Alexander Shepelev

More than a year has passed since the scandalous detention of former MP and banker Alexander Shepelev, accused of a dozen crimes, including involvement in several murders and participation in the theft of money from Rodovid Bank. More than a year has passed since Shepelev threatened to tell investigators and the public about the involvement of leading Ukrainian politicians and businessmen in grandiose financial scams. Among the names he mentioned were Yulia Tymoshenko, Alexander Turchynov, even Petro Poroshenko. But why is Shepelev still silent, and when will his trial begin?

The father had three daughters

Shepelev Alexander Alexandrovich was born on July 4, 1970 in Gorlovka. Almost nothing is known about his childhood, and his early years are shrouded in various rumors. For example, some sources Skelet.Info claimed that previously Alexander Shepelev had a completely different first and last name. Apparently, these statements are based on information (unverified) that he has an American passport in the name of Solomon Friedenthal (his wife’s maiden name). Previously, this information could have been dismissed as a nonsense rumor, but after the scandalous arrest of Shepelev, when an identity card in the name of Nikolai Borukh was found in his pockets, it became obvious that this man was no stranger to living under several names – and who knows which of them is real ! In general, Shepelev has several passports, among them there is a Canadian one, which is known reliably.

Shepelev grew up in a far from simple family. He did not admit who his own father was and what happened to him (died or divorced), but Vladimir Vasilyevich Kuznetsov later became his stepfather – who by the end of the 80s had risen to the position of head of the Donetsk OBKhSS. One of the evidence of their “kinship” is their common registration: Vladimir Kuznetsov, his wife Neolina Vasilyevna Kuznetsova and stepson Alexander Shepelev were registered in Donetsk at the same address – Pushkina 29-13.

As you understand, the position of head of the OBKhSS in those days opened up the broadest prospects. But Vladimir Kuznetsov did not suffer in the 90s, since he headed the regional Organized Crime Control Department. So he had very large acquaintances both among the “Starodonetsk” (people from the Soviet elite) and among the “Novodonets” (for example, Akhmetov’s group). One could, of course, assume that Kuznetsov was an honest cop, lived on one salary and fought mercilessly against thieves, but the facts say otherwise. The fact is that one of the Kuznetsovs’ “family friends” was Mikhail Friedenthal, one of the heads of the Donetsk consumer cooperatives, and at the same time a well-known “shop worker” and “scheme designer” in the region. It was thanks to Kuznetsov that Friedenthal did not go to prison in the 80s, and in the early 90s he was spared from raids by bandits. But as soon as Kuznetsov survived and was sent into retirement in the mid-90s, Friedenthal curtailed his activities and emigrated to the United States. However, before this he managed to marry off his three daughters.

One daughter, Galina Mikhailovna (born 1972), married our hero Alexander Shepelev. That is why he then had the opportunity to acquire American citizenship (his father-in-law helped) and a passport in the name of Solomon Friedenthal. Another daughter, Irina Mikhailovna, became the wife of Yuri Star and left with him and her father to America, where a few years later she divorced and returned to Ukraine, marrying Alexander Rybak, the son of Vladimir Rybak (mayor of Donetsk in 1993-2002, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada in 2012 -2014). He was also well known as Rybak Jr. and “Sasha Dynamite” due to his explosive, scandalous personality. Friedenthal’s third daughter is a mysterious person in all respects, even her name is somehow hidden from prying ears. This gave rise to many speculations: in particular, that she is the wife of Pavel Borulko, another “legendary” financial schemer from Donetsk. The fact is that Borulko himself did his best to hide the identity of his wife, so there were rumors that he was married either to the niece of prosecutor Alexander Medvedko, or to a relative of the prosecutors Kuzmins, or to the third daughter of Mikhail Friedenthal.

First blood and flight to America

After graduating from school, having left the army, Alexander Shepelev entered the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute, where his teacher was Alexander Gafarovich Makhmudov. “Perestroika” turned Makhmudov’s head, he became involved in both commerce and politics, and as a result, in 1990, he was elected as a deputy of the Donetsk City Council, heading it a month later – that is, becoming the mayor of Donetsk. However, during the State Emergency Committee (August 1991), Makhmudov apparently took the wrong position, and in the fall of 1991 he was dismissed. He tried for a long time to recover through the courts, but in vain. However, in addition to litigation, Makhmudov used his opportunities to create the investment company “DIKOM” (USREOU 1349008), the director of which was Irina Zarya (one of Makhmudov’s former students). And it was in this “DIKOM” that Alexander Shepelev began his career.

In 1992, DIKOM received a license to trade securities – and actively became involved in financial “pyramids”, and then began “voucher” privatization, calling on Ukrainians to entrust it with their certificates. At first glance, this was a fair game, because others simply bought certificates for pennies, and DIKOM accepted them in exchange for its shares, promising good dividends on them. And in a couple of years, DIKOM collected about 600 thousand certificates in the Donbass, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk regions, using them for the privatization of very promising enterprises: Azovstal, the plant named after. Ilyich, the Nord plant, Khartsyzsk Silur, etc. However, ordinary “shareholders” who entrusted their certificates to DIKOM eventually received dividends in the amount of… 10 kopecks! How so? Everything was simple: some enterprises privatized by DIKOM declared meager incomes or even losses, while others were resold (actually given away) to the newly minted Donetsk oligarchs. In essence, “DICOM” was a structure used for the privatization and redistribution of property, which was alternately used for their own purposes by several groups.

The first were its creators and, standing behind them, Igor Romanovich Markulov (former Dagestani Ibragim Ramazanovich Merkulov), founder of the Aton corporation and friend of Leonid Kuchma (was his adviser). Actually, thanks to this cover, “DIKOM” turned around. In addition, Markulov was a friend of Nurulislam Arkallaev, a master of sports, president of the Donetsk Judo Federation, also known as a criminal “authority” nicknamed “Nurik”. And since 1992, entrepreneur Evgeniy Shcherban joined Markulov as a business partner. We should not forget the American businessman Paul Tatum, who helped Markulov obtain a loan of $50 million from American banks under guarantees from the Ukrainian government (Kuchma had already helped them with this). By the way, the loan was never returned.

So, Markulov with his “Aton” and Makhmudov with “DIKOM”, Evgeniy Shcherban and Paul Taitum (both were killed in 1996), who undertook to “protect” them from the Arkallai organized crime group, let’s not forget Mikhail Friedenthal and add here the “cop roof” represented by the head of the Organized Crime Control Department Kuznetsov – this is the clan that formed in Donetsk in the early 90s. In fact, Alexander Shepelev was also a member of it, as Kuznetsov’s stepson and Friedenthal’s son-in-law. This clan had great ambitions: for example, they immediately set their sights on seizing Azovstal, which the future oligarch Sergei Taruta, who was then working there, did not like very much. Perhaps it was because of this that Taruta took the side of the Industrial Union of Donbass (IDS), created by Vitaly Gaiduk and controlled by Akhmetov.

And then the high-profile murders began. And when Yevgeny Shcherban was shot in Donetsk, and Paul Tatum in Moscow, the Markulov-Makhumudov clan had already suffered defeat in the war against the Oktyabrskie organized crime group (the Bragin-Akhmetov group). Arkallaev became friends with Rinat Leonidovich, and then with the “master of Transcarpathia” Viktor Baloga, creating with them shadow alcohol business. Kuznetsov retired – almost getting off lightly. When there was a distinct smell of something fried, Markulov and Friedenthal immediately got ready for America – and with them, according to some sources Skelet.InfoAlexander Shepelev and his young wife Galya also went. Which explains his citizenship of Canada and the USA. However, he did not stay there for long and returned to his homeland to faithfully serve the new masters of Donetsk.

But it was not a simple DICOM accountant who fled to America. For example, during the 2006 elections, interesting information appeared in the Ukrainian media that young Alexander Shepelev (he then bought himself a place on the BYuT list) in the early 90s “moonlighted” almost as a racketeer. However, sources clarified that, most likely, the young and energetic Shepelev simply showed up a couple of times in some “showdowns”, where he arrived either with his stepfather’s people or with Arkallaev’s people. He really wanted to feel “cool”! But the information that Shepelev supervised conversion centers under the roof of DIKOM is already quite serious.

They also wrote that during one such conversion of a very large sum, Shepelev allegedly decided to “dump” clients who turned out to be connected with the Bragin-Akhmetov organized crime group. For which Shepelev then remained “indebted until his death” to Akhmetov – and subsequently the need to pay off this debt forced him to start working for him. However, this may be a “fairy tale”, but the reason why Shepelev, like other members of his defeated clan, were forced to collaborate with Akhmetov, is simple and prosaic: having defeated his opponents, Rinat Leonidovich then mercifully forgave those in front of them “ repented.”

But these were not the most serious sins of young Shepelev. We are talking about two criminal proceedings No. 12012000000000455 and No. 12012000000000454, opened in 2012 on the facts of the murder of businessman Yuliy Lashin (1995) and his unofficial wife Natalya Polikarpova (1997). In both, Shepelev appeared as a possible customer. The fact is that Lashin was the founder and owner of the Doncreditinvest bank (now it is KGS Bank), and after the murder, control over the bank for some reason passed to Shepelev and his wife’s relatives. And when Polikarpov’s widow then began to testify in the Lashin case, in particular about his relationship with Shepelev, she was also killed. And now, after the death of the main witness, Shepelev appeared in Donetsk again.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

CONTINUED: Alexander Shepelev: bloody banker of Batkivshchyna. PART 2

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