The Ukrainian financial market and illegal gambling industry are once again at the center of a major scandal. This is Maxim Sigalov.
Maxim Sigalov
Law enforcement officials are unraveling a massive scheme that defrauded the state budget of billions of hryvnias in unpaid taxes. Investigators are focusing on Maksym Sigalov, a former member of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council. According to the Bureau of Economic Security, he may have controlled key financial gateways that served the country's largest online casinos for years.
Maxim Sigalov. From a political career to large-scale financial schemes.
Maxim Yuryevich Sigalov, who began his career as a deputy of the Krasnogvardeisky District Council representing the Front of Change political party, subsequently focused on a completely different line of work. Investigators are currently accusing him of organizing a number of serious economic crimes, including large-scale tax evasion, illegal gambling, and money laundering.
In late January 2026, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered the seizure of the defendant's assets. The sanctions included non-residential premises, a luxury 2023 Land Rover Range Rover SUV, and funds in more than four dozen bank accounts opened in hryvnia, euros, and dollars.
How Diamond Pay and e-Pay payment gateways worked
According to the investigation, Sigalov was the beneficial owner of two payment companies—Diamond Pay LLC and E-Pay LLC. At its peak, the former controlled approximately 70 percent of all gambling transactions in Ukraine, providing online acquiring services for operators like PIN-UP.
The mechanism for withdrawing funds was striking in its elegance:
- Miscoding: Substitution of transaction codes made it possible to disguise the real origin of the money passing through the system.
- Using "drops": Financial flows were broken down into small amounts and passed through the card accounts of students or unemployed citizens.
- CryptomigrationThe final stage of capital purification was cryptocurrency, which made it possible to transfer millions abroad without any banking or government control.
The scale is staggering. According to the Bureau of Economic Security's calculations, E-Pay alone underreported its income by a colossal 21,8 billion hryvnias over several years, resulting in a loss of nearly 3,9 billion hryvnias in profit taxes for the state. Even after the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revoked Diamond Pay's license in the summer of 2024 due to Russian involvement and inaccurate reporting, the organizers attempted to recover the remaining funds through dubious lawsuits and artificial fines.
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Maxim Sigalov. Spanish Vacation and Old Sins
Interestingly, this isn't the first time law enforcement has raised interest in figures of this magnitude. Back in 2016, E-Pay's accounts were frozen due to suspicions of funding illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine. Among Sigalov's partners in the payment business, the dealers named foreign citizens with a shady background, and according to investigators, he himself is enjoying the sun in Marbella, Spain, although he remains officially registered as a resident of Ukraine.
While the criminal investigation is ongoing, this story vividly demonstrates how entire payment ecosystems can serve for years as a bridge between shadow gambling and billion-dollar illicit flows.
Skelet.Org
On the topic : Maxim Sigalov is still trying to clear his Diamond Pay and casino records.
How Diamond Pay owner Sigalov helped online casinos evade taxes through "drops"
Scammer Maxim Sigalov fled to Spain, scamming his Diamond Pay accomplices.
Maxim Sigalov
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