"Loves speed!": golden boy and draft dodger Slobozhenko registered a luxury car fleet in his mother’s name
A blogger boasts that his car fleet has more than 18 cars. However, officially, the millionaire only owns a 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer and a 2019 motorcycle.
The 25-year-old Ukrainian millionaire Oleksandr Slobozhenko is a figure in tax evasion cases, registers his luxury car fleet and real estate in the names of his mother and grandmother, and has not returned to Ukraine after leaving abroad on March 28.
This is stated in an investigation by NGL.media, published on Friday, April 26.
The Independent Anti-corruption Center analyzed the activities of a successful young entrepreneur after a investigation by "Ukrainska Pravda", which reported that Slobozhenko is not registered for military service and leaves the borders of Ukraine without hindrance during martial law. After the publication of this information, he limited his activity on social networks and did not comment on the investigation.
Who is Oleksandr Slobozhenko
Oleksandr Slobozhenko was born and raised in the village of Bilohorodka near Kyiv. The family in which the young man grew up was described by journalists as ordinary and without direct connections to influential officials or businessmen who could support the young man financially or otherwise contribute to his success. Slobozhenko himself said in interviews that he started earning his first money on the internet as a teenager. He developed public pages and chats on social networks.
For the last eight years, Slobozhenko has been actively engaged in traffic arbitration, mainly in the fields of betting (sports betting,— ed.) and gambling (gambling, online casinos,— ed.), which are now being restricted in Ukraine.
The entrepreneur claims that "Traffic Devils", a traffic arbitration company founded in 2019, brings him significant profits. The 25-year-old millionaire has an audience of nearly half a million on Instagram and slightly fewer than 160,000 followers on TikTok. At the end of 2023, he applied to register the trademark "Alex Slobozhenko".
On his Instagram page, which he recently closed, Slobozhenko boasts about buying luxury cars, mostly sports cars: Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes Maybach, McLaren, Chevrolet Corvette, and BMW M3 Competition. He also displays expensive watches and real estate and spends exorbitant amounts on travel and gifts for friends. According to him, the total value of his car fleet last year was 3 million dollars.
Slobozhenko regularly participates in street races in sports cars, violates traffic laws, enjoys off-roading in the Carpathians in trucks, and travels the world on private jets.
Luxury cars for mom, elite real estate for grandma
According to investigators, the millionaire officially owns only one car, a 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer, and a 2019 BMW S1000RR motorcycle. However, Slobozhenko claims that his own car fleet includes more than 18 cars. He regularly tells his subscribers about acquiring new elite cars but does not register them in his name.
Slobozhenko’s 75-year-old grandmother, Nina Zvir, became the owner of two apartments in the luxurious Kyiv skyscraper "Taryan Towers" last year. These apartments cost the millionaire $700,000. In addition, he bought two parking spaces in the same residential complex and recorded them in his mother’s name, 45-year-old Iryna Zvir. The woman also owns another apartment in a residential complex in Pechersk, in the center of the capital.
Moreover, Slobozhenko registered part of his car fleet in his mother’s name:
- Mercedes Benz Maybach S580 (2022 model year);
- BMW M3 (2022 model year);
- Ferrari SF90 Stradale (2022 model year).
Journalists found out that Iryna Zvir worked as a cosmetologist. Last summer she registered as an individual entrepreneur with a primary activity of "other types of education". A few months later, Slobozhenko registered the LLC "Traffic Devils" with a primary activity of "advertising agencies". His mother received the director’s position there. Journalists tried to talk to Iryna Zvir, but initially, she claimed not to know Oleksandr Slobozhenko at all and later advised directing questions directly to her son and hung up the phone.
Just over two weeks ago, Slobozhenko’s grandmother, Nina Zvir, registered as an individual entrepreneur, previously having worked as a labor teacher. The 75-year-old woman will now provide services in "consulting on commercial activity and management".
Slobozhenko registered another car from his fleet in the name of a 49-year-old ex-policeman from Donetsk, Andriy Medyanyk. This refers to the businessman’s security vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser 200. Medyanyk is also the owner of a Volkswagen Crafter minibus. NGL.media suggests that Medyanyk may be working as Slobozhenko’s security guard. Investigators called Medyanyk and he assured them that he was not acquainted with Slobozhenko and had never heard of the cars.
Journalists speculate that Slobozhenko does not register his assets in his name so that in case of legal issues, they will not be seized. Alternatively, the entrepreneur might be concerned that due to the new mobilization law, his luxury cars could be confiscated.
Tax issues
Despite Slobozhenko’s claims that "Traffic Devils" was founded in 2019, it was officially registered only in November 2023. Slobozhenko himself took a long time to declare his entrepreneurial activities.
In June 2020, the National Police opened a criminal case for tax evasion and "legalization of property obtained by criminal means". Tax authorities reportedly assessed that the young entrepreneur owed the state budget nearly 54.8 million UAH.
Law enforcement conducted searches at Slobozhenko’s home and in his office in central Kyiv. They seized equipment and documents but later returned everything to him. According to published court decisions in the state register, this tax evasion case stalled at the pretrial investigation stage in 2022. Slobozhenko calls it "fabricated". Simultaneously, a few weeks after the case was opened, he registered as an entrepreneur of the 3rd group, which is possible if the annual income does not exceed 8.3 million UAH. However, according to the entrepreneur himself, he earns more than a million dollars monthly.
In 2023, law enforcement agencies again turned their attention to Slobozhenko. The Bureau of Economic Security (BES) opened a criminal case on suspicion of tax evasion (Article 212 of the Criminal Code), organization of gambling (Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code), and money laundering of especially large criminal proceeds (Article 209 of the Criminal Code). In November last year, Slobozhenko promised to pay the accrued taxes to the state budget. He rejected the accusations of organizing gambling. NGL.media did not find any confirmation of the tax payment that Slobozhenko talked about.
Slobozhenko also owns 13% of "Ikigai Group", which engages in real estate rental. The company was registered two months ago in Kyiv. Besides Slobozhenko, there are five other entrepreneurs as its founders.
Unfitness for service
In October 2022, the Holosiivskyi District Territorial Recruitment Center in Kyiv issued a certificate of Slobozhenko’s unfitness. The conclusion was signed by the head of the Military Medical Commission (MMC) of the Holosiivskyi District, Volodymyr Prykhodko. At the beginning of last year, he was accused of receiving undue benefits for removing individuals from military registration. Prykhodko is currently not heading the district MMC. He resigned from his main job at one of the capital’s hospitals and is awaiting a court sentence.
According to NGL.media, Slobozhenko traveled abroad 12 times in the last two years. He undertook several trips with Andriy Medyanyk, the aforementioned owner of two of his cars.
For the first time since the beginning of the war, Slobozhenko left Ukraine on April 9, 2022. At that point, he had not yet been declared unfit for service. In one of his Instagram posts, he claimed that he left legally but did not specify how exactly.
NGL.media claims that the young millionaire left Ukraine as a volunteer. According to Ukrtransbezpeka, the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration entered him into the "Shlyakh" system. Slobozhenko left via Uzhhorod in a Volkswagen Crafter minibus together with Andriy Medyanyk. He returned six months later, in October 2022. Allegedly, he then underwent MMC and was issued a certificate of military service unfitness and discharged from military records. This allowed him to leave Ukraine anytime without restrictions, which he regularly uses. The last time Slobozhenko went abroad was on March 28 of this year, and he has not returned to Ukraine. Journalists could not obtain any comments from Slobozhenko personally.
29 April 2024 г., 18:19
