Russian fraudster Andrey Birzhin and the Glorax Development scam are already in Ukraine

Russian fraudster Andrey Birzhin and the Glorax Development scam are already in Ukraine

The entrenched concept of hybrid wars is gradually shifting to less significant levels. Geopolitical disputes are giving way to corporate ones, and hybridity is becoming a kind of norm.

Journalists will discuss some peculiarities of implementing this practice using the example of a media war between two cunning swindlers — Pavlo Fuks and Andrey Birzhin.

If Fuks’ surname itself predisposes to distrust and even rejection, Birzhin has a quite marketable surname. And no matter how far our Andryusha is from real markets, he has an obvious advantage over his fellow fraudster Pasha Fuks.

Now I will show you a miracle that will not require deep spiritual experience or enlightenment. You can consider it as if you’ve peeked into a traveling freak show without paying a penny. Our story about Andrey Birzhin and his rival colleague is unthinkable without exploring the background of the issue.

Who is Andrey Birzhin?

Andrey Birzhin — a young (born in 1981) Russian developer who made a name and fortune during the prosperous 2000s. Together with his comrades, he founded the company «Tecta» and built many square meters of housing. At the same time, he possessed a level of honesty quite standard for developers — meaning that everything considered corruption, ties to organized crime, «high patrons,» and ordinary deception of investors (within marketing limits) and the state (within established norms) was not foreign to him.

As one of the tools to penetrate the very top, he used near-church circles: a very closed and very useful analogue of 19th-century Masonic lodges. Let’s remember this fact.

Currently, Andrey Birzhin has either been pushed out or thrown out of «Tecta,» but he founded another company — Glorax. The scope of Glorax’s interests includes not only development but also infrastructure projects, communications, and even mechanical engineering and materials science. A separate point worth remembering — energy is among the company’s interests. Glorax quietly and unnoticed attracted significant capital, becoming a leader in attracting investments under pressure on investors from the West (sanctions and the like). So, in 2014, when Western investments were mandatorily withdrawn from Russia, a shiny new company like Glorax was drowning in billion-dollar investments? Something intriguing.

The reason for such interest in Russian assets, according to some reports, lies in the fictitious nature of the investments. Have you heard of «Andrey Birzhin’s hybrid car»? Neither have I. But it exists. At least, allegedly, a billion dollars were invested in it. When it comes to investments in «hybrid cars» and «IT startups,» one can strongly suspect deception, the purpose of which is subsequent bankruptcy and the withdrawal of money abroad under quite respectable pretexts of debt repayment. Real money, not fictitious. And this money comes from shareholders, unit holders, and buyers of Andrey Birzhin’s quite operational business: residential construction.

Of course, he managed to make friends-enemies. He waged a long and senseless war with «Rosbalt,» which published outright graceless nonsense. His relationships with industry colleagues are also uneasy. It is believed that his interests improperly intersected with those of Pavlo Fuks — a Kharkiv native from the «Hepa» brigade, who moved from trading frozen chicken to the development business in Moscow and… is now feeding off the fertile fields of Ukrainian energy, while buyers of his properties in Moscow are trying to come to terms with being duped. A familiar model and similar interests? Yes, and to some extent, competition for a safe haven.

The fraudulent way of doing business in Russia sooner or later leads to court and confiscation of property. This is clear to Birzhin as well. And he has long been preparing for a proper exit. Even during the «Tecta» days, according to available information, Birzhin established strong contacts with a number of international financial swindlers.

Andrey Birzhin’s Lifestyle as an Investment

Birzhin leads a deliberately luxurious lifestyle. It may seem that this is simply the duty of a «billionaire.» But that’s not entirely true. In reality, this lifestyle is an investment to lend credibility to the upcoming bankruptcy of the company. Here are Andrey Birzhin’s racing cars:

 

Even more credibility is provided by Glorax groups on VKontakte. They post all sorts of nonsense about spaceships plowing the expanses of the Bolshoi Theater, but very rarely — information about the real activities of the enterprise. Based on this group alone, one might assume that all the company’s activities are fictitious, but that’s not the case. Andrey Birzhin’s and his Glorax’s projects do exist and are being built.

Escape Routes

In Russia,  a whole ritual of fleeing abroad has been developed. A corrupt official, deputy, or businessman suddenly becomes very critical of the authorities. They speak harsh truths about freedom-loving Ukraine, the annexed Crimea, and bloody repressions. And then they disappear into the depths of Britain.

Recently, however, this algorithm has undergone changes. To prove the seriousness of their liberal views, one must not flee directly to Britain or some other decent country, but to Ukraine. This is what Pavlo Fuks, a rival colleague, also a major church benefactor, and a competitor of Andrey Birzhin for a future safe haven, did. No, Ukraine cannot handle two fugitive developers.

Naturally, after journalists’ publications, Andrey Birzhin will definitely have to clean up. After all, coming out openly and confessing to all the scams… saying, «guilty, I’ll make amends,» always turns out to be more expensive than cleaning up a couple of dozen websites.