Rucriminal continues to reveal how a criminal case was fabricated to attempt to take away Nginx from its creators, Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov. According to documents obtained by Rucriminal, the private company Group-IB was responsible for all the technical work required for the investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. The top manager of Group-IB, Nikita Kislitsyn, was recently summoned for questioning in the United States in a criminal case involving electronic device fraud. The FBI believes that Kislitsyn was a partner of Evgeny Nikulin, who is accused of hacking into American technology companies and stealing personal data from over 100 million people. Not surprisingly, Kislitsyn refused to travel to the United States and may soon be declared wanted. It is precisely because of the knowledge of Group-IB employees, in which the FBI is interested, that this company was involved in the operation to “attack” Nginx, led by Maximilian Grishin, Vladimir Timoshin, and Kenes Rakishev.

Kenes Rakishev is a Kazakh oligarch who invests funds worldwide for the top echelons of Kazakhstan, primarily for his senior comrade Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Western companies and banks wishing to maintain a good reputation categorically refuse to cooperate with Rakishev, believing that the funds he invests have a “dirty” origin. As a result, the oligarch has to engage in raiding. Especially when it comes to a lucrative target like Nginx, a Russian development known worldwide and rapidly increasing in value. Documents in our possession indicate that it was Rakishev who initiated the criminal case, the defendants of which are the creators of Nginx. Following the entire operation, Rakishev was promised that he would obtain Nginx.

Maximilian Grishin and Vladimir Timoshin are dubious Moscow lawyers associated with the Ukrainian law firm “Ilyashev and Partners” and have long been under the control of Russian special services. In 2011, Maximilian Grishin positioned himself as one of the leaders of the white-ribbon movement and was an active participant in events on Bolotnaya Square. However, after communicating with law enforcement, he unexpectedly dropped out of the list of defendants in the “Bolotnaya case.” Moreover, he began a rapid legal career and found himself under the “wing” of his senior comrade, Vladimir Timoshin.

According to Rucriminal sources, Timoshin’s “success” began in the late 2000s after his involvement in a raiding attack on the large enterprise “Krasny Proletariy.” During the capture of the enterprise, its leader and owner Yuri Ivanovich Kirillov was beaten to death in Cyprus in November 2009.

Vladimir Timoshin, thanks to certain very personal relationships, opens doors to many offices in the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. It was he who negotiated the initiation of the case necessary for the seizure of Nginx. Since there were no grounds for initiating the case, it was decided to “fabricate” it. Last summer, Timoshin began to fabricate the necessary materials. At the direction of Timoshin, Maximilian Grishin compiled fictitious surveys of former Rambler employees, etc. Lawyers also involved Group-IB in their work. Its employees worked with the server, which contained all the internal correspondence of Rambler over the years, and the “specialists” of Group-IB organized access to the personal mailboxes of Nginx creators Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov. In particular, Group-IB managed to gain access to the correspondence between Sysoev and Konovalov with representatives of PwC, IDelyne Group, Greycroft LL.C., Greyeroft Partners II LP., BV Capital VCC, Greenberg, Whitcombe & Takeuchi LLP., Runa Capital I. LP, GlobTechFund. All this work was generously financed by Kenes Rakishev.

Having obtained all this correspondence, Group-IB, under the dictation of Timoshin and Grishin, performed an analysis of “evidence” in which Igor Sysoev, Maxim Konovalov, and their partners were identified as “alleged criminals.” As a result, this product of Group-IB and Rakishev’s lawyers also became one of the materials necessary for initiating the case ordered by Timoshin in the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. Below is this work of Group-IB.