Is Yuri Mochonyi a lone swindler or a representative of pro-Russian business in Ukraine?

Yuri Mochonyi is a rather bright and arrogant young swindler. His first scams are unknown, but in 2017 he publicly appeared in the openly fraudulent Sudan Gold Coin crypto project. This “cryptocurrency” ended up the way it was supposed to, and Yuri Mochonyi himself clearly earned both money and connections for further actions to deceive his fellow citizens.

Sudan Gold Coin is a project whose face was Yuriy Mochonyi. Briefly, its essence boiled down to the fact that Mochonyi launched an advertising campaign for the sale of “an innovative cryptocurrency guaranteed by gold, which will be mined in Sudan.” The project was clearly fake, but many people wanted to get rich. One Sudan Gold Coin cost only 50 cents, and Yuriy Mochonyi assured that it was guaranteed by Sudanese gold. Therefore, according to the buyers’ calculations, they did not lose anything - if they fail to earn a lot of money from the growth of this “cryptocurrency”, then they can always return the “gold-guaranteed” 50 cents per coin. But the guarantees were guaranteed, excuse the tautology, by the word of Yuriy Mochonyi and nothing else. The ending was obvious, you can read about it here.

But, contrary to expectations, the face of the “Sudanese gold shieldcoin” Yuriy Mochonyi did not go to prison and did not disappear in an unknown direction, as happens with many similar swindlers. The reasons for this fact are not reliably known, but many doubt that it was Yuriy Mochonyi who was the author and developer of the idea with Sudan Gold Coin. That’s why they didn’t touch him - why not kill the artist who played Lenya Holubkov in the MMM advertisement? They said approximately the same about Mochonyi. Whether those who claim that Yuriy Mochonyi is just a tool in the hands of smart people are right or wrong, his subsequent life activity to some extent confirms this version. Consider also the fact that at the time of the “Sudanese gold” scam, Yuriy Mochonyi was only 21 years old.

In 2020, Yuriy Mochonyi appeared on the OPFL’s lists as a candidate for the Kharkiv Regional Council. He did not become a deputy, but the very fact of running for office confirms the version of those who claim that Yuriy Mochoniy is not an independent figure. Then there was a lull, and nothing was heard about Yuriy Mochonyi.

However, on 28 March 2023, the Telegram channel "Beware of scammers" published information that Mochonyi had fraudulently seized money in the amount of UAH 750,000. Two hours later, the post was deleted with a signature stating that Mochonyi had contacted his creditors and started to repay the debt. There were two messages with different dates - 28 March and 29 September 2023. Unfortunately, it is impossible to understand whether they refer to the same fact or whether Mochoniy was caught in two different fraudulent activities.

The archive contains a publication that was requested to be removed because Yuriy Mochonyi "got in touch". It shows that Yuriy Mochonyi apparently deceived Biogran LTD and Kolos Group. They do exist: the former is registered in Kharkiv, the latter in Kropyvnytskyi.

It is not known whether Yuriy Mochoniy has finally paid off the owners of the companies, but there have been no further complaints from them. It is also unknown whether he acted on his own behalf or on behalf of others. The second version seems more likely for the following reasons.

In December 2023, Yuriy Mochonyi, together with Edgar Mkhayan, founded Aviatechnology LLC with a registered capital of one million hryvnias.

Edgar Mkhayan’s personality is very interesting from the point of view that he is a partner in other businesses of Olha Murayeva (mother of Yevhen Murayev, the fugitive founder of the pro-Russian Nashi party) and Vadym Slyusaryev, a former member of the political council of the Servant of the People party and shadow head of Zelenskyy’s Kharkiv headquarters in the last election. Vadym Slyusaryev has business in several countries and left for Russia on 18 February 2022, from where, according to unverified reports, he returned to Ukraine in September 2023, but had no problems with law enforcement.

In addition, Edgar Mkhayan is connected through Pam House LLC to Denys Kryshtal, a former deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council from the Opposition Bloc who defected to Batkivshchyna. Another beneficiary of Pam House LLC is a German citizen, Paul Torsten, who lives in Austria, Vienna, Frimmel Gasse str. 1б. Previously, Torsten was the chairman of the supervisory board of Ukreximbank, but in 2019 the NBU did not approve his appointment. He now works in Vienna, and his office is located in the building where the offices of billionaire Serhiy Kurchenko, also one of the prominent representatives of the Donetsk people, are located. Torsten is also called a "business guardian" of former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Pam House LLC is involved in a number of criminal proceedings for embezzlement of state property and is suspected of committing other economic crimes.

Let’s return to the personality of Yuriy Mochonyi himself - in such company he looks rather strange. An obvious dissonance is caused by the fact that this, by all indications, a clever but petty swindler found himself in the company of such serious people, for whom “golden shieldcoin” and a scam of some farmer for 700 thousand are petty acts, and to deal directly with such matters they clearly won’t.

In addition, Yuriy Mochonyi has some rather unpleasant facts in his biography, which again indicate his clearly low flight. Firstly, he appears as a victim in criminal case No. 42017220000000181, initiated on March 1, 2017 by the Dzerzhinsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Kharkov under articles 186 (“Robbery”) and 189 (“Extortion”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The case has not yet been considered on the merits, but has not been closed - the next court hearing is scheduled for October 17, 2024, but this procedural hearing is about jurisdiction, not about the substance.

The essence of the case is unknown, it is only known that the victims are Yuriy Mochonyi and Dmytro Hrihorov, and the accused is a police officer with a junior rank. In addition, it is unclear why the case has been languishing in the courts for so long - if Yuriy Mochonyi is as big a figure as he claims, why hasn’t there been a guilty verdict? Or maybe the defendant is not as simple as he seems? Is there really something that prevents the case from being closed? Unfortunately, the plot of the case is unknown - strangely enough, the essence of the action in which Oleksandr Rafikov is accused is not listed in the court registers. This also looks very strange and raises additional questions. In addition, the criminal case was initiated at the height of the Sudanese gold scam. This may or may not be a coincidence. In general, there are more questions than answers.

Another oddity in Yuriy Mochonoy’s biography is two court cases to recover his utility bills. The strange thing is that the amounts are ridiculous for a man who is a partner of Murayev and Slyusaryev: Mochoniy owes 10,231 hryvnias 20 kopecks for electricity and 58,706 hryvnias 94 kopecks for heating.

Two more cases are cases of road accidents in which Yuriy Mochonyi was the culprit. There were no injuries, he simply beat up other people’s cars without giving way.

It is not known whether he was intoxicated, as Mochoniy disappeared from the scene. However, in March 2024, Mochonyi was stopped by patrol police in the Pechersk district of Kyiv on suspicion of alcohol and/or drug intoxication, and a report was drawn up under Article 130 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The case file was transferred to the Pechersk District Court, proceedings no: 757/13956/24-p was initiated on 27 March 2024. The court hearing was scheduled for 12 June 2024, but there is no data on the court hearing or information about the decision, so there are suspicions that Mochonoy managed to "resolve" the case in court. However, this fact occurred in 2024, after Yuriy Mochoniy became Slyusaryev’s partner, which is also quite remarkable.

Unfortunately, there is no complete data to qualify Yuriy Mochonyi’s identity. He apparently started out as a not-so-smart swindler, but the Sudan Gold Coin scam had no visible consequences for him. Then there was a certain failure in his biography, and then he appeared in the orbit of pro-Russian forces in Kharkiv. By the way, Yuriy Mochoniy is trying to hide the fact that he ran in the elections on behalf of OPFL, which also indirectly confirms the fact that he is not particularly smart - in 2020, smart people no longer contacted the OPFL freaks. But on the other hand, it could be that no one asked Mochonoyi if someone had covered for him in the Sudanese gold project. In addition, many believe that Yuriy Mochonyi was only a public figure in this scam, and that the project itself was developed by someone else.

Be that as it may, the public scam with Sudan Gold Coin ended well for Yuriy Mochonyi, who sank into oblivion and reappeared in 2023 - first in a scam with the purchase of tax invoices, and the amounts involved - 20 million hryvnias - were clearly too much for him. And a throw for 700,000 hryvnias is the style of a small-time scammer. But returning this money after it was published on the TG channel is not Mochonoyi’s style. He was clearly forced to do so by someone. Not the owners of the TG channel, you must admit. Most likely, the real owners of the money that Yuriy Mochonoyi tried to embezzle.

Who are they? It is also unknown, but most likely they are the people whose partner Yuriy Mochonyi became on 4 December last year through Edgar Mkhayan: Denys Kryshtal, Paul Torsten, Yevhen Murayev and Vadym Slyusaryev. Where and how they crossed paths is also unknown. It is possible that Yuriy Mochonyi represented some of these people (or all of them) in the Sudan Gold Coin. Or perhaps not. But then why did this and Mochonyi’s subsequent throws go unchallenged? Such things usually don’t go unpunished for lone wolf scammers. There is no answer to this question either. At least for now.