Sergey Malofeykin turned out to be linked to the payment system Payler through his partners

Former member of the General Council of “Delovaya Rossiya” and creator of the VIJU neural network, Sergey Malofeykin, who was detained for the legalization, cash-out, and transfer abroad of more than 2 billion rubles, turned out to be linked to the payment system Payler.

The system processes payments for businesses and private individuals, including through the use of electronic wallets. At the same time, Malofeykin’s business partner, Rashid Batyrbekov, who is also a defendant in a criminal case, was involved in cryptocurrency mining.

Malofeykin was detained on March 24 and taken to the Frunzensky District Court in Ivanovo. He is accused of organizing a money-laundering scheme for a number of companies linked to PJSC “Samolyot Group” (about 30% of which is owned by the family of the recently deceased businessman Mikhail Kenin). In total, 17 people are involved in the case, and during interrogations the detainees named Malofeykin as the leader of the group.

The scheme was straightforward: various private security companies (ChOPs) signed contracts with Samolyot-related firms for security services that were never actually provided. This has reportedly been going on since at least 2020. Funds were transferred through the accounts of these security firms to counterparties and then cashed out. The scheme was allegedly facilitated by two Astrakhan-based lawyers, Vladimir Egazaryants and Sergey Astafurov, with Astafurov acting as the link to Samolyot’s top management.

Previously, Astafurov, a former officer of the GUEBiPK, had been convicted of abuse of office. It was Egazaryants, then president of the “Sovetnik Prava” Bar Association, who helped his longtime acquaintance Astafurov obtain lawyer status in 2025. Another Astrakhan-based figure, Rashid Batyrbekov, was responsible for the private security companies. He also handled the group’s cryptocurrency operations and mining activities — with equipment hosted by Rodion Bodrov, the owner of two Saratov-based crypto firms, “Bulminer” and “Kryptopredpriyatie”.

At the same time, Malofeykin himself had direct ties to the fintech and cryptocurrency business. From 2019 to August 2022, his business partners in LLC “Information and Analytical System” (IAS) included Konstantin Kopyltsov and the Khatykov family through their company Payler. This is an international payment service providing internet acquiring, with legal entities in several countries, including Russia and the United Kingdom.

It was stated that the system allows payments via bank cards and crypto wallets. After the start of the war, due to sanctions, the Russian legal entity “Payler” became unable to legally process international payments, while working with Russian businesses became toxic for British management.

In mid-2023, responsibilities were split: the British company remained with Konstantin Kopyltsov (with around 30% also held by Latvian businessman Aleksejs Radciks), while his share in the Russian “Payler” was transferred to a certain Tatyana Potopal’skaya, who previously owned a sole proprietorship in the newspaper publishing sector. Kopyltsov reportedly has no banking issues in Europe, as by November 2022 he had obtained a Kyrgyz passport.

Vitaly Khatykov retained 60% of Payler, and his son Bogdan holds 25%. Vitaly Khatykov is a well-connected figure. Several years ago, he was CEO of Gazprom Georesurs, previously headed the secretariat of the president of Russian Railways (RZD), and in the late 1990s worked as head of the budget and finance department at the Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy.

The European Payler website states that the system does not work with Russia or Belarus. Despite this separation, contact cards in aggregators for LLC “Payler” still list an email address of the British company on a.com domain, which is also recorded in the register of operators submitted to Roskomnadzor.

Both companies use a unified logo, and the “Technical Documentation” section on the Russian website (which is not accessible from abroad) redirects to the British Payler Ltd site. Thus, it appears that the separation of Malofeykin’s partners’ business was only formal — designed to bypass sanctions.

Nikolay Gerasimenko

Корреспондент

Автор: Иван Рокотов