Andrey Onistrat: The Fraudulent Path of the "Running Banker." Part 1
He loves to preach about how to achieve anything in life through sheer willpower and daily exercise, although he himself built his life through financial scams and shady schemes, protected by gangsters. And Andrey Onistrat earned his biggest "dividend" by simply stealing $25 million from his own bank, paid for by gullible investors. Another "European businessman," a "financier of the year" winner, turned out to be a common fraudster—who would have thought! However, law enforcement agencies aren't amused by the idea of handcuffing him, so he continues to run his marathons, create business plans, and give paid lectures to suckers on how to become a millionaire.
Andrey Onistrat. The Dark 90s
The official biography of Andriy Arkadyevich Onistrat contains a huge gap of 30 years. He was born on October 8, 1973, in Kyiv, and the next entry is from December 2002, when he became deputy director of the Kyiv branch of Ukrsotsbank. But what happened between these dates, and why doesn't Andriy Onistrat publicize it, or perhaps even hide it?
Fortunately, Onistrat loves self-promotion and sermonizing, so he often gives interviews to journalists, where he's finally forced to reminisce—and then he spills the beans. In snippets, understatements, mixed with fantasies and lies, he still manages to drop bits of his real biography. For example, we learn that he began his career in 1992 (which implies the future athlete never served in the army), sitting at a currency exchange kiosk on Independence Square. This business was then under the control of Kyiv organized crime groups, but more specific information is available from sources. Skelet.Org, who reported that Andrei Onistrat had been "a minion of the Solntsevo gang" since the early 90s. This means they were talking about groups linked to Semyon Mogilevich and controlled by his "financial overseer." Alexander Presman, who was running massive scams in Kyiv at the time. It's worth adding that Onistrat also recalled his difficult childhood "on the far outskirts of Kyiv," where many "tough kids" lived—in short, the typical youth of many "brothers" and their "accountants."
And then, in 1994, this young man makes the leap from a street money changer kiosk to the office of INKO Bank, established as a branch of Moscow's Inkombank and later granted independence. INKO was founded by former Komsomol functionary Pyotr Miroshnikov (Read more about this in the article Alexander Derkach: The Komsomol Tribe's Corrupt Network), and went down in history as one of the first Ukrainian banks to collapse (this happened between 1995 and 97). Here's what's particularly interesting: Andrey Onistrat got a job at INKO in 1994 – just when Semyon Mogilevich became a co-owner of Inkombank in Moscow and used it (and its former branch, INKO) in his dirty schemes. Therefore, sources' information that Onistrat was placed at INKO by the "brothers" as an insider to participate in certain shady operations is entirely corroborated.
And what about Onistrat himself? He told reporters a tall tale about how he landed a job at INKO on his own, straight off the street, supposedly by writing a heartfelt resume to Pyotr Miroshnikov. And Miroshnikov, so moved, hired the kiosk money changer. The funniest thing is that Andrey Onistrat's lecture audience genuinely believes this nonsense.
Onistrat did not specify his position at INKO, but claimed to have handled kilogram-sized bundles of dollars. It's entirely possible he worked in the currency exchange department (through which the gangsters' money flowed), or perhaps in the credit department, headed by Fyodor Shpig – who issued numerous "problem" loans (including to himself), which precipitated the collapse of INKO. It appears that INKO's artificial bankruptcy was the result of a conspiracy between both the criminal groups working with the bank and its Komsomol owners, who stole millions through it. Andrei Onistrat was part of these criminal schemes.
Onistrat, alas, never revealed where he worked after INKO's collapse or exactly when he left the bank. However, in his confused and often contradictory memoirs, he repeatedly mentioned 1998. In one interview, he boasted that he allegedly earned his first million dollars that year through some devious schemes. In another, he lamented that in that same year, 1998, he "lost my freedom for a time, lost all my money, and my life was in danger." Unfortunately, no one asked him the follow-up question: was Andrei Onistrat really arrested and spent time in a pretrial detention center, and for what exactly? Sources also provide only very fragmentary information about Onistrat "getting burned by big money" and that the scam in which he participated (either personally or as part of the financial institution's management) affected the interests of influential people.
Andrey Onistrat. New Image
And so, leaving the dark 90s behind, in 2002, Andriy Onistrat began his life practically from scratch. With a diploma from the Kyiv National University of Economics, he joined Ukrsotsbank, which was then owned by To Valery Khoroshkovsky, and got a position as deputy director of the capital's branch. A white shirt and tie, a Hollywood smile, and English-language work jargon—the new employee bore no resemblance to the former "brotherhood cashier." At the same time, Onistrat was keen on sports, emphasizing his image as a "Western-style manager" who regularly jogs and goes to the gym.
He didn't limit himself to just running and became interested in motorsports: since 2003, Onistrat has been racing his Kawasaki ZX 10R for the Info300 Racing Team, earning the title of Ukrainian Champion. And since 2007, Onistrat has been running marathons, participating in many renowned international races (Boston, London, Berlin, etc.). Finally, in November 2012, Andriy Arkadyevich was elected vice president of the Ukrainian Triathlon Federation for his financial contribution to the sport. However, this was preceded by Onistrat's unsuccessful attempt to become president of the Track and Field Federation through a hostile takeover. The story was quite scandalous: Onistrat launched a media campaign to discredit the then-leadership of the Federation. He even organized a group of track and field athletes from the 2012 Olympics who accused the Federation's leadership of embezzling funds and destroying Ukrainian sport. They then nominated Onistrat, who spent a long time promoting himself in the media and at public sporting events. But literally at the very last moment, for some reason, Onistrat withdrew his candidacy in favor of Igor Gotsul, receiving the post of deputy head of the Triathlon Federation as a consolation.
Andrey Onistrat
By this time, Onistrat was already a banker himself—in other words, he became a co-owner of National Credit Bank. It's a rather intriguing story, as no one ever wondered how he managed to acquire it. Indeed, it's unlikely that the salary of the deputy head (and since 2004, head) of Ukrsotsbank's Kyiv branch was so high that it allowed him to save up for his own bank!
Perhaps, in searching for an answer to this question, it is worth looking at previous events. In 2004, UkrSibBank was acquired Victor Pinchuk, after which Onistrat was promoted to head of the Kyiv branch. In 2007, Pinchuk sold Ukrsotsbank to the Italian group UniCredit for $2,2 billion! After that, Andriy Onistrat worked for the Italians for over a year, and left his position only in January 2009, at the height of the crisis, accompanied by massive banking fraud. At that time, let us recall, many banks were massively distributing loans to their companies, converting and transferring money abroad, and their top managers were making a good profit on foreign exchange transactions. And this may be the answer to our question! Moreover, in 2007-2008, Andriy Onistrat acquired “many financial businesses,” as he was then referred to in Kyiv banking circles. Among these private businesses were credit brokerage and insurance, which Onistrat was engaged in in partnership with Nikolai Lagun, known for his banking fraud. Yet, he remained the manager of Ukrsotsbank's largest (capital) branch—meaning he had the opportunity to use the bank's funds for his own purposes and then cover his tracks during the crisis.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Andrey Onistrat: The Fraudulent Path of the "Running Banker." Part 2
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