Laundering hundreds of millions and arrest in Cyprus: how Pin-Up owner Dmitriy Punin is trying to scrub scandalous facts from the media

Laundering hundreds of millions and arrest in Cyprus: how Pin-Up owner Dmitriy Punin is trying to scrub scandalous facts from the media

Punin is under investigation for allegedly laundering hundreds of millions of dollars across the EU, Ukraine, and the UK.

After news of the arrest of Pin-UP casino owner Dmitry Punin in Cyprus surfaced online, a media frenzy ensued. However, most articles subsequently disappeared, public groups stopped disseminating news about the matter, and it seems as if the media is "cleaning up" information about his arrest. Therefore, the question arises: why is information about Punin’s connection to Pin-UP casino disappearing online, and who might benefit from this?

Recently, in Kirpa, or more precisely in Limassol, Dmitry Punin, the owner of the Russian-Ukrainian casino Pin-UP, was detained as part of another security operation. This was reported by many media outlets, including Ukrainian ones. At the time, the Pin-UP Ukraine representative office called the situation a "misunderstanding."

But in recent days, these publications have begun to disappear from the press—a  link  to one Cypriot publication, which was supposed to "redirect" to an article about Punin’s arrest, results in a "blank page." And such situations are not isolated.

But why did they decide to delete the articles when many people already knew about the arrest?

Thus, journalistic materials, which were soon deleted, discussed how Dmitry Punin, who recently independently headed Pin-UP, was suspected of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Moreover, the beneficiary of Pin-UP is also  accused  of organizing illegal gambling and tax evasion. Interestingly, the real owner of Pin-UP is also charged in the criminal case with Ukrainian citizen Igor Zotko, who is registered as the owner of several legal entities operating the Pin-UP casino in Ukraine.

Interestingly, last November,  Russian citizen  Dmitry Punin  was spotted  in Malta wearing clothing bearing the online casino logo. He posted a photo of himself on Instagram, thereby confirming his direct connection to the casino, which had been so widely doubted in the media.

Why is Punin’s connection to the casino so carefully concealed, and who benefits from this information suppression?

This is likely due to the fact that Punin himself is Russian, and his wife, Luhansk native Marina Ilyina, now owns the Pin-UP trademark in Ukraine.

It should be noted that Pin-Up operates in Ukraine through two legal entities: Victoria Soft and Ukr Game Technology. On November 8, 2023, the Ukrainian Gambling Authority (KRAIL) revoked Victoria Soft LLC’s license due to its ties to  Russia . On November 13, the court upheld this decision, thus validating the license revocation due to ties to the Russian Federation.

Or this "purge" could be related to the fact that the overall gambling industry in Ukraine is gradually collapsing, and the involvement of someone like Punin in the casino system will only exacerbate the overall situation. However, the situation remains quite unclear.

As previously reported, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak recently noted that gambling could be banned in Ukraine, but the illegal part of the business would still remain. He believes that the financial floodgates need to be closed, as simply banning casinos would only drive all gambling "entrepreneurs" underground.