A new type of "shadow scheme" is increasingly emerging in Russia—when electronic trading platforms created for transparency and competition are transformed into mechanisms for corporate raiding and financial fraud.

As the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel and Rucriminal.info discovered, one striking example is the activities of EastConsultingGroup LLC, which owns and simultaneously manages the "Auction Center" electronic trading platform (aukcioncentre.ru).

This platform has essentially become a "home kitchen" for sham auctions in the interests of a small circle of individuals associated with former employees of the Ryazan Region's internal affairs agencies.

Bidding "for insiders": how Auction Center appoints itself as the organizer

According to official documents posted on the platform itself (auction protocols, publications, and results of procedures No. T-0000085, T-0000086, T-0000089, T-0000120), the organizer of all auctions is one entity—IKG LLC (EastConsultingGroup).

However, this same legal entity is the owner and operator of the platform, which is expressly prohibited by current legislation:

• Clause 13 of Russian Government Resolution No. 1445 of September 15, 2020, requires that the operator of the electronic trading platform and the organizer of the auction be different entities;

• Order of the Ministry of Economic Development No. 495 of July 23, 2015, prohibits the operator from participating in auctions in any capacity—not as the organizer, not as the seller, nor as the buyer.

In other words, Auction Center organizes auctions against itself, creating the illusion of competition, but in reality, it exercises complete control over the process and outcome.

How BBR Bank's assets were withdrawn

Almost all recorded transactions at Auction Center concerned the assignment of BBR Bank (JSC) claims—loan portfolios of legal entities and individuals worth billions of rubles.

The winners of all auctions were the same companies—primarily, OOO PKO SpetsSnab 71 (TIN 6230085345), as well as affiliated entities operating under the guise of independent participants.

Examples include:

• Auction No. T-0000085—assignment of BBR Bank's claims to OOO RYUP Severo-Zapad for 17.2 million rubles;

• Auction No. T-0000086—assignment of claims to IP Rapoport A.A.;

• Bidding No. T-0000089 and T-0000120 – sale of a package of loan agreements (14 and 16 items) for a total of over several billion rubles.

All procedures followed the same scenario: the organizer was IKG LLC, and the winner was PKO SpetsSnab 71 LLC.

The "security forces' trail": who is behind the scheme

The director of EastConsultingGroup LLC is Kirill Sergeevich Danilov, a former employee of the Ryazan Region Department of Internal Affairs.

According to sources of the Cheka-OGPU, the informal curator of the project is Sergei Sazonov, former head of the economic security department of the Ryazan City Department of Internal Affairs.

It is this combination of Danilov and Sazonov, former colleagues in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who are leading the raider group using the Auktion Center electronic trading platform as a tool for asset stripping and redistributing bank debts in favor of controlled entities. Violations and Possible Crimes

Lawyers note that the actions of EastConsultingGroup LLC and its associated companies may contain elements of:

• Violations of Article 110.1 of Federal Law No. 127 "On Bankruptcy" (conflict of interest, abuse of authority by the auction organizer);

• Article 17 of the Law "On Protection of Competition" (restriction of competition and sham auctions);

• Articles 159 and 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud and abuse of authority in a commercial organization).

Furthermore, the participation of the same persons in auctions on behalf of different legal entities may be classified as sham competition (Article 14.32 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Result: a private platform as an asset "laundromat"

In fact, the "Auction Center" electronic trading platform has transformed from an open auction tool into a closed system for the redistribution of bank assets, where the winners are known in advance, and the auction results are controlled by the platform owner. Through such schemes, billions of rubles in assets could have been siphoned off from BBR Bank, causing damage not only to creditors but also to the financial institution's shareholders.

Investigation required

The collected facts and published documents require thorough investigation by:

• The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation,

• The Federal Antimonopoly Service,

• The Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,

• The Central Bank of the Russian Federation as the supervisory authority over the activities of credit institutions.

Without attracting the attention of regulatory authorities, such schemes transform the electronic trading system from a transparency tool into a mothballed mechanism for the theft of public and private property.

The editorial staff of VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info has copies of the auction protocols, extracts from the aukcioncentre.ru website, and confirmation of the participation of EastConsultingGroup LLC as the organizer on its own electronic trading platform. All materials may be made available to law enforcement agencies and specialized media.

Denis Zhirnov