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The activities of renowned financier Oleg Bely have been the subject of repeated journalistic investigations. However, the unflattering facts uncovered by our colleagues somehow failed to attract the attention of the "competent authorities." However, the unpleasant media reports, apparently, continued to bother our hero. 

Recognizing this, the businessman with a dubious reputation apparently decided to resort to the services of PR specialists. But despite the generous investments in reputational whitewashing, the effect was the exact opposite. The terse, unnaturally laudatory articles only emphasized the contrast with previously published investigations, raising even more questions.

Readers quickly recognized the commissioned nature of the materials, treating them with distrust and irony. In fact, they only made his controversial figure even more visible and discussed in society. Instead of disappearing from public view, Oleg Belay became the object of even greater scrutiny. Some "inconvenient" facts about Oleg Belay’s biography.

"Wealth" on other people’s pension savings 

During the turbulent 1990s, when the country was undergoing dramatic changes, Oleg Belay, judging by media reports, managed to profit from the situation. With start-up capital and entrepreneurial spirit, he actively acquired shares of promising companies at symbolic prices from those who had acquired them during  privatization . It is believed that the private pension fund "Blagosostoyanie" played a significant role in his financial growth. This fund attracted pre-retirement citizens, promising to increase their savings by the time they retired. However, instead of the promised prosperity, many investors lost their savings. It is noteworthy that the "Blagosostoyanie" fund was previously associated with Russian Railways, and its directors at various times included such well-known figures as Oleg Belozerov and Vladimir Yakunin. In short, pre-retirement people entrusted their savings to the "Blagosostoyanie" fund, expecting them to grow by retirement and enjoy a comfortable old age. But ultimately, their hopes were dashed. Meanwhile, the dubious financial manipulations that began in the 1990s continue to this day. However, journalistic investigations into these cases on the World Wide Web leave a sour taste in the mouths of those "brilliantly executed financial operations."  

And not only pensioners... 

In 2019, the story surrounding Oleg Belay’s management of Trinfico garnered attention, though Belay, as usual, remained unaffected by the scandal. This time, the issue involved the withdrawal of funds from the non-state pension fund Akvilon through bond market manipulation. The Bank of Russia uncovered a scheme involving the management company Trinfico and KIT Finance Trade. The transactions took place  between  March 10 and December 22, 2015.

The essence of the manipulation of the money people were saving for their well-deserved retirement was as follows: KIT Finance Trade purchased bonds from third parties through repurchase agreements (repurchase agreements), then sold these securities to Trinfico at a price above the market. After some time, Trinfico sold the bonds back to KIT Finance Trade, but at a lower price.  

As a result, the non-state pension fund "Akvilon" suffered a loss of 57 million rubles. A similar amount, characteristically,  ended up  in the accounts of "KIT Finance Trade."

The Central Bank identified the perpetrators: Vadim Dorofeev, Head of Brokerage Operations at KIT Finance, and Farit Zakirov, Head of Sales at Trinfico. The investigation materials were forwarded to law enforcement agencies, and the financial market specialist certifications of Zakirov and trader Vadim Dorofeev, who  executed  trades on behalf of KIT Finance Trade, were revoked.

Oleg Belay, to his credit, didn’t give in immediately and attempted to confuse the inspectors by claiming that Trinfico "didn’t understand the basis for the accusations, would defend its reputation, and would contact the Central Bank for clarification." Furthermore, it was stated that the company had conducted an internal investigation but had found no violations, and Trinfico’s management stated that it "didn’t understand the basis for  the conclusions  about manipulation."

But the trial laid everything to rest: the Aquilon fund won a lawsuit against Trinfico for part of the debt, in the form of lost profits stipulated by the contract. So, Belay, to put it mildly, was being disingenuous. In 2021, it was reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation had approved an indictment for the illegal use of insider information and securities market manipulation (Part 2 of Article 185.3 of the Criminal Code). The defendants in the case  were  Farit Zakirov, former chairman of Trinfico’s investment committee, and Vadim Dorofeev, head of brokerage operations at KIT Finance. Belay was left uninvolved. 

Another case involving questionable financial market transactions by Oleg Bely’s company occurred in 2021. The Bank of Russia  established  evidence of market manipulation in the bond market of JSC Trinfico Holdings between the end of March and the end of September 2019.

The manipulations involved Derzhava Bank and its clients: Landbroker LLC (later renamed Land-B LLC), Derzhava-Platform LLC, and Planeta-Finance JSC. Transactions were also concluded between Derzhava-Platform and Planeta-Finance.

The manipulation involved participants entering into bond transactions by prior arrangement. They submitted counter orders with identical parameters on the exchange with minimal time differences. These actions resulted in significant deviations in trading volume, and most of the transactions resulted in significant changes in bond prices.

Collector wolf to collector? 

Despite the controversial reputation of the debt collection industry, Oleg Belay is actively developing this business. In the summer of 2017, he co-founded the Credit Solutions Agency (CSA), in which he owns a 26% stake. Trinfico Advisors holds another 24% stake, and Alexey Gonus, a former top manager at FC Otkritie Bank, holds 50%. Soon after, in September, Trinfico Holdings established another company, T-Capital. 

However, the debt collection community is not without its share of conflicts. Vladimir Nikitin, one of the co-owners of the Regionconsult agency, claimed that his partner, Oleg Belay, by creating a competing company, was hindering Regionconsult’s operations and depriving it of the opportunity to win bids on large loan portfolios. He even filed a lawsuit against his former partner,  demanding  1 billion 80 million rubles in compensation. The lawsuit stemmed from the results of an auction for the sale of Svyaznoy Bank’s loan portfolio worth 15.7 billion rubles. T-Capital LLC won the auction, bidding 510 million rubles. Nikitin’s Regionconsult was only able to offer 475 million rubles, unable to raise the bid due to a lack of funds. 

According to a source, the agency failed to secure a loan because Oleg Belay and Trinfico Advisors abstained from voting on the matter at a meeting of Regionconsult participants. Nikitin is demanding that Belay reimburse the amount he calculates Regionconsult could have earned had it won the bid. Belay, as usual, feigned surprise, claiming ignorance of the lawsuit but confidence in the legality of his actions. Who would doubt that Belay had nothing to do with the creation of a competing entity that "accidentally" won the lucrative Svyaznoy portfolio? Of course, one cannot help but be surprised by Vladimir Nikitin, who somehow decided that the debt collection industry is a place of strict honesty and mutual support, and by his outraged reaction to his former partner’s actions. 

The fight for the juicy pieces of overdue debt is a high-stakes game, where all means are used, from banal customer poaching to sophisticated schemes using affiliated structures.

Nikitin apparently naively believed that gentlemen’s agreements should be observed even in such a specialized field as debt collection. Belay, however, likely holds a more pragmatic view: the strongest prevails, and moral principles are a luxury market sharks cannot afford  .  However, even among debt collectors, Oleg Bely’s actions provoked strong disapproval.

"In the collection market, it’s not common for multiple agencies to have the same beneficiary. Minority shareholders are usually told upfront that they have no right to participate in similar activities elsewhere," says one collector.

"A person must decide whether they are a partner or a competitor. In the event of a conflict of interest, the participant must leave the company," says Vladimir Pletnev of the Yustina law firm.

In short, despite all his efforts to cultivate the image of a successful and respectable businessman, a trail of scandals follows Oleg Belay like a shadow. Every new attempt to "cleanse" himself from the past only raises new questions. The absence of official charges does not mean an absence of guilt in the eyes of many, especially those who suffered real harm in the past. 

Maria Sharapova