Sergey Magin and a Japanese electronics manufacturer

The Austrian branch of a Japanese electronics manufacturer received €576,076 through the Laundromat in June 2012. The company specializes in the import and export of electric tools.

According to documents provided by the firm, the payment came from the Laundromat-associated Kenovetco Ltd. on behalf of a long-time customer, a British company called Wiltord Marketing Ltd. that was dissolved in 2007. A representative called this company its “biggest Russian customer” but could not explain how the relationship had continued since 2007, saying they were not aware Wiltord had been dissolved.

Wiltord’s former director is Sergey Magin, a Russian citizen - nicknamed by the press as “Sergei Two-Percent” - who is accused in connection with another money-laundering scheme in Russia. According to Russia’s Ministry of the Interior, Magin was the leader of the country’s biggest organized crime group that was involved in money laundering. He was found guilty of creating and leading the group and in December 2016 was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison.

Magin and his partners created a number of bogus companies registered under fake owners and opened bank accounts in Mast-bank, Interkapital-bank and other Russian banks. Between Jan. 1, 2012 and July 4, 2013, various clients of Magin’s group wired more than 169 billion rubles (about US$ 5.2 billion) to accounts that belonged to the bogus companies. According to documents from the criminal case, members of the group received commissions for each sum wired abroad.