The NepoPEP: Alleged Russian gangster’s son’s US property company

The Russian Gen-Z money launderer jailed in 2024 for his role in cash to crypto money laundering scheme, is connected the son of an alleged Russian gangster who owns a US property company. An investigation into the Semen Kuksov case by TriTrace’s Ilia Shumanov, Transparency International Russia in Exile (TI Russia)’s dirty money team in partnership with Compliance Corylated, opened another path of investigation and uncovered the connection to Boris Borisovich Ivanyuzhenkov another young Russian who lived in the UK.

Kuksov was a director in a now-dissolved Russian company with Ivanyuzhenkov. This article explores Ivanyuzhenkov’s real estate dealings in the United States, as well as his connections to other wealthy Russians including his Duma member father, who is also an alleged Moscow crime boss.

The Kuksov case is another chapter in the ‘Londongrad’ chronicles over the past 25 years. Russian money began to arrive in London in the early 2000s and since then wealthy Russians (at least their money) have captivated British society. Some, like Boris Victorovich Ivanyuzhenkov, sent the children from his “second family” to the UK. Ivanyuzhenkov’s son Boris Borisovich Ivanyuzhenkov, and his daughter Angelina, came via the US to the UK for their education.

As a member of the Duma, Boris Victorovich Ivanyuzhenkov was made subject to US, UK and European Union sanctions shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He came to the attention of European law enforcement agencies in the 2010s when it was reported that he was linked to law enforcement investigations in Spain starting in 2013 which culminated in arrests in 2016 and 2020.

“A close friend and right-hand man of Sergey Lalakin, the alleged leader of the Podolsk organised crime community, [Ivanyuzhenkov] is believed to be responsible for managing the organisation’s financial operations,” writes João Gretzitz in his report “A brief study of Russian organised crime”.

TutorGroup

It was while researching Kuksov and his money laundering operation that Shumanov, a member of the board Transparency International Russia in Exile, came across Boris Victorovich’s son Boris Borisovich. Kuksov and Boris Borisovich were directors in a Russian company TutorGroup from January 10, 2019, until exactly two years later when the company was liquidated on January 10, 2021. Shumanov was curious about this connection between the convicted money launderer and the son of a sanctioned Duma member.

Boris Borisovich and Semen Kuksov were both born in 2000, lived in Kensington and had friends in common through school connections. They are connected to each other on Facebook, although there is no suggestion whatsoever of any wrongdoing on Boris Borisovich’s part. The purpose of TutorGroup could not be determined; it seemed to be a dormant company.

“My initial thought was at first Kuksov [used TutorGroup] to transfer money for himself,” explained Shumanov.  

Even before the war it was difficult for Russians to transfer money through official channels, because banks were averse to taking on any Russian customers, not just ultra-high net worth individuals and their families. Those determined enough could transfer money from company to company using trade-based money laundering. Demand for crypto transfers would have risen after the war and the imposition of sanctions on individuals and banks.

“After the start of the war, there is big demand, not only for Kuksov, but for all those who are residing in United Kingdom, but the source of wealth is based in Russia, like oligarchs, like some criminals and so on, especially children of these individuals, who are quite dependent on the family funds. That is when he might have established this transfer funds through crypto,” Shumanov said.

Semen Kuksov and Boris Borisovich Ivanyuzhenkov were directors of a Russian company called TutorGroup

New investigation

There is no evidence showing Boris Borisovich was using Kuksov’s money laundering service. Boris Borisovich’s story is interesting in its own right, however, and further investigation into his dealings revealed that the now 25-year-old, has a property portfolio that includes properties in Germany and New Jersey. He is also a person of significant control of a UK company Riverred Ltd, which was struck off the company register in March.

Boris Borisovich’s mother Evgeniya Gogitdze was from Georgia and lived in United States where Boris was born, making him automatically eligible for a US passport. During her time there Evgeniya lived in California, Florida and New York, according to public records. Evgeniya, who also went by the Eugenia Lorret, died in 2011, according to a social media post by her brother. Her last known address was at the Trump World building by the United Nations in New York, public records obtained by Compliance Corylated show.

Boris Victorovich Ivanyuzhenkov

Boris Victorovich Ivanyuzhenkov is a formidable figure. Prior to becoming a member of the Duma in 2011, he was a Greco-Roman wrestler and an alleged member of “Podolsk”, one of Russia’s organized crime groups. He was also the Russian Federation’s Minister of Sport in 2008 and was the vice president of the Russian Paralymic Committee from 2006 to 2021.

In December 2020 Spanish police conducted an operation targeting an organized crime group that was allegedly laundering money for Podolsk members including Boris Victorovich. Podolsk, according to Spanish officials, had bought restaurants, night clubs and luxury properties in Spain to launder money. Reporting in 2021 by the Russian anti-corruption investigation website The Insider published wiretap transcripts confirming Boris Victorovich’s involvement in the Spanish money laundering scheme.

Boris Victorovich’s wife, Natalya Ivanyuzhenkova, two sons and a daughter all live in Russia in the Moscow area. Boris Victorovich and his wife were added to the US and UK sanctions list in 2022.

Anton and Artem Ivanyuzhenkov are both hockey players, and both have been suspected of crimes. Artem played hockey in the United States for three years and now plays for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Sochi, Russia. In March 2023, Artem was suspected of stabbing and murdering a man during a birthday party in Moscow. He was not charged. Anton was alleged to have hit and injured two people at a bus stop with his car in 2016. He was not charged either.

Danilov connection

Boris Borisovich is also connected to Mikhail Danilov who is a business partner of his father. Danilov tags Boris Borisovich on Facebook in 2015 and describes him as “the godson”. It was reported that Danilov avoided arrest in Spain in connection with the real estate and money laundering scheme in Alicante in 2022. Spanish reporting on the case called Operation Testudo showed links between Danilov and Boris Victorovich. The case fell apart however, and neither Ivanyuzhenkov or Danilov were charged.

Young tennis player 

Boris Borisovich has lived in the UK from at least 2010. Documents on the UK corporate register, Companies House, show Boris Borisovich to be Russian Federation national residing in the UK.

Boris Borisovich appears to be a different kind of person than his half-brothers. He was the tennis captain, flag captain, a prefect and a mentor at Fentonfleet School in Surrey in 2012. His sister Angelina also went to Fentonfleet and then went to Epsom College, also in Surrey.

Boris also turns up in various sports reports including a 2010 article by then BBC Sports radio commentator Jonathan Overend reporting on GB Tennis’s “crop of junior talent”.

“And, make no mistake, there were some classy touches from [other players] and Boris Ivanyuzhenkov (London). Good luck to them (keep at it!), although this radio commentator politely invites a colleague to take over before little Boris makes his Wimbledon debut!” Overend wrote.

He would have been about 10 years old at that time.

Boris Borisovich also played in the Junior Kremlin Cup in 2014 according to his profile on CoreTennis.net.

School boy property developer

From Fentonfleet School, Boris Borisovich went to another private school Whitgift in South Croydon, according to his LinkedIn profile and a school brochure. He then went to University College London (UCL). While at UCL Boris Borisovich got into property development. Public records in the United States, Germany and the UK as well as Boris Borisovich’s LinkedIn show the now 25-year-old to be involved in four property companies. This is the first time Boris Victorovich Ivanyuzhenkov’s US connections through his son, Boris Borisovich, have been reported.

“Boris Borisovich grew up in United States, in the UK, went to good schools, but then he moved to Russia. He reconnected with his father, and then he appeared as an investor in Germany, United States, out of the blue, with an unknown source of funding. Why so? Because he reconnected with his father, and his father is a criminal, a sanctioned person, a member of state, former minister and the leader of the organized crime group, of course. So it looks like environment around them was, it gives no chances to them, to, let’s say, to be their own person,” Shumanov said.   

In January 10, 2019, Kuksov and Boris Borisovich established TutorGroup in Russia. Roughly eight months later, in September, the then 19 year old Boris Borisovich established the Stacked Group in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, according to a certificate of formation from the New Jersey Department of the Treasury Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services obtained by Compliance Corylated.

The stated purpose of the company is “investment +” and its registered agent is Premier Developers, a local property developer owned by Peter Tiflinsky.  According to Stacked Group’s LinkedIn, it was involved in the development of a large apartment complex in Belleville, New Jersey called The Essex. The property, which has 156 units would have cost somewhere in the region of $30 to $35 million to develop. Residential units cost on average $157,000 each to develop in New Jersey. Apartments at The Essex are advertised online to rent $2,415 – $3,245 per month.

The Ivanyuzhenkovs, representatives of the Kuksovs, and the Russia Federation Duma press office did not respond to detailed emails seeking comment.

This is the first of two articles about Boris Borisovich Ivanyuzhenkov’s business dealings written by Rachel Wolcott in collaboration with Ilia Shumanov and support from the Transparency International Russia in Exile dirty money investigation team.