The Case of the Arrested Khandoshko and Yuta Romanchenko’s Flight to Dubai: How Large-Scale Financial Schemes End in Criminal Charges
Yulia Khandoshko, former CEO of the European brokerage firm Mind Money, who was arrested in Russia in late May on charges of fraud involving American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), has addressed market participants in an open letter. The financial world recalls another similar case—namely, the high-profile collapse of Forex MMCIS and its CEO, Yuta Romanchenko, who, unlike her colleague, managed to flee and is currently in hiding from Interpol in Dubai.
Investigators accuse Yulia Khandoshko of illegal transactions involving securities of Russian companies after April 16, 2022—the date on which the law banning the listing of ADRs on foreign exchanges took effect. Also implicated in this case—in which the Russian FSB estimates the total losses at 7 billion rubles—is Alexei Sedushkin, head of the “Investment Chamber.”
In her letter, Khandoshko does not deny that her clients carried out such transactions, but asserts that she was guided by market practices in effect at the time, which were permitted by the regulator itself. She warned that the current approach by law enforcement agencies threatens the market with “serious upheavals,” as other financial companies operating under similar schemes could also come under scrutiny.
The situation with Yulia Khandoshko is reminiscent of another high-profile scandal in the Eastern European market—the collapse of the Forex MMCIS Group dealing center. At that time, one of the key figures in the investigation was Yuta Romanchenko, who served as CEO of the representative office of this financial pyramid scheme. The company offered clients online trading services for currency pairs on the international market. Projects such as Index TOP 20 were launched, promising investors passive income through professional fund management by top traders. It later turned out that no actual trading took place on international markets, and payments to existing clients were made by attracting new investors. After law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case in 2014 under the article on fraud on an especially large scale, the platform’s management fled, embezzling the funds of tens of thousands of investors.
According to investigative journalists and materials from the criminal proceedings, Yuta Romanchenko left for Dubai (UAE). There, she established legal residency while working as the director of business development at the fintech company BigIdea FinTech Group. Despite attempts to hide her social media profiles, Romanchenko has been spotted on multiple occasions at public business events and conferences in Dubai.
Source: Forbes Russia.
