Source: www.rucriminal.info
The Russian hacker Maxim Yakubets, for whose capture the FBI promises a reward of $ 5 million, turned out to be a son-in-law of Eduard Bendersky, a special forces veteran of the FSB Vympel, head of the eponymous private security company. According to Radio Liberty, on December 5, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 17 people, including 12 Russians, whom the United States and Great Britain have accused of stealing more than $ 100 million from banks, companies and individuals since 2011. This is the hacker group Evil Corp, which the US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin called "one of the most prolific cybercriminal organizations in the world." The FBI calls 32-year-old Moscow resident Maxim Yakubts the main person in Evil Corp.
The American and British authorities claim that Yakubets, for whose information a reward of $ 5 million was promised, was engaged in hacking activities not only for personal enrichment, but also in the interests of the FSB. Radio Liberty found out that Maxim Yakubets is really connected with this Russian special service: in 2017, he married the daughter of the former Vympel FSB special officer Eduard Bendersky, the head of the eponymous association of private security companies and a charity fund. Rucriminal.info conducted its own investigation into Bendersky, which we will publish in several parts.
Eduard Vitalyevich Bendersky was born in the village of Urshelsky, Vladimir Region in 1970, in the family of a professional military-border guard Vitaly Bendersky (presumably died in Vladimir in 2006). The latter had a very good career, he was the commander of the Kaahkinsky border detachment, was part of the command of the Moscow border detachment, took part in special operations, including in the Kufab Gorge in Afghanistan. The border troops belonged to the KGB of the USSR and Edward went along his father's side. Vitaly attached him to the Ryazan Airborne School, which he graduated in 1991, and ended up in the Separate Training Center of the KGB of the USSR (Vympel group). However, Edward’s career as an elite commando was extremely short-lived. Already in 1994, he was transferred to the reserve with the rank of senior lieutenant. Usually during an interview, Vympel and Alpha veterans can spend hours talking about the operations in which they took part. And our hero has nothing to brag about. Rumor has it that he quit not voluntarily and after some not-so-good story. However, during his short service, Eduard managed to establish excellent relations with the leadership of the Separate Training Center and actually went to the "citizen" as their representative, who should establish the commercial part of the work of the special forces and the receipt of money for his command.
As a result, the private security company Vympel-A was born, which went all out. Everyone remembers what the 90s were like - “showdowns”, “racketeering”, brothers, etc. Bendersky and his fighters (a mix of former and current fighters of Alpha and Vymela) took an active part in all these processes. Moreover, sometimes Edward’s partners of those times were completely finished “scumbags”. Rucriminal.info found out that in September 2001 the MUR officers detained the Ukrainian “authority” Anatoly Svitelsky, while the operatives searched for his friend - previously convicted Mikhail Zabaluev. Both specialized in the strict extortion of money, primarily from large debtors. There is a whole "bunch" of related crimes - beatings, threats, abductions. The materials of the operatives indicate that the closest connection between Svitelsky and Zabaluev of those times (90s-early 2000s) was Eduard Bendersky.
Bendersky himself, despite repeatedly appearing in such investigations, safely avoided a possible arrest. First of all, because Vympel-A from the very first day of its existence is not so much Bendersky itself, as representatives of the command of the Scientific Center, individual commanders and top fighters of Vympel and Alpha.
Their relationship was once described in letters from Vympel and Alpha employees to Yuri Schekochikhin:
“Now - about one of the sponsors of the TsSN FSB. Once in the center served a humble officer Bendery Eduard. He quit as a senior lieutenant. In civilian life, he created a private security company Vympel-A under the "roof" of our center. Our general Tikhonov personally supervises it.
Bendersky rides a Gelendvagen jeep, has both a special standard and a cover certificate. Almost all banquets, concerts, competitions are paid by his private security company. Mr. Bednenky himself regularly comes to the sauna to take a steam bath, despite the fact that this sauna is located on the territory of the special-purpose center of the Central Scientific Center. He prefers to take a steam bath in the center’s leadership.
Now remember the events on Dubrovka. Immediately after the successful assault that Vimpel and I fought, some of the leaders of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs told on television how the preparations for the assault and the assault itself took place.
What was the amazement of many of us when, in one of the plots, we saw Mr. Bendersky - a civilian who had long left the organs. He, sitting in front of the monitors, told in detail how and from where special forces had moved around the seized building, naming the numbers of departments and groups. It goes without saying that the information and videos made by our operators were provided to him by the center’s management. ”
According to information collected by Rucriminal.info, in the history of the official ownership of a business empire from private security companies, funds, etc. Bendersky clearly shows that she had other co-owners who were hiding behind their wives and other relatives. For example, among them was a famous employee of the Alpha group, a participant in dozens of special operations, Konstantin Pekker. Well, about him later, until we get back to our hero.
In the summer of 2002, Bendersky turned out to be a defendant in a funny story. Then, “Bank of New York” hired an American detective agency in order to deal with the situation with “Inkombank.” This bank “collapsed”, and in “Bank of New York” remained its funds worth $ 1.5 billion. In the United States, it was suspected that these were “shadow” funds, including of Russian officials withdrawn from Russia. One of the leaders of the detective agency Palladino, in turn, brought to work the Moscow branch of the English law firm Clifford Chans Punder CIS Ltd. And the company involved its partner, Eduard Bendersky, in the investigation. His task was to find out if this was really “dirty” money. including officials and to collect a dossier on them, in particular, they were talking about a State Duma deputy, a number of officials of the Russian Federal Property Fund and Gosstrakh.
"Bank of New York" did not hide that it wants to prove that it is "dirty" money and not return it to Russia.
Bendersky asked for a month to work, and he wrote a statement to the FSB of the Russian Federation that the "customers" clearly connected with the American intelligence services instructed him to collect incriminating evidence against senior Russian officials. An operation to detain the “spies” has begun. Bendersky managed to lure Palladino to Moscow for a meeting, where he was detained in the office of Clifford Chans Punder. The American was informed about the inadmissibility of his activities in the Russian Federation and was expelled from the country.
So far, in the late 90s and early 2000s, field investigators caught Bendersky’s partners such as Svitelsky and Zabaluev, Eduard himself, the private enterprise Vympel A and his curators from special forces reached a completely different level of activity.
The loudest and most exciting operation of those times, which makes it possible to understand the scale of the activities of Bendersky, his curators and clients, is the story of the capture of Dongazdobycha.
In 1988, the Markovskoye gas condensate field was discovered in the Rostov Region, the area of which is located in the Russian and Ukrainian territories - in Rostov (about 85%) and Lugansk (about 15%) regions, respectively.
Businessman Vitaly Ponomarev gained control over the Dongazdobycha enterprise, which had a license for the subsoil use of the Russian part of the field. He himself "did not pull" a gigantic project and began to look for influential partners. As a result, he was advised by the Ukrainian businessman Vladimir Vecherko. This very large character in Ukraine, his take-off occurred due to the marriage of his daughter Yefim Zvyagilsky - a coal tycoon, was once the first deputy prime minister of Ukraine, a permanent deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, etc. An eveningly active participant in the gas and coal wars in Ukraine, his family is closely connected with all Donetsk clans - from gangs to Viktor Yanukovych.
Evening received a package of "Dongazdobycha", but instead of actively pouring in finances, he began to force out Ponomarev himself from the enterprise. He panicked began to look for a powerful ally and found him in the person of Stanislav Milovanov - classmate Dmitry Zelenin. The latter subsequently became the governor of the Tver region, and at the time of those events he was an active player in the market of unfriendly takeovers. All the work on these ads and the search for good objects was just done by Milovanov. He took on the side of Ponomarev "go" to the "Dongazvydobuvannya". As a result, Zelenin had to solve all issues at the administrative level, and as a power support, Vympel A was led, headed by Eduard Bendersky, who at that time carried out security and Zelenin.
However, Vecherko also found something to answer. He drew to his side a number of security officials and a reputable businessman Vladimir Golubev (Barmaley). A “war” began, with the initiation of a heap of action on participants in both sides of the conflict. As a compromise, the company was brought in by the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the former head of the Gazprom security service, Ivan Sardak, and his younger brother Nikolai, who was close to the then governor of the Rostov region Vladimir Chub.
The “backstage” games began, during which the Sardak brothers, previously closer to the Zelenin team, switched to the side of Vecherko. At the same time, the Chub family received a block of shares in the enterprise.
After these events, in February 2003 in Moscow, the killers opened fire on the car in which Vecherko and Golubev were
They were saved solely by the fact that the car was armored.
In the evening, directly blamed the team Zelenin-Milovanov. During the investigation, the version was worked out that Vimpel-A and Bendersky employees were involved in the incident.
To be continued
Timofey Grishin
Source: www.rucriminal.info
