Why did NABU refuse to open a criminal case against the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT, which laundered money for the occupiers?

The cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT positions itself as Ukrainian and ranks fifth in the list of the best cryptocurrency exchanges represented in Ukraine. Also, its nominal owner, Volodymyr Nosov, repeatedly emphasizes their constant support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

However, amidst this support, which indeed exists, though not in the significant volumes claimed by Nosov, and amidst the assertion that WhiteBIT is a purely Ukrainian product, it is extremely unpleasant to see information that this cryptocurrency exchange is not just used for laundering money for the occupiers, but laundering is one of WhiteBIT’s main objectives.

At least, this information was recently published by the human rights organization NGO ’Non-Stop’. In turn, representatives of WhiteBIT refuted this information, particularly emphasizing that they actively support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and were among the first to cease operations in Russia.

The situation is generally classic. For those interested, you can read here: Cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT exposed in laundering Russian money: details of the high-profile investigation.

WhiteBIT claims to be a Ukrainian product, and it was created by Volodymyr Nosov. However, its main office is located in Lithuania:

Nothing similar could be found in the Ukrainian registers, and the WhiteBIT website is modestly silent about the registration and founders. However, in Lithuania, a company called ’WHITEBIT SOLUTIONS LLP’ was founded, whose founders are representatives of Seychelles:

Regarding Volodymyr Nosov himself, declared as the CEO of the WhiteBIT exchange, according to the Opentadabot service, he owns or is related to the following companies:

Both companies, where Nosov is considered an owner and beneficiary, are unprofitable. But that’s not the point now — rather, that nothing similar to WhiteBIT is mentioned in the registers alongside his name.

However, this is understandable — behind the anonymous companies from Seychelles are former Ukrainian citizens Dmytro and Mykyta Shentsevs.

The first is a recipient of the Order of Merit, a former member of parliament from the Opposition Bloc, who fled to Russia last year and accepted its citizenship. The second is his son, a deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council from the ’Opposition Platform — For Life’, who fled together with his father and also received a Russian passport.

WhiteBIT was controlled by Mykyta Shentsev, who created the exchange in 2018 to move money —not just his own and his father’s, but also other interested parties’ — out of Ukraine. The exchange was also used as an illegal cryptocurrency exchange point. The daily turnover of WhiteBIT amounted to $500 million, with operations converting to cryptocurrency conducted without accounting and taxation, violating Ukrainian law.

This allowed the Shentsev family to withdraw their capitals from Ukraine. The exact amount couldn’t be calculated, but it is known that in the first year of the exchange’s operation, Mykyta Shentsev bought several supercars and a yacht worth more than one million dollars in Europe.

Moreover, in October 2022, the financial authorities of the EU investigated the activities of WhiteBIT as part of the adoption of the eighth package of anti-Russian sanctions by the European Union and concluded that the exchange continues to serve Russians. This was reported by the Russian Interfax, and in Ukraine, this was modestly overlooked.

Here, WhiteBIT actively advertised its ’help to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’.

The fact that at least 60% of the capital of the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT belongs to traitors of Ukraine, and the exchange itself was established precisely for withdrawing the funds of the country’s ruling elite abroad and served as a conversion center with huge turnovers, did not prevent the current leadership of Ukraine from signing a series of agreements with WhiteBIT.

As of today, the exchange, owned not just by Russians, but traitors, collaborates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s initiative to raise funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

Which is completely surreal, but that’s not all — a few days ago, WhiteBIT announced a partnership with the ’Diia’ portal. Who will ultimately get all the personal data of people who registered on the exchange using ’Diia’ and how this data will be used — is anyone’s guess.

But the even bigger surprise lies in the fact that on February 24, 2023, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court ordered the NABU to investigate the facts of money withdrawal from Ukraine, tax evasion, and cooperation with Russia by WhiteBIT:

The court acted based on a lawsuit by the NGO ’Non-Stop’, to which the NABU refused to initiate a criminal case regarding the information on WhiteBIT’s activities provided to NABU detectives. In other words, NABU refused to investigate information about WhiteBIT’s anti-Ukrainian activities. And only the court ordered them to do so.

In such a situation, one can only guess how the investigation will proceed and what it will conclude. In fact, this is not surprising — besides the Russians, many of their colleagues still in power in Ukraine use the conversion centers of the Shentsev collaborators.

Many of them also need to withdraw money stolen from the international aid granted to our country by Europe and the USA. And it involves hundreds of millions of dollars. So the outcome of the ’investigation’ concerning WhiteBIT is somewhat predictable.