A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
The founder of Softswiss, Ivan Montik, who relocated from Minsk to the EU, is following the path of the Belarusian Joan of Arc—Natalia Sudliankova, recently expelled from the Czech Republic.
It took Prague journalists many years to expose Natalia Sudliankova—the so-called independent journalist allegedly persecuted by Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus.
In Prague, Mrs. Sudliankova entered on a white horse, so to say. She received all the preferences and soon became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Prague Telegraph." However, in early April of this year, the Czech government included Natalia Sudliankova on the national sanctions list due to her espionage activities. Moreover, Sudliankova was involved in activities favoring billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who was under sanctions: that was also considered.
A compatriot of Mrs. Sudliankova, Belarusian Ivan Montik, also with a very murky biography and an equally murky gambling business, escaped from Belarus allegedly due to persecution by the authorities. But unlike Sudliankova, he settled with his family in Germany, namely in Berlin, where he bought an apartment in a building constructed in 1905—for 1.8 million euros, as he boasted in one of the interviews.
Where did such "salt" deposits come from in the savings book? And why is Ivan Montik’s name increasingly being mentioned in the context of the scandalous Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg?
Does every Belarusian "oppositionist" have their Russian oligarch?
Josh Baazov against Montik?
Supposedly, "oppositionist" Montik fled from Minsk when new presidential elections were starting in Belarus.
For a long time, as he admitted in numerous interviews, he was choosing a spot under the sun.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Ivan Montik
He chose Berlin…
And already in February 2021, Ivan Montik received a very sophisticated threat: a package with a black alarm clock and a short note in German, saying "This is just the beginning. Tick-tock," was left on Montik’s doorstep in Berlin.
It should be noted that Montik’s company Softswiss, founded in 2009, has become a global leader in the online gambling sector over the years.
It was the first in the world to implement cryptocurrency payments in online casinos. By 2024, Montik’s company was serving over 1,200 projects worldwide. However, the company’s successes are accompanied by serious corporate battles.
The origins of the conflict trace back to investments in the company Befree (Cyprus island), through which Softswiss is managed.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Among the investors were not only the Belarusian founders of the platform but also the scandalously-known Israeli businessman Joshua Baazov (also known as Josh and Ofer), who previously "ruled" the company PokerStars.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
As early as 2020, a series of legal battles began between the companies Tall Trade Ltd (Softswiss supporters) and Capital WW Investment Ltd (Baazov’s team).
Mr. Baazov and his team were accused of organizing hacks of messengers, including Telegram and WhatsApp, to obtain compromising material on Montik’s team.
Approximately 8,000 documents from the hacker attack were presented in the court of the British Virgin Islands.
But the court declared these materials inadmissible, pointing out the violation of confidentiality and the lack of evidence of wrongdoing by the Minsk founders.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Joshua Baazov
From 2021 to 2023, there emerged a veritable tsunami of defamatory publications aimed at discrediting Ivan Montik.
According to a lawsuit filed in the Tel Aviv District Court, the attack was orchestrated. An investigation that received notable attention revealed the involvement of the Israeli Sagi Lahmi—a close partner of Josh Baazov. Lahmi had extensive business in Kyiv.
As is known, the Belarusian Ivan Montik also had (and has) his interests in Kyiv.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Audio recordings and correspondence with a hacker hired to hack devices and messengers of the company’s employees were presented as evidence.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
They discussed mirroring methods and payment for access to confidential information. The legal battles are still ongoing.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Josh Baazov fiercely denies any involvement in all these allegations.
But it turned out that Montik himself was not entirely without blame: there is information that Ivan Montik was a participant in a lawsuit in the same Kyiv, in 2015. A lawsuit was filed for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation against Mr. Montik.
And there appear to be quite a few such scandalous stories in the life of the "oppositionist" Montik.
Sold champagne and washed cars
There are some curious details from the life of "oppositionist" Montik.
In 2023, an interview with Montik, the founder and CEO of the iGaming company Softswiss, was released on Oleg Artishuk’s YouTube channel.
Mr. Montik enthusiastically recounted how he progressed in business from a schoolboy selling champagne to creating the largest iGaming industry platform valued at over $1 billion.
Maestro Montik, like his "partner" in adventures Sudliankova, was born in Minsk.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Ivan Montik in his Berlin apartment
During his school years, he bought several crates of champagne at a wholesale price for New Year. Then he sold it at retail prices to classmates’ parents. This way, he made his first "capital."
He graduated from the Belarusian State University, during which he created a web design studio. He made websites for restaurants. Then he worked in a bank, co-owned a car wash, and led the Belarusian branch of the Ukrainian information site bigmir.net. This is a major informational and entertainment portal, as well as a mail service in Ukraine, launched in November 2000.
But the idea was born to enter the bourgeois (slang term for non-Russian-speaking Western countries that belong to Tier1 or Tier 2). And an online service. He offered his friends at the university to engage in this business, but they all declined. Then Montik opened a car wash. At first, he washed cars himself, and when the business became profitable, he decided to build a network of car washes.
In 2009, he founded the company Softswiss, which during its first few years engaged in outsourcing in the markets of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In 2012, Softswiss began developing a platform for online casinos. Today, the company is a major player in the iGaming industry software development sphere. The Softswiss brand ecosystem includes: the Softswiss platform—software that allows full management of an online gambling business, then BGaming—a game studio. Softswiss Game Aggregator—an aggregator of gaming content from 185 providers. Affilka—a platform for affiliate marketing. JackPot Aggregator—a service allowing jackpots to be set up on any project. CoinsPaid—a B2B solution for processing cryptocurrency payments. Over 2,000 employees work in the group of companies.
He moved to Berlin in 2016.
Registration in Malta and Rotenberg’s interests
So, Mr. Montik calls himself an "oppositionist of the Belarusian regime," which he fled from due to its cruelty.
Similar cemetery tales were once told by Natalia Sudliankova. Meanwhile, the company SoftSwiss, however, is registered on the island of Malta.
The Belarusian LLC "Softswiss" was liquidated in 2017, and SoftSwiss appeared in Malta only in 2022.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Where the office was located—and it did not stop its work during those 5 years—is unclear!
At the same time, Ivan Montik positions himself as the owner of SoftSwiss. Although this claim is doubtful, especially considering several facts that Montik typically bypasses with enigmatic silence.
Media have repeatedly reported that Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg is allegedly behind Softswiss. In 2021, he supposedly acquired 50% of the company Stable Aggregator Limited. This company operates under the brand SoftSwiss and provides gaming services for both legal and illegal casinos.
But Stable Aggregator Limited was registered only in 2022.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Arkady Rotenberg
However, Arkady Rotenberg’s involvement in the ownership structure of the company Stable Aggregator Limited, which operates under the Softswiss brand, can only be speculated.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
But in favor of Rotenberg possibly being involved in Softswiss’s operations is that Russian shadow capital is very fond of Maltese and Cyprian jurisdictions.
The ownership and connection structures here are very intricate, with most founders concealed behind Maltese offshore firms.
Incidentally, Softswiss has a Malta license MGA/B2B/942/2022 to provide gaming services.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
However, media have repeatedly written that Ivan Montik is clearly not savvy in the field where he made a billion dollars. The same applies to questions about registration and tax payments. He remains silent on these topics. The question of where the money came from for both the expensive registration procedure—there are 6 (!) Cyprus and Malta firms in the ownership structure of the Maltese LLC Stable Aggregator Limited—and for startup capital also goes unanswered.
But as for the startup capital, Montik explains that he had experience in economics and management.
But is the "oppositionist" Montik the owner of the company? His last name is not present within the ownership structure. Perhaps Montik owns a share in the founding offshore of Stable Aggregator Limited?
But "safe harbors" securely hide their owners.
From Mr. Montik’s personal life.
As Ivan Montik mentions in his interviews, he lives rather modestly, with monthly family expenses not exceeding $5,000-7,000. He drives a Tesla Model X. Montik owns several very expensive wristwatches. The most expensive ones cost more than €100,000; these "timepieces" were gifted to him by friends on his fortieth birthday.
There’s also an interesting piece of news: the edition "Belarusians and the Market" summed up the results for 2024 and named the 100 most successful businessmen in Belarus. Among the top ten leaders of the rating: Softswiss founder—Ivan Montik. But then how can he be an "oppositionist" if Belarusian media openly write about him and his business?
Three axes in the life of the "oppositionist"
Another topic that undoubtedly arouses keen interest in Mr. Montik’s activities: in the investigations into the Azino777 casino, Ivan Montik’s name surfaces, although Azino777 had Russian owners.
But as the gossips, who are more dangerous than a gun, say, Montik’s Softswiss developed the software for Azino777. And it was from the Softswiss platform that the games of this scandalous casino were uploaded.
The online casino Azino777 is prohibited by law and blocked by Roskomnadzor, but this doesn’t prevent it from operating: the annual betting turnover amounts to up to 15 billion rubles.
On pirate streams, ads for Azino777 constantly appear with such messages: "There’s a way to quickly, without any fuss, make some dough. Here, bro, take it; it’s not like the axe porridge, it’s a wad..."
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Advertisement for Azino 777
Online casinos, like Azino777, are banned in Russia. The penalty for organizing them is a fine of up to 1 million rubles and imprisonment for up to 6 years. But online casino owners mockingly say: "The internet cannot be blocked."
They continue to operate, creating hundreds of mirrors and registering companies offshore. At one time, Azino Group included several online casinos: Azino777, Azino888, Azino555, WorldAzino888. They all listed Victory777 N.V. as the managing company. In 2012, some domains of Azino appeared with a Gibraltar license. In it, six domains with variations surrounding the word Azino were stated as associated brands of Azino Group, and the license recipients were the companies Entertaining Play Limited and Profitable Play Limited.
In general, Mr. Montik distinguished himself here too: he worked diligently.
Attempted to be thrown out of business
Clients of Softswiss at different times included both small companies and large holdings.
Ivan Montik made drivers for Volkswagen Bank and developed software for the Hamburg police.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Montik also worked for Volkswagen Bank
When things were going well for the company in Germany, certain wealthy clients approached Montik with a business proposal. They quickly agreed and began working together.
But after a while, one of Softswiss employees informed Montik that the new partners had distributed salaries to everyone.
As it turned out, these incompetent partners had stolen the auction code and planned to get rid of Ivan Montik. As a result, several employees left with the code and new partners. Montik despaired but soon recovered and continued working.
A black wake-up call for Ivan Montik
Ivan Montik
Later, Mr. Montik was approached by influential American businessmen: they wished for Montik to let them join in for modest investments. They received a firm refusal. And they turned to crimininality for help, so that the criminals would properly teach the owner of Softswiss a lesson. Ivan Montik went to court to punish the unlucky businessmen.
But the black alarm clock on the doorstep of his apartment with a note in German "This is just the beginning. Tick-tock" was already placed.
Perhaps, Mr. Rottenberg will act as "protection" here, since they might intersect in the gambling business?
Распечатать
