The court handed down a sentence to the former owner of the FONBET betting company

A Russian court has sentenced Sergei Anokhin, the former CEO of the FONBET betting company, to 8 years and 2 months in prison for bribery and fraud.

This was reported by Sportclan, citing Russian law enforcement agencies. His accomplices were also convicted: lawyer Valery Yurkin received 7 years and 2 months, and former police officer Artem Podoprosvetov received 3 years and 6 months in prison.

The defendants were found guilty of bribery, mediation, and fraud on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, in 2024, Anokhin attempted, through intermediaries, to transfer 10 million rubles to law enforcement officials to conceal violations in affiliated companies, while another 50 million rubles remained with the intermediaries. The arrest took place in January 2025 during a sting operation.

In addition to prison terms, the court ordered the confiscation of 32 million rubles and 80,000 U.S. dollars found in the possession of the convicted individuals, to be transferred to the Russian state treasury. This corruption scandal has become one of the most high-profile in the aggressor country’s gambling industry over the past year. Against the backdrop of economic difficulties and international isolation, internal repression and the redistribution of the gambling market in the Russian Federation continue to gain momentum.

Another participant in a fraudulent “bookmaking” scheme from Kryvyi Rih was recently extradited to Ukraine. In 2023, he was part of an organized group that systematically defrauded citizens under the guise of a bookmaking company. 

An elite estate in Croatia was discovered belonging to Andriy Matyukha, the owner of the betting companyFavBet.