The harmful path of LeoGaming: embattled Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova strives to establish legitimacy for her enterprise in the UK using the Sends brand

23:54, 19.04.2026

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The harmful path of LeoGaming: embattled Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova strives to establish legitimacy for her enterprise in the UK using the Sends brand

The notorious fraudster Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova, whose structures iBox Bank and LeoGaming have become synonymous with systemic money laundering and dirty gambling schemes, has brazenly legalized herself in London under the banner of the company Sends.

Hiding behind the questionable "purity" of a British license and manipulating public registries, this person of interest in a 5-billion-hryvnia money laundering case has effectively built an international corridor for capital flight, flouting both NSDC sanctions and the rule of law.

We, in turn, are exposing the scheme of Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova’s cynical legalization in London through the company Sends to reveal the true face of the owner of iBox Bank and LeoGaming, who is currently evading both justice and sanctions.

Although a criminal case has been opened against Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova in Ukraine and the NSDC has imposed personal sanctions on her, her company Smartflow Payments Limited (operating under the brand Sends) continues to operate legally in the United Kingdom under an FCA license.

This information is reported by Kapital.

In April 2025, it became known that Degrik (also known as Alyona Shevtsova), who is a фигурант of a case on illegal legalization of 5 billion hryvnias through iBox Bank, holds the position of director in the British fintech company Sends. This fact is confirmed in the public register of the British financial regulator.

What is the FCA and what does the license mean?

FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) is the main financial regulator of the United Kingdom, responsible for supervision of the financial services market, banks, brokers, payment systems and e-money issuers. The FCA register states that Smartflow Payments Limited has authorization to issue electronic money (e-money), provide payment services and is subject to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) rules. This allows the company to open wallets, process transactions, conduct P2P transfers and work with e-commerce.

Identification problem: Shevtsova or Degrik?

One of the reasons why the British regulator may not have taken into account the criminal cases and sanctions against Alyona Degrik is the formal discrepancy in her surnames. In Ukraine, she appears as Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova, while in British registers — only as Alyona Shevtsova, without mention of “Degrik.” Most likely, she obtained an international passport only under her husband’s surname, refusing the double surname in international registers. This allowed her to avoid automatic matching with her Ukrainian identity.

Context: Degrik’s past and links to suspicious payment schemes

In her public presentations, Degrik positions Sends as an “ethical platform focused on anti-fraud and transparency.” At the same time, she is hiding from investigation, is under NSDC sanctions, and her former companies appeared in cases related to shadow gambling business, operations with Russian banks and crypto exchange into cards of the “Mir” payment system. Among them are LeoGaming, FC “Leo” and iBox Bank. According to the investigation, it was through these structures that the “miscoding” scheme was implemented — substitution of payment purposes, which allowed legalization of hundreds of millions of hryvnias from illegal gambling income.

Background information

iBox Bank is a bank that lost its license in 2023 due to systemic violations of financial monitoring legislation and participation in money laundering schemes.

LeoGaming and FC “Leo” are companies linked to P2P transfers to the Russian Federation, including transfers to cards of Sberbank, VTB and Tinkoff.

“Belosnezhka-2013” is a cynically named company registered in Ukraine. It was linked to offshore structures Beaulieu Trade Inc (Panama) and Mossada Investments Ltd (Cyprus). Degrik acted as its head. According to investigators, these structures were used to service shadow payment flows related to gambling.

A license in London — a matter of time?

In Ukraine, Degrik-Shevtsova is a фигурантка in a money laundering case that is at the final stage of pre-trial investigation. In the United Kingdom, she is a director of a fintech company with an official license. This is not just a conflict of registers — it is a systemic problem of international compliance: payment platforms can change public names, hide their past and enter new markets without proper disclosure of beneficiaries and origin of funds.

There is a high probability that the FCA did not have full information about the criminal and sanctions background of Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova due to the lack of direct linkage between her British identity and Ukrainian cases. But this is a temporary blindness that will most likely be corrected in the near future.

British institutions are not used to staying in the dark. And full information about the activities of Alyona Degrik-Shevtsova will soon be sent to London.