Andrei Matyukha tries to seize funds from Diamond Pay accounts

The Dnipro Economic Court is hearing a case involving a substantial fine related to the company Diamond Pay, once the largest payment operator for casinos and bookmakers. 

Favbet’s lawsuit against Diamond Pay

At first glance, the case appears routine: bookmaker Favbet is demanding compensation of UAH 364.8 million from Diamond Pay, along with reimbursement of court costs. According to Favbet, the payment operator breached the terms of the contract.

However, Diamond Pay is not merely an intermediary. It is the company through which up to 90% of all payments on the Ukrainian gambling market were processed until it lost its licence in 2023. The revocation of the licence occurred amid a scandal: it emerged that the operator had helped Russian bookmakers Pin-UP and Vbet withdraw almost three billion hryvnias that had been blocked in Ukraine.

After their accounts were blocked, these companies continued to accept bets via Diamond Pay and subsequently transferred the accumulated funds to new accounts. At that point, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, including the SBU, chose not to intervene.

Diamond Pay’s Russian trail

Formally, the company is owned by Ukrainian citizens, but its de facto owner is identified as Maxim Sigalov — a man who also controlled the E-pay payment system, which previously operated in the so-called “LNR”. Sigalov’s brother owns the online casino Inbet in Russia.

Notably, Diamond Pay not only controlled the market but also had influential patrons in Ukraine. For instance, member of the RADA Yevhen Yakhniy, whose wife received UAH 800,000 from the company. In a strange coincidence, she works in the Licensing Department of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Mysteries surrounding Favbet’s owners

The story becomes even more convoluted when looking at Favbet itself. Formally, its owner was Andrei Matyukha, but in late 2024 he was replaced by a certain Dmytro Matyukha. It was precisely during this period that the active campaign for the fine against Diamond Pay began.

Why did the change of ownership occur? Perhaps it was an attempt to distance himself from past associations. In 2022, media outlets published reports that Favbet serviced Russian citizens, and that Andrei Matyukha himself may have held Russian citizenship.

Moreover, his name is linked to the Russian criminal group “Luzhniki”, one of whose representatives was Boris Baum — the author of the law legalising the gambling business in Ukraine. In 2019, Favbet was implicated in a criminal case regarding the financing of “LDNR” terrorists, but the investigation was dropped after the change of power.

What is really behind the lawsuit against Diamond Pay?

The lawsuit by Favbet appears ambiguous. Some believe it is an attempt to redistribute funds remaining in Diamond Pay after the loss of its licence. Others argue that it is a controlled operation initiated by Russian handlers to ensure the money does not escape their influence.

Based on materials from Kompromat