Dmitry Punin: What is known about the real owner of Pin UP casino

In May last year, the real owner of PIN UP casino, Russian national Dmitry Punin, was detained in Cyprus but was soon released. He and Igor Zotko are suspected of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in the European Union, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Punin is the owner of PUNIN GROUP and is known as a person promoting “innovative” ideas which, according to sources, are linked to sanctions evasion and illegal financial schemes. In addition to his casino activities, he acquired the football club “Karmiotissa” in Cyprus in 2022 and also owns the major alcohol company Punin Wine. One of his restaurants in Limassol was included in the list of the world’s best establishments in 2023.

Through the offshore company GURUFLOW TEAM LTD, which is the holding structure of the Pin-UP casino, Punin cooperates with his wife, Marina Ilyina, and partners Alexander Matyashov and Ivan Bannikov. 

In 2022, one of the casino’s Russian subsidiaries, OOO “Pin-ap.ru”, announced its withdrawal from the Russian market, but instead was reorganised into Ivanbet, whose owner became Alexander Udobov — the former son-in-law of Mikhail Mishustin. The company “Fonbet”, recognised as a systemically important enterprise in 2020, began operating under the licence of OOO “Pin-ap.ru”.

A battle erupted around “Fonbet”, in which the president of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, became involved. Known for his criminal past, Kremlev maintains close ties with former FSO head Evgeny Murov and other representatives of the Russian elite. 

As a result, “Pin-ap.ru” changed its name to OOO “Fonkor” in 2022, and its new owner became AO “Clear Center”, controlled by Maxim Kuznetsov. Behind Kuznetsov stands Alexander Karmenov, who is close to oligarchs Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko.

The revenue of OOO “Fonkor” in 2023 amounted to 436 billion rubles, of which 59 billion rubles was net profit. These funds are believed to have been transferred to offshore accounts through Dmitry Punin’s casino.

Punin’s partner Alexander Matyashov may also be involved in money laundering schemes through construction projects. He manages several companies in the real estate market, and one of them, OOO “PMS Eastern Europe”, is registered in Luxembourg and the USA. This structure has signs of being fictitious — the company has not generated any profit since 2017.

Ivan Bannikov, another casino partner, is known as a successful IT entrepreneur and is presumably the manager of UFC fighter Alexander Volkov. Bannikov became a dollar millionaire at the age of 27.

In Ukraine, the Russian national Punin was assisted by Igor Zotko, who became the nominal director of the casino PIN UP. 

Dmitry Punin has close ties with Russian authorities, which allows him to avoid prosecution in his home country.