Tsvetan Vassilev, aka the Bulgarian Bernard Madoff, tried to split assets acquired with CorpBank depositors’ money with his Russian cronies Konstantin Malofeev and his puppets, like Dmitry Kosarev.

The fugitive banker’s attempts to seize the profitable companies bought with CorpBank money go back to 2014 when the financial pyramid Vassilev built around the bank crashed. The first people he called to aid in the secondary plunder of CorpBank assets were Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev’s minions. Following the failure of the “€1 Gang” led by the comic figure of Pierre Louvrier, which facilitated an attempt to buy Dunarit, Avionams, BTC, NURTS, Planasat, TV7 and other companies for €1 each, another of Malofeev’s puppets entered the stage, Dmitry Kosarev.

Vassilev’s deal with Kosa­rev was exposed as early as 2015 when Bulgarian newspaper Trud pub­lished a contract signed between the two. The short but more than intriguing document read as follows: “This Memorandum of Understanding (MU) is signed as a document intended to advance the relations between Mr Tsvetan Vassilev (Partner 1) and Mr Dmitry Kosarev (Partner 2), represented by an authorised proxy or personally (depending on the situation). The two partners agree that the current MU reflects the most recent talks and will control their relations with regard to the activities set forth below and will lay the foundation for the negotiation of an agreement(s) acceptable to both parties, now and moving forward, keeping in mind the mutual obligations that result from reasonable rationalisations.”

Here are some of the most significant things agreed between Vassilev and Kosarev: “A fund or a foundation is to be set up in a European country by Partner 1 and Partner 2. Partner 1 is to deposit in the Fund certain assets described in Programme 1 accompanying this MU. The Fund’s documentation is to specify that Partner 1 retains full and unconditional control over the assets. Proceeds from the sale of any part of the assets are to be distributed between the Partners immediately after the deal in a ratio of 80% (eighty percent) for Partner 1 to 20% (twenty percent) for Partner 2.”

Having agreed to split the profit from the planned sale of CorpBank assets in an 80:20 ratio, Vassilev and his Russian crony put into writing another key commitment: “Partner 2 is to provide Partner 1 with every possible and necessary protection, ensuring their security (including the personal safety of Partner 1 and his family).” In other words, Tsvetan Vassilev dealt the future of companies like BTC, TV7 and NURTS, which were bought with CorpBank depositors’ money and of which Vassilev has publicly denied being the owner. The fate of these companies is to be sold, with 20% of the profit to go to the thieving banker’s Russian friend in exchange of security services for him and his family.

In the four years since the signing of this agreement, Dmitry Kosarev and his lawyers have been doing everything in their power to gain control over one of the aforementioned companies, BTC, by inundating Bulgarian and international courts with claims. Meanwhile, Vassilev is living in his luxury house in the Belgrade suburbs, undisturbed by creditors or the authorities.

It is not difficult to judge the capabilities of Vassilev’s Russian friends to protect him. Dmitry Kosarev is very close with oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, one of the first Russian citizens put on the EU and the US sanctions lists. According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Kosarev is a former vice-chair of I.N.F.R.A Engineering, controlled by Malofeev. This is further confirmed by the fact that Kosarev uses the services of the same powerful law firm Malofeev employs for some of his other business ventures. Among the oligarch’s people are also Alexander Borodai and Igor Girkin-Strelkov. Prior to becoming the first “prime minister” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Borodai was a PR consultant in Malofeev’s company Marshall Capital. Igor Girkin-Strelkov was a bodyguard of Malofeev before leading the Russian paramilitary fighting in Ukraine and later taking the position of defence minister of the Donetsk People's Republic. In this capacity he was recently sentenced by a US court to pay $400m in damages to the relatives of the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines’ shot-down Boeing.