How Firtash, together with Pyshnyi and Nikolaychuk, used the “Alliance” bank and NBU to move billions through fake guarantees, government bonds and DF Group's shadow flows
AT “Bank Alliance” has stopped functioning as a regular bank, turning instead into a private financial vehicle controlled by the sanctioned oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
Under the cover of the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) — headed by Andriy Pyshnyi and his first deputy Serhiy Nikolaychuk — and with the involvement of former high-ranking prosecutor Ihor Stadnyk and former bank chair Yuliya Frolova, a system was created that allowed this financial institution to violate rules with impunity, conceal real transactions, handle shadow flows, and move billions beyond state control.
The scheme operated cynically: the National Bank pretended to exercise control, while “Alliance” did whatever it deemed necessary. Insufficient checks on high-risk clients, providing the regulator with false data, hiding ultimate benefit, ignoring financial monitoring requirements, participation in mixing and conversion schemes, servicing shadow flows of online casinos Parimatch, Slotoking, Pin-Up — all of this went unpunished for years thanks to the patronage of the NBU “inner circle.” Even when money laundering through government bonds (OVGZ) exceeding UAH 2.5 billion was revealed – generating an artificial profit of almost UAH 58 million – the regulator limited itself to symbolic fines of UAH 2.6 million in 2019 and UAH 15 million in 2024.
The clearest example of the scale of abuse was the story of bank guarantees. In 2021, “Alliance” issued a guarantee to LLC “United Energy” for UAH 1.85 billion. After selling electricity worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias and subsequently transferring the funds abroad, the bank refused to fulfill its obligations. The court confirmed the need to recover UAH 1.717 billion. At the same time, obligations to Naftogaz were violated for a total of UAH 4 billion — this was no longer an accident but a deliberate, structured scheme.
At the same time, the bank used an extensive network of accounts across various state and commercial institutions, carried out complex multi-level routing, split transactions, converted and legalized DF Group funds. Such schemes would have been impossible without the support of certain representatives of the tax service and regulatory authorities, who for years “did not notice” blatant violations and did not record them in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ERDR).
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Despite numerous complaints and appeals, law enforcement agencies demonstrated complete action. Formal entries in the register were made, but there were zero real investigative steps. In Dnipro, courts obliged the SBU and police to open cases, yet in the Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi Court, judges Trubnikov and Chaika consistently refused, effectively protecting the interests of “Alliance” and Firtash.
Repeated complaints, filed due to systemic neglect, only confirm the need for a full investigation into the activities of Bank “Alliance” and the DF Group structures. Schemes related to the refusal to fulfill guarantees to Ukrenergo and Naftogaz, submission of false information to the NBU, laundering funds through an extensive network of accounts, and servicing shadow financial flows continue to pose a direct threat to state interests.
As long as banks of this type operate under the protection of top officials, Ukraine loses billions, and the financial control system becomes merely a facade. This is no accident — it is a fundamental disease, demonstrating how deeply the regulatory vertical is infected with corruption and how easily state resources become a feeding ground for private clans.
