25-year-old Ukrainian multimillionaire Oleksandr Slobozhenko continues to launder criminal Russian money

The IT company Traffic Devils owned by Oleksandr Slobozhenko is suspected of financial schemes and "black arbitration" in favor of illegal gambling business from Russia

An office on Khreshchatyk, elite sports cars, vacations at the trendiest resorts in the world, and interviews with glossy magazines. At only 25 years old, IT specialist from Kyiv region Oleksandr Slobozhenko has become a dollar millionaire, all supposedly due to the resale of internet traffic by his company Traffic Devils. However, the activities of this "office," which services online casinos, have already attracted the attention of law enforcement and parliamentarians. They discovered not only possible financial fraud but also a Russian connection.

The figure of the 25-year-old Ukrainian millionaire, founder of the IT company Traffic Devils Oleksandr Slobozhenko, caught the attention of "StopKor" editors due to a publication by MP Oleksandr Kunytskyi. The parliamentarian published a story with a photo of the IT specialist, asking subscribers to provide any information regarding his activities. He also noted that there is little hope for detailed information from law enforcement agencies about this person at the moment.

Notably, Kunytskyi is part of the parliamentary TIC investigating cases of cyber fraud and other alleged crimes in the field of electronic financial services.

The Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada for investigating possible fraud and other illegal activities in financial services and markets carried out via information, electronic communications, information-communication systems, and networks includes, aside from Kunytskyi, his colleagues in the Parliament: Maksym Buzhanskyi, Oleksandr Danutsa, Artem Dmytruk, Volodymyr Zakharchenko, Kostyantyn Kasai, Maksym Pavlyuk, Mykola Skoryk, Oleksandr Sukhov, and Oleksii Ustenko.

It is known that the parliamentarians are seriously investigating the activities of fraudulent call centers and financial pyramids operating in Ukraine’s million-plus cities without the necessary permits, using typical deception schemes, and psychological tricks to extort hundreds of millions of hryvnias from citizens. Similar offices under the guise of "investment" and IT companies operate in many of the capital’s business centers – as "StopKor" investigators have found, the traces of most of them lead to the aggressor country.

According to MP Kunytskyi’s post, Slobozhenko may be directly linked to the organization of a network of so-called call centers. There is also speculation that he may be involved in the sale of personal data of citizens.

However, let’s take it step by step.

You can’t forbid living beautifully?

Interestingly, the well-known Ukrainian IT specialist and Instagram blogger, the founder of the Traffic Devils team, Oleksandr Slobozhenko, just on June 12, boasted to subscribers about expensive gifts he gave himself last birthday. These are an Audemars Piguet Double Balance Skeleton watch and a Ducati Panigale Superleggera V4 motorcycle for 130 thousand euros ("+1 museum exhibit in the collection"). The businessman’s birthday celebration took place at a villa in Spain.

All this would be fine, but it took place in August 2022 – during the height of the large-scale Russian invasion and martial law in Ukraine. These "nuances" do not prevent Slobozhenko (who is presumably conscripted and unlikely to have health problems, as he continues to engage in extreme sports) from freely traveling outside the fighting homeland. According to social media posts, in August 2022, he also visited Italy, celebrated the new 2023 year at a ski resort in the Alps, and appeared in Poland this March.

However, the attributes of luxurious life and overseas voyages are just strokes to the general portrait of a successful IT entrepreneur. Behind them lies an equally intriguing background – cooperation with semi-legal online casinos, Russian partners, and... criminal cases.

What is Oleksandr Slobozhenko known for?

Oleksandr Slobozhenko was born in August 1998 in the village of Bilohorodka, Kyiv region. Growing up in a simple family without a father, he started working very early – already in the sixth grade, he worked as a builder’s assistant and later distributed leaflets. As a teenager, he became interested in e-commerce. And in just ten years, he became a dollar millionaire.

In November 2019, Slobozhenko founded his company – Traffic Devils, which became profitable by the summer of 2020. Currently, Traffic Devils positions itself as a multi-buying company engaged in traffic arbitration – buying on one resource and redirecting it to another. The team consists of about 250–300 people.

Slobozhenko reveals that he is a 2018 Ukrainian road motor racing champion and the founder of Team Traffic Devils, working in the gambling sector. In one of his interviews, he mentioned that their monthly turnover is 1 million dollars. Oleksandr always emphasizes that he works entirely "in the white." However, mentions of entrepreneur Slobozhenko in registers are quite rare.

Specifically, his name appears in the database of the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute. On July 2, 2020, Oleksandr Slobozhenko submitted application No. 202012898 to register the "Traffic Devils" trademark. Using this brand, the entrepreneur intended to provide a wide range of services – from newspaper and magazine subscriptions to bookkeeping and renting photocopying machines.

Another mention is in the Unified State Register. According to the Clarity Project service, on July 29, 2020, an individual entrepreneur "Oleksandr Slobozhenko" was registered.

This suggests that in fact, Slobozhenko legalized his activity as an individual entrepreneur not in 2017-2019, when he claimed to have created the Traffic Devils "gang," but only in the summer of 2020. Specifically, a month after the initiation of a criminal case for tax evasion, in which Slobozhenko’s name also appears, and after fiscal officers visited his office. But more on that later.

"The devil is in the details," or what do Traffic Devils really do?

"For three years running, we’ve been steaming ahead of everyone. We pour tons of quality ’traffic’ into Gambling, Dating, and other verticals. We make the biggest cash in the affiliate market in the CIS," proudly declares (notably exclusively in Russian) the official website of the Traffic Devils company.

The company also openly posts its vacancies online. However, former employees’ reviews are thought-provoking. They inform about salary delays, poor treatment from top management, and... salaries in Russian rubles.

Additionally, according to traffic market insiders, some details of what Traffic Devils actually do have become known. In general, traffic arbitration involves attracting buyers for a percentage of the sale. However, there are nuances, gamblers say. Arbitration can be "white" (promoting online stores, banks, online games, and other legal products through legal means) and "black" (promoting not entirely legal and sometimes illegal products and services, which, among others, mislead users). "Black" promotion methods are also questionable: typically, these avoid bans by digital platforms (Google AdSense, Facebook, etc.), closely linked to the so-called "darknet" and criminal schemes.

If you take the publicly stated figures from Slobozhenko (about $1 million in turnover and 50,000 conversions per month), you can calculate that online casinos pay him from 30% to 50% of the average deposited sum. So the "lion’s share" of the player’s money is distributed in favor of Traffic Devils (or a similar structure) even before a bet is placed. In other words, what the team is engaged in is most likely indeed "black arbitration."

This may involve the promotion of dubious products and services, such as illegal online casinos, betting offices, "pirate" versions of internet games and applications, weight loss products, other prohibited substances, etc. Also, servicing various fraudulent call centers, pseudo-investment companies, and fund transfers via e-wallets.

What’s the "Russian trace" here?

A few years ago – specifically, after the annexation of Crimea, the start of fighting in Donbas, and amid Russia’s preparation for a full-scale invasion – Oleksandr Slobozhenko proudly announced the expansion of the business and opening of new offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Traffic Devils team has always positioned and continues to position itself as a company operating in the so-called CIS, meaning effectively in favor of Russia, where the maximum number of real owners and beneficiaries of numerous online casinos are concentrated.

In the media, Slobozhenko is linked to so-called "Donetsk people" – members of the Yanukovych clan, who are presumably the real investors and beneficiaries of this multimillion-dollar business. Journalists question how this young man, practically a recent school student from a suburb of Kyiv, was able to "pull" vast sums from "nowhere."

"Meanwhile, his business is not registered in Ukraine; such business is backed by former Party of Regions members and followers of the ’Russian world’; and his tracks ultimately lead to Moscow curators. Despite all this, he is ’on hype’ in Ukraine, enjoying plenty of admirers and followers. This story is unlikely to end well for him because Slobozhenko’s company’s activities fall under the criminal codes of all sane countries," media note.

Moreover, sources indicate that the Traffic Devils’ bot technologies and manipulation behavior on social networks are similar to those used by Russian special services – such as, for example, psychological special operation units from the 12th Department of the MD of the GS of the Russian Federation. It is under Moscow and in St. Petersburg, where Slobozhenko opened offices, that, oddly enough, "bot farms" are concentrated, known for spreading fakes online and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

The activities of the "traffic devils" and their leader have repeatedly attracted the attention of law enforcement.

Oleksandr Slobozhenko’s name appears in at least two criminal court cases.

In 2018, before the Traffic Devils company soared high, the future multimillionaire was involved in a typical traffic accident. In the Kyiv center, along Staro-Vokzalna street, a young driver, disregarding the road situation, failing to choose a safe driving speed, lost control, and collided with a parked car and two concrete flower beds.

In June 2020, Slobozhenko came under the scrutiny of fiscal authorities. The Main Directorate of the State Fiscal Service of Kyiv launched a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings No. 42020100000000256 on June 26, 2020, under Article 212, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – deliberate tax evasion, duties (mandatory payments) that are part of a tax system, entered in the manner prescribed by law.

During this investigation, a search was conducted on Slobozhenko on July 17, 2020, during which investigators seized documents from LLC "Ophelia" and LLC "Smart Invest." Interestingly, according to the registers, there is no visible connection with Slobozhenko for these firms.

In the same year, SSU officers visited the luxurious "devils" office on Khreshchatyk. Searches were conducted twice – in July and September, but their result remains a mystery. Entrepreneurs, at the time, complained about unwarranted dislike from the Security Service towards the IT sphere and pressure from law enforcement.

How does Oleksandr Slobozhenko comment on the accusations of cooperation with Russia?

Before Russia’s invasion, Oleksandr was a rather active protagonist in the social chronicles. On February 19, 2022, he flaunted a new purchase – a Ferrari SF90 Stradale supercar. A similar vehicle he crashed in Dubai at the end of January.

However, after the full-scale war began, Slobozhenko kept silent for a few months. No posts appeared on his Instagram microblog from February to July 2022. Then, the young entrepreneur seemed to embark on a "new chapter" in life: announcing that he would work for Ukraine’s benefit and publicly calling his colleagues to join the fight in the information field during the war against Russia.

"Our company Traffic Devils is actively setting up ads for Russian audiences in various sources not yet blocked in Russia. The goal is to show what is happening in Ukrainian cities and to prompt conscious Russians to protest against the war started by their regime", Slobozhenko noted.

He publicly emphasized that his company conducts entirely legal, honest business. However, in the businessman’s opinion, the problem is that the Ukrainian gambling market lacks adequate and modern regulation.

We also attempted to contact the management of Traffic Devils directly for comment or denial of the accusations leveled against the company in the media via the email address listed on their website. However, we received a response from Google that the address was not found or is not accepting mail.

So who is he in reality: an IT prodigy supporting his native country during the war on the information front or an important "cog" in the multimillion-dollar illegal gambling industry with Russian roots? And is it not time for law enforcement to once again take a close look at the activity of the "traffic devils"?

We will continue to monitor this topic. The most interesting is ahead.

Author: Dmytro Slobodyanyk

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