Criminal Case Against Paymaster AS. Alexander Legoshin Now Behind Gemba Finance Ltd.

crimepaymastergemba

Criminal Case Against Paymaster AS. Alexander Legoshin Now Behind Gemba Finance Ltd. The brief information. Publicly available data.

We hereby inform our clients and partners of the following.

Criminal Proceedings

Criminal procedure No. 1816XXXXXXX was initiated in June 2023 by the Economic Crimes Combating Department of the Main Criminal Police Department of the State Police of Latvia, concerning the alleged misappropriation of client funds amounting to no less than € 6,337,000 by payment institution PAYMASTER a.s. The actions are qualified under Section 179, p.3 of the Criminal Law of Latvia (misappropriation on a large scale). The client was formally recognized as a victim in June 2024 by the decision of the investigating officer.

The investigation established that the client’s funds were held in the actual use of PAYMASTER a.s. and were not returned to their lawful owner. According to the case materials, the investigation identifies Alexander Legoshin, the shareholder of PAYMASTER a.s., as the person to whom inquiries regarding the possibility of taking the client’s funds over should be directed.

Corporate Structure and Continuity

According to justice.cz PAYMASTER a.s. is in liquidation.

According to the Latvian commercial register (Lursoft), PAYMASTER a.s. filiale Latvija (reg. No. 40203077640, registered 26 June 2017) was liquidated on 5 April 2023. The registered beneficial owner of the Latvian branch of Paymaster was Russian national Alexander Legoshin. The branch director was Latvian national Ugis Latsons.

According to the same public registry (Lursoft), Gemba Finance Ltd filiāle Latvijā (reg. No. 42103110256, registered 28 May 2020) has an identical ownership and management structure: beneficial owner — Alexander Legoshin (Russian), director — Ugis Latsons (Latvian).

Alexander Legoshin currently holds the position of Director at Gemba Finance Ltd (United Kingdom), as confirmed by Companies House records and publicly available professional sources.

Ugis Latsons currently holds the position of Managing Director at Gemba Finance Ltd (United Kingdom), as confirmed by Companies House records and publicly available professional sources.

The same beneficial owner and the same director appear successively in the structures of both PAYMASTER a.s. and Gemba Finance Ltd, as confirmed by public registries in Latvia and the United Kingdom.

Independent Research

The information regarding connections between PAYMASTER a.s., Gemba Finance Ltd, and Alexander Legoshin is also documented in the independent report by Transparency International Russia, “Unraveling the Web: Money Laundering through E-Payments from Russia to the UK” (2024).

According to the report, Legoshin is identified as the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) of Gemba Finance, and business accounts of Gemba Finance were found available for purchase on illegal dark web marketplaces.

We recommend exercising heightened caution before conducting any transactions with Gemba Finance Ltd.

Disclaimer

The initiation of criminal proceedings does not imply established guilt. Guilt is determined exclusively by a court of law.

This publication is based on:

  1. The decision recognizing victim status (June 2024), criminal procedure No. 1816XXXXXXX, State Police of Latvia (in our possession);
  2. Companies House records (UK) (Source);
  3. Latvian commercial register data (Lursoft) (Source 1, Source 2);
  4. Transparency International Russia report, 2024 (Source).

This information will be updated as the situation develops.