"Big money" on blood: what alcohol magnate Yevhen Chernyak was charged with

The owner of one of Ukraine’s largest alcohol holdings, Yevhen Chernyak, has been notified of suspicion. Law enforcement agencies accuse him of financing the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Chernyak himself is abroad and denies the accusations. However, the gathered facts may indicate that the alcohol magnate and media personality is not entirely honest in his actions and intentions.

Yevhen Chernyak is the founder of the alcohol holding "Global Spirits". The most well-known brands produced at his factories are vodka "Khortytsia", "Morocha", "Pervak". Before the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the holding had representation in Russia and several enterprises in the Middle East, particularly in Uzbekistan.

Chernyak is also known for the project "Big Money". On his YouTube channel, it is stated that "Chernyak conducts honest interviews without fluff, politics, or censorship with businessmen like himself. Only practical information, only facts for those who need big money." With this project, Chernyak tours various cities around the world, where he tells those interested, essentially, "how to become a millionaire".

One of his latest forums was held in February 2023 in Dubai. At least 250 active entrepreneurs were announced for the event, and Chernyak himself was advertised as "the #1 business speaker in Europe". The ticket cost for the event was over $100, while a business dinner at a luxury Ukrainian restaurant on Palm Jumeirah Island required a sum several times higher.

As noted by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in a comment on the suspicion, Yevhen Chernyak left Ukraine’s territory just before the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation.

"To avoid sanctions and ensure his economic gain, he re-registered the holding’s Russian companies to a controlled individual and organized their economic activity in the Russian Federation. Further, together with accomplices, he established the supply of wholesale batches of alcohol and component materials from the Russian Federation to enterprises controlled by him in Asian countries. Alcohol products were manufactured there under their brands, which were exported to the USA and the Russian Federation."

The investigation believes that enterprises associated with the suspect paid more than 14 billion rubles in tax obligations and fees to the budget of the aggressor state from March 2022 onward. This is equivalent to almost 6 billion hryvnias.

In turn, the Security Service of Ukraine reports that during searches at the office premises of the Global Spirits holding in Ukraine, documents and other material evidence of illegal activities in favor of the aggressor country were found.

The suspicion was announced to Chernyak and six of his company’s top managers.

There is currently a decision being made about seizing their private and corporate property for transfer to ARMA management.

After receiving the suspicion, Yevhen Chernyak left a long post in Russian on his Facebook page about not collaborating with the aggressor since 2014 and having nothing to do with what he is being accused of. Moreover, he claimed to have been volunteering in Poland since the beginning of the large-scale war.

According to Chernyak, after the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Ukraine’s Donbas by Russia in 2014, Russian sanctions were imposed on the Global Spirits company, thus allegedly no assets of "Global Spirits" could have been there. But the fact is that this is far from the truth. Registry data confirms this.

Until 2022, alcohol under the holding’s brands was produced under license at Russian factories "Russkiy Sever" (Vologda) and "Rodnik i K" (Mytishchi). These include vodka "Khortytsia", "Morosha", and "Pervak". The "Russkiy Sever" and "Rodnik i K" factories were part of the MSD group, specializing in the licensed bottling of alcoholic products, including for foreign copyright holders, particularly "Global Spirits".

According to a decision by the Russian Customs Service dated July 1, 2016, the Cypriot company "GSH Trademarks Limited" was recognized as the trademark owner of the "Morosha" brand. The licensees were the "Russkiy Sever" and "Rodnik i K" factories.

Data from the Russian Customs Service shows that "GSH Trademarks Limited" is registered at Afroditis, 25, 2nd floor, office 204, Nicosia, Cyprus. The founder of the Ukrainian LLC "Global Spirits Group" - "Global Spirits AMG Europe LTD" has the same address, just one floor lower. Thus, there can be no doubt that these companies were linked after 2014 and at least until the spring of 2022.

In the same Russian document from the customs service, it is stated that the representative of the rights holder on the "Morocha" brand is LLC "TD Megapolis". Interestingly, from January 1, 2008, to December 6, 2016, "Trading House Megapolis" imported more than 216 million units of "Khortytsia" alcoholic products into the Russian Federation, produced by LLC "Ukrainian Distribution Company" "Image Holding". From January 1, 2009, to December 15, 2016, the "Rodnik i K" and "Russkiy Sever" factories produced over 36 and 40 million units of "Khortytsia" products, respectively.

In January 2017, Rospatent considered the application of "GSH Trademarks Limited", part of the Global Spirits holding, for recognition of "Khortytsia" as a well-known trademark in Russia and issued a positive decision.

Russian press cites other curious facts regarding Chernyak’s "Global Spirits" operation in the Russian market. In 2021, shipments of Global Spirits brands to Russia increased by 45%, reaching 7.1 million dal. "With such dynamics, Global Spirits became the fastest in the top five vodka producers," - write specialized Russian media outlets.

After the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the situation somewhat changed. From May 2022, the "Rodnik i K" and "Russkiy Sever" factories transitioned to the "Traditions of Success" group of companies. Oleksandr Bespalov became its owner, and Andriy Lazutin its general director.

A Russian publication, citing sources on the alcohol market, wrote that the re-registration is formal, and "the enterprises themselves will remain under the control of Yevhen Chernyak. The change of owners might be needed for ’visible alienation’ of assets in Russia".

In August 2023, Lazutin and Bespalov were highlighted in a rather interesting story related to the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine. As lawyer Bespalov told the publication "Kommersant", in the fall of 2022, Andriy Lazutin contacted his client, whose eldest of five children was subject to conscription into the Armed Forces of Russia. Fearing participation in the SMO, he asked Bespalov to "resolve this issue through his connections". The price of the issue was $10,000. However, defense representatives believe that all this time the phones of the deal’s participants were being monitored by law enforcement, who were checking data that former vodka business owner Yevhen Chernyak might have spent some of the proceeds from the sale to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine. An official bribery case was opened against Bespalov and Lazutin.

Based on publication data, a second case emerged during the wiretapping – about facilitating terrorist activities. Its main figure became Mr. Chernyak, who was declared wanted by Russia.

Before being re-registered to Bespalov, "Russkiy Sever", "Rodnik i K", and "Standard Kachestva" were controlled by Oxford AMG-77 Limited. In a Rospatent decision of January 2017, it was noted that Oxford AMG-77 Limited, along with "Russkiy Sever", "Rodnik i K", "TD Megapolis", and several other companies, were part of the international alcohol holding "Global Spirits".

Since February 2023, the "Traditions of Success" company, essentially the formal owner of the factories where Global Spirits alcohol products are bottled, has announced work on developing its brands as part of an import substitution program. The "Khortytsia", "Morocha", and "Pervak" brands will be replaced by others – "Horta", "Moroshka", and "Pervak". Note that the import substitution statement appeared in the second year of the large war and not in 2014 as Yevhen Chernyak positions it.

According to a source in Moscow, vodka of the "Khortytsia" brand can still be bought on the shelves of stores in the Russian capital, and it enjoys significantly more popularity than any other products from the Russian Federation.

In his social media post after the suspicion was announced, Yevhen Chernyak indicated that he sees this as pressure and an attempt to take over the business. In the comments, he was supported by a large number of people, including businessman Harik Korohodskyi.

In Chernyak’s defense, it can be said that he probably did not specially leave Ukraine on the eve of the full-scale invasion. His family has been living abroad for a long time, and in early February 2022, his wife boasted about vacationing in Dubai on social media. Judging by recent photos, Chernyak’s family is currently in the USA.

If we compare the information from Chernyak’s suspicion by Ukrainian law enforcement officers with what is official in the registers of the Russian Federation, it is quite likely that the investigation is right. The formal re-registration of factories could have been done to divert attention, while Global Spirits’ products continued to be supplied to Russian store shelves and contributed to the terrorist state’s budget.

Author: Olena Dobrodiy