Authorities in Kazakhstan have leveled serious allegations against businessman Sergey Koynov and his associates, claiming they ran a covert network of commission shops that provided unauthorized high-interest loans backed by personal belongings and subsequently laundered the money.
According to investigators, the scheme utilized a licensed pawnshop called Active Lombard, along with multiple affiliated businesses such as One Billion Sales, The Best Seller, and Shark in Sales, all functioning under the collective brand “Active Market.” Although these outlets were marketed as standard commission stores, officials assert they operated as unlicensed lending operations.
Deputy Chair of the Financial Monitoring Agency, Zhenis Elemesov, previously stated that the commission agreements signed with clients were merely “formal” and “fictitious,” with daily fees ranging from approximately 1.73% to 2.07%—far exceeding Kazakhstan’s legal limit for such lending practices.
Authorities estimate that over 1.9 million contracts were executed, with suspected criminal proceeds reaching roughly $38 million. To conceal the funds’ origins, case documents describe repeated transfers between accounts and the use of bogus contracts with related entities, culminating in dividend distributions totaling nearly $11 million.
A separate entity, Zeus Co—ostensibly an IT firm—is believed to have received approximately $5 million through inflated software-service agreements. Investigators say most of that sum was subsequently distributed to Koynov as dividends.
With court approval, authorities have frozen assets valued at around $18 million, including four apartments and two houses in Astana, four apartments in the United Arab Emirates, six luxury vehicles—among them a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and a Bentley Bentayga—jewelry, and over $5 million held in bank accounts.
Koynov remains in pretrial detention, while four alleged accomplices have been placed under travel restrictions. The agency has indicated that further details cannot be disclosed due to Kazakhstan’s criminal procedure regulations.