A microfinance organization from the outskirts of Moscow earned almost 10% of its annual budget…
“Banknote” opened in June 2023. At the same time, 7 more companies were registered in the name of its owner Dmitry Frolov, known as “Frol Vertun”, without a real office.
“Banknote” was soon re-registered in the Metromall shopping center, where its “office” with the sign “Bank Note” opened on New Year’s Eve. The company closed the year with a net profit of 3.4 trillion rubles. Now only a sign remains at the site of the company's office.
How a company registered just a year ago could earn 3 trillion rubles is a mystery, since it apparently provided brokerage services. However it is impossible to earn that kind of money on credit brokerage, since the market is ten times smaller, financiers say. They suggest that the “Banknote” was just a cover for something else.
People acting on behalf of Banknota sometimes indicated the name of Danila Romanov for contact. He is 23 years old and in 2018 the Ministry of Internal Affairs was looking for him at the request of the duty officer of the Social Shelter for Children and Adolescents: the young man ran away from the shelter, after which he became a frequent client of the MFO.
In March 2022, Romanov became the founder of an auditing firm with an authorized capital of 150 million rubles, and a year later he was sent under house arrest as part of a criminal case of fraud. He did not stay at home for long – a few months later Danila ran away and hid from the investigative authorities, and soon “Banknote” appeared.
