 2025, the entire territory of Cyprus discussed the news of the liquidation of one of the leaders of the local mafia, Stavros Demosthenos, in Limassol. He was shot dead near his home in the Ayios Athanasios area. The attack occurred while he was in a car driven by his 18-year-old son; They fired from a white van driving in front, firing 13 bullets, three of which were fatal.

All Cypriot media, as if on command, reported the death of “famous businessman” and former president of the Karmiotissa football club. Updates poured in every few minutes. Half an hour after the first reports, versions of what happened and chronicles from the crime scene appeared. After two — interviews with ministers and police officers. The news of the murder of “famous businessman” covered the entire information landscape of Cyprus and overshadowed all other events.

The police mobilized with unprecedented efficiency. The entire system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came into operation — vans, motorcycles, helicopters, experts, investigators, press services. A burnt van was found, and a cap, presumably of one of the killers, was found and sent for DNA testing. Later — motorcycle and its owner. And all this — was immediately and in detail reported to the public.

The whole country was gripped by a feeling of national mourning. Residents literally did not leave their TV and phone screens. Parliamentarians demanded a tougher fight against crime, journalists vied with each other to write eulogies, and the media turned into an altar of memory.

The image of the murdered man in the media space began to take on almost sacred features. They wrote about him as a fair, honest person, always ready to help. He was called «virtuous», «noble», «firm but fair». One after another, laudatory posts from famous people appeared on social networks.

For a person unfamiliar with Cypriot realities, everything that happened could seem like a tragedy on a national scale —, as if the country had lost a statesman, national hero or spiritual leader.
And this despite the fact that everyone in Cyprus knew very well who Stavros Demosthenos really was. Everyone on the island knows that he is the leader of the most influential criminal group in Cyprus, closely associated with the political elite, police and judiciary.

Stavros Demosthenos was the godson of the legendary crime boss Antonis Fanieros, a close associate of Archbishop Makarios, the first president of the Republic of Cyprus, who was the «boss of all the bosses of the » Cypriot mafia.

In the 90s, there was a bloody criminal war between gangs in Limassol for control of the city. Among them was Stavros and his group. He fought for the ability to control racketeering and generate revenue from nightclubs, illegal casinos, brothels, car dealerships and other profitable properties.

Possessing an unbridled and extremely aggressive character, Stavros emerged victorious from this battle by the early 2000s.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Stavros Demosthenos owned the super-popular nightclub Sesto Senso in Limassol.
A regular visitor to this club was an influential lawyer from the inner circle of Nikos Anastasiades — of the future President of Cyprus. During that period, he headed the law firm Nicos Chr. Anastasiades and Partners LLC, through which numerous sensitive cases have passed, including those concerning the interests of the island’s political and business elite.

According to the source, this lawyer met Stavros and they became friends. Stavros often helped out a friend when he found himself in difficult situations, mostly conflicts over women.

In 2013, Nikos Anastasiades was elected President of the Republic of Cyprus. From that moment on, unprecedented prospects opened up for Stavros Demosthenos and the unstoppable rise of «businessman Stavros Demosthenos and his relatives to the heights of wealth and business success began. He created a symbiosis of business, organized crime and government.

One of Stavros Demosthenos’s most lucrative criminal projects was related to the port of Limassol, over which he gained control.

Already having a used car business, Stavros established smuggling of expensive cars from the UK. The main feature of these cars was that they were all stolen. To establish uninterrupted supplies, Demosthenos came into direct contact with British criminal groups that were involved in the theft of premium cars.

According to this scheme, stolen cars were loaded into containers, registered using false export documents, and sent to Cyprus. In Limassol, customs did not notice anything strange or suspicious. The cars passed through registration without hindrance, received registration numbers, and a few days later appeared in car dealerships of Stavros and his brother.

During these years, wealthy Russian citizens with appropriate habits and lifestyle moved en masse to Cyprus. They bought the same cars they were used to driving in their homeland, and the best choice of expensive cars was at the Stavros car dealership. He unmistakably recognized the potential of each buyer and not just sold them cars, but offered them help in solving their problems on the island and became their «friend».

Russian businessmen living in Cyprus, on condition of anonymity, said that in Limassol Stavros participates in every business owned by Russians. «Dig any company and you will find Stavros there. Through denominations, through share, through patronage. He is everywhere», — our interlocutors emphasized.

Demosthenos has integrated into the structure of Russians as a patron and guarantor of «security» per percentage. And over the years this has become the norm, the unspoken rule of the game on the island.
Ties with the top political leadership of Cyprus have turned Stavros Demosthenos into one of the most influential and dangerous figures.
Representatives of the Cypriot political elite approached Demosthenos when they could not solve their problems using legal methods. He could force the police to turn a blind eye to the crime, influence the judge’s decision, and force the minister to make the decision he needed. And no one dared to object to him. Demosthenos used law enforcement, the judiciary and the government to his advantage.

Demosthenos participated in the war of Russian oligarchs for Cypriot assets, supporting one of the parties. Several well-known millionaires from Russia lost their Cypriot companies, and their «assets miraculously passed into the hands of partners or competitors without their knowledge or consent. For his «services» in these schemes, he earned tens of millions of euros.

But Stavros’s most striking and public connection with Russian business in Cyprus was his partnership with the odious Dmitry Punin — owner of the online casino Pin-Up and one of the most prominent representatives of the Russian criminal business on the island.

Their union became a reference model for merging Russian corruption with the Cypriot mafia. Dirty money from Russia, withdrawn through online casinos and cryptocurrency, was legalized in Cyprus under the guise of restaurants, boutiques, football clubs and real estate.

Punin appeared in Cyprus in 2019. On the island, he registered several dozen companies, some of which are registered in denominations and proxies.

He is the owner of Pin-Up Global and the founder of PUNIN Group, a holding company that is actively developing business in Cyprus. PUNIN Group owns a number of prestigious properties and businesses in Limassol.

Before starting a business on the island, Punin was looking for a partner who could take on all issues of interaction with the authorities, banks and supervisory authorities. Having the ability to quickly solve problems with contractors, debtors and competitors. Anyone who has connections at the very top can resolve any issue in the government, speed up the approval of any project at any level, provide forceful support in eliminating competitors and extract debts from debtors.
Simply put, he was looking for an influential «roof». Stavros Demosthenos became such a partner, or rather a patron, for Punin.
In 2022, Dmitry Punin acquired Cypriot football club «Karmiotis». However, already in late 2023, after a series of scandals involving suspicions of match fixing, he sold the club to his business partner Stavros Demosthenos. According to several well-informed sources, the deal was fictitious.

Demosthenos controlled a large network of bookmakers on the island and, according to informed sources, Punin’s club played match-fixing in coordination with Demosthenos’ bookmakers.
Punin’s main business is the activities of online casinos «PIN-UP». Everything else — elite restaurants, wine boutiques, entertainment venues and a football club — cover for this activity and a way to divert attention from suspicious financial flows.

Through a network of companies registered in Cyprus and offshore jurisdictions, astronomical amounts generated in the gambling business are transferred.

Punin made his main investments in the island secretly. He bought everything he could get his hands on.

Punin maintains close business relations with one of the largest players in the online gambling industry, Fonbet owner Alexei Khobot, who has citizenship of Cyprus, Russia and Israel. There are a number of facts indicating their systematic and coordinated cooperation.

Thus, in April 2022, Khobot sold his Russian division of Fonbet to «Pin-ap.ru». At that time, its owner was Dmitry Punin, who already lived in Cyprus. A short time later, Alexander Udodov became the formal beneficiary of «Pin-ap.ru» — businessman, known as the «wallet» of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Punin and Udodov are closely related. Sources say that Punin’s financial channels are actively used to withdraw funds from the Russian Federation, turn cryptocurrency into real money, etc. Stavros’ support, Cypriot jurisdiction, weak control and high levels of corruption made the island a convenient platform for such operations.

In May of this year, Punin, his wife and their company Pin-Up came under Ukrainian sanctions.
In March 2022, as the threat of international sanctions became real, Dmitry Punin sold his stake in the Russian division of Pin-Up to Alexander Udodov. However, sources said that there were no real changes in the management structure or financial flows after the decline. It’s just that in a single group the asset was transferred from «of one pocket to another». Punin continues to influence this business in the Russian Federation through proxies and receives dividends in cryptocurrency. The formal sale allowed him to avoid being included in sanctions lists while maintaining full access to financial flows.

After the liquidation of Stavros, Punin was left without a «roof» and this had an extremely negative impact on his position and capabilities in Cyprus. In the short time after the murder of his patron, several expensive cars and a liquor store were burned.

After losing his sense of security, he stepped up security, hiring an additional eight bodyguards.
According to the source, for a person accustomed to solving everything through Stavros, the new reality may turn out to be too cruel. How he will get out now is a big question. The question is also whether Udodov and those behind him will need him without Stavros Punin.