In June 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine fined Concord Bank ₴60.4 million. A year later, in August 2023, the regulator revoked its license and shut down JSC “AKB Concord”. This decision was based on the results of official inspections, which showed that the bank regularly violated laws on anti-money laundering, countering terrorism financing, and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
According to reports, Concord Bank processed around 25% of Ukraine’s gambling market — most of it operating without paying taxes. The bank used a scheme called miscoding, where transactions were incorrectly labeled to hide their true purpose. This allowed businesses to avoid taxes and caused huge losses to the state budget every year.
But instead of accepting the National Bank’s decision, the bank’s founders — sisters Olena and Yuliia Sosedka — went to court. In May 2024, the Dnipro District Administrative Court sided with them and ruled the NBU’s decision illegal. The National Bank has appealed the ruling.
While the legal battle over Concord Bank’s future continues, we decided to take a closer look at what this financial institution was actually doing in its final years — and whether there really was a good reason to shut it down.
Where Concord Bank’s Profits Came From
Concord Bank was actually a small financial institution. Its main source of income wasn’t issuing loans — it was internet acquiring. This means processing online payments made with bank cards. In some years, this service brought in far more profit than lending.
For example, in the first half of 2021, acquiring generated ₴612 million in revenue for the bank — nearly five times more than it earned from issuing loans. Compared to the same period in 2020, Concord’s acquiring income had grown by a third.
Part of this income came from so-called “high-risk” transactions — legal but risky payments, such as those made to online casinos and betting sites. “This includes any transactions where the buyer might later ask for a refund,” explained Olena Sosedka, head of Concord Bank’s supervisory board. “It’s not just gambling and betting — it could also be things like plane tickets.”
So it’s no surprise that when the National Bank of Ukraine decided to liquidate Concord Bank — which, as of 2021, ranked 36th out of 72 Ukrainian banks with total assets of ₴5 billion — it stated that removing the bank wouldn’t affect the stability of the banking system. Concord’s share of total assets across all solvent banks was only 0.17%.
But based on what we’ve found, it seems that Olena and Yuliia Sosedka never aimed to grow a traditional bank with a strong loan portfolio and broad customer base. Instead, they likely focused on something else: earning money by helping to conduct fake financial transactions or converting illegal funds into cash.
Why the National Bank Revoked Concord Bank’s License and Shut It Down
In court, the National Bank of Ukraine explained its decision to shut down Concord Bank by citing the results of an internal audit. According to the audit, the bank systematically failed to monitor the risks associated with its clients. It didn’t identify signs that its services were being used to launder illegal money. It also failed to reassess clients’ risk levels or simply didn’t do it at all.
In simple terms, Concord Bank turned a blind eye to countless financial transactions through which illegal businesses laundered dirty money.
Who were these clients? The audit mentioned the following companies: FC Hunter LLC, Parishat LLC, Torpari 2020 LLC, Hanoi LLC, and Latriks Group LLC. Almost no public information is available about them.
According to Ukraine’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities, three of these companies — Parishat, Torpari 2020, and Hanoi — were founded by the same person, Mykola Kramarchuk. He set them up in different months of 2020, all with the same declared activity: data processing, website hosting, and related services.
It’s worth noting that in August 2020, the Ukrainian government officially legalized the gambling business. That’s likely when and why these companies were created — to serve online casinos and betting platforms. And it’s no coincidence that they showed up in the National Bank’s audit as clients involved in laundering illegal gambling profits through Concord Bank.
Another company flagged in the audit was FC Hunter — a financial company providing money transfer services. Like Concord Bank, it’s based in Dnipro. Since 2020, it has been owned by Yuliia Diomina. Under her management, the company started reporting massive revenues — between ₴192 million and ₴642 million per year.
In May 2023, the National Bank revoked FC Hunter’s license — on the same grounds as Concord Bank: involvement in money laundering.
How Concord Bank Faked the Capital of Its Clients
This wasn’t the first time Ukraine’s financial regulator flagged suspicious activity at Olena and Yuliia Sosedka’s bank. Back in 2016, the National Bank of Ukraine caught Concord Bank engaging in fraudulent financial operations. At the center of the scheme was a group of 19 Concord Bank clients who circulated the same 1 million UAH among themselves.
That money had been received as a “repayable financial aid” by one of the group members. Within just a week — between July 5 and July 13, 2016 — the companies ran this same 1 million through a series of 30 transactions, each just minutes apart.
By doing this, 18 of them were able to “artificially” inflate their authorized capital to 420 million UAH. One other company received funds for corporate rights worth 30 million UAH. Some of these companies were later used to convert money into cash, which was then withdrawn from Concord Bank and moved to other banks.
At the time, however, the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine was much more lenient toward Concord Bank. Instead of holding the Sosedka sisters accountable for their role in the scheme — or at least for turning a blind eye to it — the regulator simply fined their bank. In 2018, Concord Bank was penalized only 1.2 million UAH.
How Olena and Yuliia Sosedka Helped Businesses Avoid Taxes
On her Facebook page, Concord Bank’s co-founder Olena Sosedka stated that there were “no criminal cases” against Concord Bank or against her and her sister Yuliia. But that’s simply not true.
We found at least four criminal investigations opened over the past decade in which either Concord Bank or the Sosedka sisters were directly involved. All were opened under Article 212 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code — tax evasion.
In October 2016, tax officials in Dnipropetrovsk region discovered a conversion center operating out of an office on Sichovykh Striltsiv Street 94 in Kyiv. That office was owned by Olena and Yuliia Sosedka and their business partners Dmytro and Olena Fomenko.
During a search of the premises, investigators found documents showing illegal financial operations by a company called HUT LLC. From January to May 2016, this company evaded nearly ₴2 million in VAT and another ₴2 million in profit tax by hiding its real sales volumes.
In reality, the company was using the Sosedka sisters’ office space to create fake paperwork for non-existent transactions and convert non-cash funds into cash.
A second case was opened in October 2022, involving UkrTatNafta PJSC. Investigators found that on February 17, 2022, the company signed a fake $20 million contract with Swiss company NORDWIND TRADE SA to buy crude oil. Using that fake contract, UkrTatNafta transferred $20 million from its account at Concord Bank to the Swiss company’s account at Raiffeisen Bank International in Austria.
According to BlackBox OSINT, Olena and Yuliia Sosedka were under surveillance in this case as possible participants in the scheme.
The third case — No. 3201510000000024 — was opened in October 2015. It centered on a large-scale money laundering operation inside Concord Bank. According to investigators, the Sosedka sisters, along with their business partner Vadym Yermolaiev — who is now under Ukrainian sanctions for moving his businesses to russia-occupied Crimea (a practice also linked to former Vinnytsia governor Serhii Borzov, who, however, was not sanctioned) and paying taxes to the enemy — helped companies evade taxes using Concord Bank.
Here’s how the scheme worked: companies that wanted to hide money from taxes would transfer non-cash funds to their Concord Bank accounts. To avoid raising suspicions, fake documents and reports were created to make the transactions look legitimate.
Then the money was handed back to the businesses — in cash. From 2014 to 2016, the Sosedka sisters reportedly ordered Concord Bank employees to rent safe deposit boxes inside the bank. These boxes were officially assigned to the employees, but the actual access was given to members of the conversion center.
When the money arrived in fake companies’ accounts, Concord Bank staff would withdraw the cash and place it into those safes. Then, using powers of attorney, members of the conversion ring — led by Concord Bank employee Andrii Korchahin — would retrieve the cash and deliver it to clients. In return, the bank took a percentage of every transaction.
The scheme wasn’t limited to Ukrainian clients. Foreign companies were involved too — including Whitesboro Limited, Quinn Holdings Sweden AB, and Vinci Capital Management Ltd. Outside Ukraine, Concord Bank ran transactions through a correspondent account at Estonia’s Versobank, which belonged to Yermolaiev. In fact, on March 5, 2015, Concord Bank even published a statement on its website announcing the opening of a multi-currency account with Versobank.
According to case files:
“Using registration documents, the criminals opened accounts in Versobank AS. They received access to online banking and company seals. This allowed them to create fake contracts for selling goods or services to real businesses. They received payments for these fake deals, then turned the money into cash, avoiding both taxes and NBU limits. They also offered illegal foreign exchange services using fake contracts and offshore companies.”
Another criminal case — No. 3201504164000004, opened on September 8, 2015 — involved ProCard LLC, a payment processing company that helps businesses run card programs through Visa and Mastercard. From 2011 to 2024, the sole owner of ProCard was Yuliia Sosedka. The company has since been re-registered under the name of Kostiantyn Petrenko.
Investigators found that ProCard was involved in fake transactions between various companies, leading to a fraudulent VAT credit of over ₴4 million.
It seems the Sosedka sisters somehow managed to avoid any serious consequences for all of this. But in Ukraine, that’s unfortunately not surprising. So it’s no wonder that Concord Bank — left unpunished for helping companies avoid taxes and laundering money — only grew bolder in its schemes.
How Concord Bank Served Drug Traffickers and Illegal Gambling in russia
At some point, the founders of Concord Bank decided to go beyond legal high-risk operations and started working with illegal ones — including drug trafficking and underground gambling.
On September 21, 2021, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Suex, a Russian-Czech crypto exchange service, for helping process transactions linked to illegal income. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, over 40% of Suex’s transactions were tied to criminal activity — including payments for drugs sold through Hydra, a russian darknet marketplace with an annual turnover of at least $1.5 billion.
So how is Concord Bank involved? The russian anti-drug organization “Stopnarkotik” and the Telegram channel Badbank accused Ukraine’s Concord Bank of processing hryvnia payments through the HotPay payment aggregator for the Eastern European crypto exchange ExMo. That exchange then allegedly routed money to Suex — the same exchange working with drug dealers.
There were also reports that Concord Bank, through its processing center “ProCard” and in cooperation with russia’s Promsvyazbank — the main bank serving the russian defense sector, whose board members are kept secret — provided services to illegal betting platforms in russia and former Soviet states, as well as the crypto exchange FXCoin, which has also been linked to drug trade operations.
The Sosedka sisters’ ties to russia go beyond working with shady structures like Promsvyazbank. It seems that Olena and Yuliia Sosedka have no problem doing business with russian citizens and aren’t too picky when it comes to their connections.
In 2018, Olena Sosedka registered property rights in occupied Crimea. To do that, she gave power of attorney to a russian citizen, Iryna Shportko. One of the Sosedka sisters’ close friends is also a russian citizen — Darya Omelchenko. She has a russian phone number and is registered at an address in moscow: 52 Admiral Lazarev Street. Omelchenko worked as a marketing rep for Concord Bank and, based on social media posts, is very close to the Sosedka sisters personally.
Olena Sosedka’s husband, Viacheslav Mishalov, has a joint business with Yevhen Kryvenko — a trusted associate of Hennadii Hufman. Hufman was the first deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council from 2020 to 2022 and a member of the regional council from the pro-russian party OPZZh. He fled Ukraine in July 2022. Hufman is known for multiple investigations into his role in illegally transferring community property and for his close ties to russian agents Oleh Tsaryov and Viktor Medvedchuk.
How Olena Sosedka’s Husband, Viacheslav Mishalov, Got Rich
And speaking of Olena Sosedka’s husband — he’s quite an interesting figure too, and just like his wife, he has also been involved in criminal investigations. Viacheslav Mishalov is a member of the Dnipro City Council from the Samopomich party. From March 2016 to 2017, he even served as the council’s secretary.
He’s a co-owner of the internet portal I.UA, holds a small 0.8% stake in the metallurgical plant “Dnipropress R&D LLC,” where he used to be the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and General Director. He’s also a co-founder of the internet provider “Fregat.”
In his 2020 asset declaration, Viacheslav Mishalov claimed to own 18,000 bitcoins — worth over $1 billion at the time — along with a collection of 13 luxury watches from brands like Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Breitling, and Glashütte, and a collection of rifles. But where did all that money come from? Possibly from budget money, which Mishalov was accused of embezzling by law enforcement.
In January 2020, police and prosecutors launched an investigation into possible embezzlement by the company “Maister-Bud,” which installed heating systems in kindergartens and schools in Dnipro. The total contract was worth ₴33.7 million. Investigators later found that “Maister-Bud” had inflated equipment costs by ₴7.1 million and added fake transportation expenses worth another ₴588,000.
At the time, Mishalov was Secretary of the Dnipro City Council and had a direct connection to “Maister-Bud.” His father, Dmytro Mishalov — one of Dnipro’s most powerful businessmen — was a co-owner of the company until 2018. Back in 2010, “Maister-Bud” won a $100 million government contract to build the roof of Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium after gaining the trust of then–Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov. The boilers for the school heating project were supplied by “Liberator,” a company that owns a trademark registered to Viacheslav Mishalov himself. And, unsurprisingly, all financial operations went through Concord Bank.
In 2019, Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov publicly accused the Mishalov family of corruption over delays in a major bridge repair project. The contract, worth ₴250 million, was awarded to “Zavod Maister-Profi,” another company owned by Dmytro Mishalov. Filatov said he hoped the family would face criminal charges.
It’s worth noting that Dmytro and Viacheslav Mishalov both sat on the supervisory board of the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish community, alongside powerful figures like Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Hennadii Boholiubov, and Hennadii Korban. After Viacheslav became a city council member in 2015, “Maister-Bud” landed over ₴2 billion in government contracts.
How Olena Sosedka Moved Millions from State-Owned Ukrgasbank to Austria
According to BlackBox OSINT, Olena Sosedka traveled abroad 26 times during the three years of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Her most frequent destination was Switzerland, but she also visited France, Italy, Israel (where her sister Yulia Sosedka lives), and Austria.
Her ties to Austria go beyond just visiting her children who live there. The father of her second son, Serhii Dovhaliuk, used to run the “Concord Industrial and Financial Group.” Between 2010–2014 and 2020–2024, he served as managing director of three Austrian companies — Concord Engineering GmbH, APS Power Technology GmbH, and Concord Solutions Lab GmbH — all of which are now closed but were linked to Concord Bank and the Sosedka sisters.
APS Power Technology GmbH is listed as the founder of a Ukrainian company called Bio Energy Dnipro LLC. In 2018, Olena Sosedka personally backed a loan that Bio Energy Dnipro received from Ukrgasbank to build a biogas power plant — part of a government project aimed at reducing natural gas use. But the project was likely fake, as the power plant was never built. The loan, however, was issued — and according to BlackBox OSINT, never repaid.
As of 2022, Ukraine’s Unified State Register of Court Decisions shows that Bio Energy Dnipro owed Ukrgasbank nearly €3.4 million. A court issued a debt recovery order to sell company assets worth ₴18 million (about €493,000 at the time) — seven times less than the original loan amount. According to import-export records, $100,000 of the loan was transferred by Bio Energy Dnipro in November 2019 to Concord Solutions Lab GmbH — another company controlled by Olena Sosedka. It’s likely that the rest of the loan money ended up the same way.
In the end, the court banned Sosedka’s company — and her second son’s father, Serhii Dovhaliuk — from building the biogas plant. This means €3 million from a state-owned bank was never used as intended, and never returned.
Adding another twist, from 2016 to 2018 the director of both APS Power Technology GmbH and Concord Solutions Lab GmbH — companies linked to the Concord Group — was Alexandre Egger. He’s a lawyer who represented former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in the European Court of Human Rights. Given his background, it’s likely Olena Sosedka used Egger to help quietly move public funds from Ukraine to Austria.