Russian captured in Bogotá and his dark moves from La Picota

Sergei Vagin, the Russian linked to millionaire movements of money –and the alleged financing of riots in Colombia– has been confined in a cell in Bogotá’s La Picota prison for 5 months unleashed a diplomatic firestorm between the Duque government and Nikolay Tavdumadze, Moscow’s ambassador to Bogotá.

Vagin, 36, continues to claim that he is a simple online gambler who came to Colombia in search of opportunities and that he moved with a certificate of good conduct given to him by the third secretary of the Russian embassy, Nicolay Rykov.

This exclusively obtained image shows a meeting of Russian citizens with protesters in Bogotá.

But the Prosecutor’s Office has evidence that Vagin and his network entered the country large amounts of money, circumventing controls of 17 powerful local and foreign bookmakers, with headquarters in Serbia, Sweden, Malta, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Even the CIA, DEA and British agencies are interested in the case, because they fear that the same model will be used to launder mafia money, through betting on the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The Prosecutor’s Office has already deciphered part of the sophisticated mechanism that was used to enter money to bank accounts in Bogotá, Cali and Medellín, the result of bets on football matches in Europe, horse races and even ping-pong tournaments in Thailand.

Intelligence sources insist that that money sponsored hooded men who led the destruction in several cities during the days of protests, to destabilize Colombian democracy.

EL TIEMPO had access to the evidence of the case that point out that online accounts were opened on sports betting platforms in Colombia, duplicating identities.

With data from third parties, who recruited by paying them monthly, they made the 17 bookmakers believe that they were in Colombia and they began to make millionaire sports dicks.

“They were low interest games with rigged results so as not to lose the investment. It is not known where the money for the bets came from,” said an investigator.

The exchange houses deposited the prizes in bank accounts, and the money was withdrawn at ATMs and in the unbanked network.

The Prosecutor’s Office has audios in which there is talk of recruiting more people, because the day was not enough for them to withdraw the money.

According to the Uiaf, in a single month they withdrew 3,445 million pesos and, on specific dates, up to 1,100 million pesos in five days.

After the revelations of this diary, Vagin and six people were arrested for non-consensual transfer of assets, abusive access to a computer system and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The trick and the signatures

“The transactions would have been made within the framework of bets at the bookmakers Bwin.co, Betplay.com.co, Rushbet.co, Codere.com.co, Rivalo.co, Wplay.co, Yajuego.co, and Betfair. .com.co”.

It is now known that they used two software, called Multilogin and Luminatti, which They allowed them to circumvent the controls that the bookmakers have designed.

They simulated connecting from Colombia to platforms anywhere in the world, but the IPs were in Moscow or Serbia and they planned to extend the mechanism to Mexico and Argentina.

Through the Telegram application they coordinated the bets with foreigners located in Russia, who use the aliases ‘Dima’, ‘Tuitrid’ and ‘Álex’, and to Sberbank, the great Russian bank. The entry of large flows of money to Colombia was carried out continuously from October 2020 to March 2022.

“The transactions would have been carried out within the framework of bets in the bookmakers Bwin.co, Williamhill.co, Aquijuego.co, Betplay.com.co, Colbet.co, Rushbet.co, Sportium.com.co, Mozzartbet.com.co, Megapuesta.co, Zamba.co, Codere.com. co, Luckia.co, Rivalo.co, Wplay.co, Yajuego.co, Fullreto.co and Betfair.com.co”, Says the Prosecutor’s Office in the indictment from last July.

Hearing for the legalization of the arrest, imputation of charges and security measure against Sergei Vagin and six other prisoners.

So far, only the last six have asked to be recognized as victims, despite the fact that requests have been sent to all of them so that they become part of the process.

Criminal lawyer Ricardo Gaviria, representative of five of these firms, assured that if the crimes are proven, They will ask for an exemplary sentence.

And he added that they have no economic claim because their clients’ betting systems were not violated and there was no patrimonial detriment: “The Prosecutor’s Office knows that they bet a considerable amount of money and that they operated the bets several times without being allowed.”

He added that the Prosecutor’s Office did not charge money laundering or financing of terrorism. And he warned that some bookmakers wait for permission from their parent companies to become victims.

“The Prosecutor’s Office knows that they bet a considerable amount of money and that they operated the bets several times without being allowed.”

Despite the evidence, four of those captured did not accept charges, including Vagin. His defense and that of others have asked to revoke the security measure or replace it, movements that researchers qualify as procedural delay.

Copies were even certified to the Sectional Commission of Judicial Discipline against an intervener in the case for allegedly delaying the sending of appeals.

Even so, a release request hearing was scheduled for September 8, due to the expiration of terms. This newspaper called two lawyers who represented Vagin, but they said they are no longer involved in the case.

But Olbar Andrade, attorney for Cristian Reyes, another of those involved, said that his client (a chef by profession) he is innocent and they hope to prove it in freedom.