Sanctions evasion via corruption: how Sergey Tokarev kept control through Cosmolot management and shadow “nominee” schemes involving Mikhail Zborovsky
The Bureau of Economic Security’s press releases mention billions, but they’re nowhere to be found in the state budget. Ukraine has been living in conflict for five years now, where every penny is crucial to the country’s survival.
While the government raises taxes on ordinary citizens, encourages the purchase of war bonds, and seeks financial support worldwide, an industry with turnover in the tens of billions continues to thrive within the country. This refers to online casinos, where, according to YouControl analytics , official turnover alone exceeded UAH 55.6 billion in 2023.
However, behind the shiny banners and promises of easy wins lies a different reality: billion-dollar tax evasion schemes, miscoding, and close ties to Russia. One of the most illustrative examples of this "gray" zone is the case of Cosmolot (SpaceX LLC), which was once the first licensee on the market but subsequently found itself at the center of a major scandal.
A billion in the headlines – zero in the budget
In February 2024, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) reported the exposure of one of the largest market players of evading 1.2 billion hryvnias in taxes. According to investigators, the scheme was typical of the underground gambling scene: the use of more than 30 mirror sites and the substitution of payment details (miscoding)—a scheme in which payouts to players were recorded not as winnings, but as refunds of deposits, thereby avoiding personal income tax and military tax.
According to investigators’ estimates, the company thus paid out 4.5 billion hryvnias in winnings, failing to pay 1.1-1.2 billion hryvnias in taxes to the budget. Approximately 700 million hryvnias in the company’s accounts were frozen as part of the case. The company’s name was not mentioned in the official press release, but law enforcement sources confirmed to the media that it was Cosmolot.
But what unfolds next, unfortunately, is a typical scenario for this market.
In April 2024, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) officially confirmed the criminal proceedings. Meanwhile, Cosmolot co-owner Arnulf Damerau, a German investor, stated in an interview with the Financial Times that "corrupt officials in law enforcement agencies" were attempting to extort tens of millions of euros from him, promising to resolve all legal issues. He described this as "corporate raiding, not a genuine law enforcement investigation."
The court was supposed to determine who was right. But justice suddenly tipped its hand in favor of the gaming giant. In September 2025, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv lifted the freeze on SpaceX LLC’s accounts after the company, according to the case file, "voluntarily rectified the damage and paid all taxes and fees in full in accordance with the expert assessment conducted by the pre-trial investigation body."
No conviction. No confiscation. No public accounting of how much actually went into the budget.
As of 2026, the high-profile case appears to have completely faded into obscurity. While other operators, such as Pin-Up (UAH 2.6 billion recovered) or Parimatch (UAH 1 billion), have produced concrete results (although questions remain regarding Parimatch, as the company evaded not one, but 15 billion in taxes), in the case of Cosmolot, there have been no final court rulings or reports of actual revenue!
This raises an awkward question: isn’t the Cosmolot issue being resolved outside of the criminal process, being converted into sums with many zeros in the pockets of specific officials, instead of state accounts?
The Russian trail and the "Crimean holidays" of the beneficiaries
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However, the tax issue is just the tip of the iceberg. The issue of national security may prove far more pressing. According to numerous journalistic investigations and documents obtained by the media, Russian citizen Sergei Tokarev may be the de facto controller of Cosmolot.
Officially, Sergey Potapov was listed as the ultimate beneficiary of SpaceX LLC until the fall of 2024. Later, Arnulf Damerau appeared in the register. However, a number of media outlets—368.media , Argument , Antikor , Spilno — conclude that Potapov is a front man, and that Tokarev is the real owner.
Sergey Tokarev, co-founder of the Roosh investment group, was previously an active player in the Russian gambling market. According to journalists, he promoted the Vulkan casino and Vulkan.bet in Russia through the networks of Konstantin Malofeev, one of the ideologists of the "Russian World." Casinos are banned in Russia and are under strict control by the FSB, but according to media reports, this didn’t stop Tokarev, thanks precisely to the patronage of Malofeev, who controlled a stake in Rostelecom.
In 2016, Tokarev was sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council on suspicion of financing militants in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR). Ten restrictions were imposed, including asset freezes and a ban on financial transactions.
In 2020, sanctions were lifted early. It was after this that Tokarev, according to media reports, increased his presence in Ukraine. In 2022, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported in an interview with LB.ua that Tokarev had been trying to obtain Ukrainian citizenship for almost two years . The text of this interview later disappeared from the media outlet’s website.
According to investigations, the businessman maintains close ties to Russia: at least three apartments in Izhevsk and Udmurtia, cars with Moscow government license plates, 172 flights to Moscow since 2016, and documented trips to Crimea. In 2023, after the conflict began, documents obtained by the editorial office show he signed a power of attorney to sell a parking space in Moscow.
While the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) was conducting a "quiet" investigation, Cosmolot was characterized by aggressive and questionable market behavior. In early 2024, the company clashed with Monobank after creating a clone of Monoban Casino using the bank’s style. Bank co-founder Oleg Gorokhovskyi publicly called this an attempt to illegally use the brand and blocked payments to the casino, demanding the company pay 10 million hryvnias.
COSMOLOT is dead. Long live COSMOBET?
But the real apotheosis of this story occurred after the BEB investigation gained publicity.
In October 2024, the Insider Telegram channel and several media outlets reported that Tokarev, apparently realizing that Cosmolot’s legal fate was becoming unpredictable, resorted to a classic "change of heart" strategy—launching a new online casino, Cosmobet .
The scheme is both simple and cynical. Back in March 2024, simultaneously with the BEB investigation, Neurolink LLC received a license from the Krasnoyarsk Regional Antimonopoly Service (KRAIL) to operate an online casino. The official launch of the Cosmobet platform took place in early June 2024.
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According to From-UA , Cosmobet was registered to Mykhailo Zborovskyi, who previously managed Cosmolot, and Dmitry Dyachenko, Cosmo’s former COO, was brought in. The money, according to journalists, was transferred through Cypriot offshore companies and then to Russia.
The irony of the situation lies in the names: SpaceX LLC (Cosmolot) and Neuralink LLC (Cosmobet). SpaceX and Neuralink are Elon Musk’s companies. The man behind these casinos is apparently a fan of the world’s richest businessman. But their operating methods are somewhat different.
Although Neurolink LLC officially denied any connection to Tokarev and SpaceX LLC, emphasizing that it is an independent operator, the similarity in management, the similarity in brand name, and the timing of the launch—right in the midst of the high-profile scandal surrounding Cosmolot—leave the question open.
Moreover, Cosmolot’s technical infrastructure turned out to be closely intertwined with another sanctioned giant, Parimatch. The domains of both companies were hosted on shared servers (lottery-cloud.com), which may indicate a unified coordination of the gaming projects that, for years, have been siphoning funds from Ukraine to offshore jurisdictions and the Russian Federation.
Where are law enforcement officers looking?
The question is rhetorical, but the answer requires specifics. Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies—the Bureau of Economic Security, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Regional Anti-Corruption Agency—are formally responding to the market’s problems. Criminal proceedings are indeed being opened. Searches are being conducted. Statements are being issued to the media.
But there are several systemic problems that journalists and analysts point out.
First, financial intelligence and sanctions legislation often exist in parallel. Sergey Tokarev was sanctioned in 2016 for financing militants and was released in 2020. Since then, his business in Ukraine has grown rapidly. Meanwhile, according to media reports, his ties to Russia—real estate, travel, business contacts—have not disappeared. The question is: have the competent authorities systematically investigated these connections?
Secondly, the "relabeling" scheme—from Cosmolot to Cosmobet—worked without a hitch. The then regulator, KRAIL, issued a license to the new company with the same management.
Third, April 2024 marked the date of Zelenskyy’s decree , which obligated the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to check all licensed gambling operators for compliance with sanctions legislation—that is, for any ties to Russia. Cosmobet received its license a month before this decree. The SBU’s findings during the inspection are not publicly known.
There is another dimension to this story that cannot be kept silent about.
Online casinos in Ukraine are actively monetizing their audience, including military personnel. The problem of pathological gambling addiction among personnel has become so serious that in April 2024, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) introduced restrictions on online gambling with this very wording.
Against the backdrop of this decision, the fact that the casino, suspected of evading billions in taxes, including military tax, continued to operate, while its probable owner, a Russian passport holder, launched new projects, takes on a particularly bitter aftertaste.
As a reminder, the military tax is a direct contribution to the army’s funding. This is the same Ukrainian army that is fighting against the country with which businessman Tokarev is associated.
Instead of a conclusion: unanswered questions
This article is not a verdict. Tokarev’s connection to Cosmolot has not been officially proven. The company itself denies all accusations and maintains its integrity. Cosmobet officially disclaims any connection to Cosmolot or Tokarev.
But there are questions that Ukrainian society, and above all the law enforcement system, are obliged to answer publicly.
How did a company with $27 billion in annual revenue settle a billion-dollar tax dispute quietly, without a verdict or public accounting?
Why does a Russian citizen, who signed documents to sell Moscow real estate during the conflict and maintains close ties to Russia, continue to do business in Ukraine?
And most importantly: if the gambling market generates over 55 billion hryvnias annually, why does the share of this money actually going into the budget of a warring country remain the subject of "quiet" legal settlements rather than transparent public reporting?
The online casino market during a conflict is not a matter of morality or public condemnation. It’s a question of public finances, sanctions control, and whether the rule of law exists in Ukraine.
The answer to this question can be found not in law enforcement press releases, but in budget revenues. The public is waiting for an answer: how much money will actually be returned to the budget, and who will bear responsibility for years of regulatory oversight?