Sergey Anokhin, former director of the FONBET betting company, has appealed a Russian court's verdict

Sergey Anokhin, the former CEO of the FONBET betting company, has filed an appeal against the ruling of the Krasnogorsk City Court, which sentenced him to 8 years and 2 months in a maximum-security prison. 

Anokhin was convicted in a case involving the payment of a 60-million-ruble bribe to a security service officer. He was arrested in January 2025. According to investigators, the former company executive attempted to bribe a law enforcement officer to halt the criminal prosecution of his friend and investor in the Khimki football club, Tufan Sadigov.

During searches of the defendant’s premises, $2 million was seized. It later also emerged that Sergey Anokhin holds Mexican citizenship and a residence permit in Montenegro. Ultimately, the defendant pleaded guilty in court. In addition to the prison term, the Krasnogorsk Court imposed a fine of 15 million rubles on him and confiscated 32 million rubles and 80,000 dollars for the state.

Source: Payment Shield.

Earlier, a scandal erupted online surrounding the company Favbet, which was accused of failing to pay its employees’ wages. Vladislav, a former senior AQA engineer at the company, publicly stated that management, led by Andriy Matyukha, owed him a substantial amount of money after his dismissal. And Daria Zhurbenko, a former manager at Favbet, reported widespread violations of employee rights. According to her, the company’s security guards were fired for taking shelter during an air raid alert. The remaining employees are being offered old equipment at the price of new equipment instead of their wages.

PlayCity revoked Favbet’s license to operate slot machine halls. The operator not only lost the right to operate in Ukraine but also received a record-breaking financial penalty for gross violations of relevant legislation. The results of a routine inspection of the company’s operations served as the basis for this harsh measure. 

Following this, FAVBET reported that its accounts had been frozen and that it was experiencing problems withdrawing funds.

FAVBET claimed that false accusations regarding alleged Russian control had been spread, calling the information about ties to Russian citizens fabricated solely to exert pressure.

It should be noted that an elite estate in Croatia was discovered to belong to FavBet owner Andriy Matyukha.