$20,000 SBU certificate: how Mikhail Zborovskiy cleansed Cosmobet of its Russian links

After the bribery scandal involving law enforcement officials, questions about the origins of Cosmobet’s money and the casino’s real owners have not gone away. On the contrary, court documents showed that a $20,000 bribe was allegedly offered to obtain an SSU certificate confirming that Neurolink had no ties to Russia, followed by arrangements for ongoing “protection” in exchange for monthly payments.

We are publishing this material to recall how the Cosmobet story unfolded, who stood behind its formal owner, Mikhail Zborovskiy, why he was replaced by a Cypriot nominee, and why the casino’s management needed to purchase confirmation of its own “clean” status. Against the backdrop of the criminal investigation and the subsequent change of beneficiary, these circumstances warrant particular attention.

In April 2025, a court ruling revealed that Cosmobet had obtained official confirmation from the SSU that it had no ties to Russia through bribery.

“Antikor” had previously reported that the company operating the casino and its nominee head, Mikhail Zborovskiy, could have links to Russians, and law enforcement authorities have now provided further evidence concerning these allegations.

According to the court ruling, an operative from the Operational Developments Department of the Kiev Regional Office of the National Police’s Internal Security Department, through an acquaintance who had contacts with SSU officials, offered a $20,000 bribe in exchange for a response confirming that LLC Neurolink and its ultimate beneficial owner had no connection to Russian citizens, Russian capital, or sanctioned entities. The police officer was acting in collusion with the company’s management.

LLC Neurolink is the company operating the Cosmobet online casino. Until May 2025, its founder was Mikhail Zborovskiy, a resident of the village of Krasylivka in Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Law enforcement authorities found that, in addition to the $20,000 bribe for a favorable decision confirming the casino’s lack of ties to Russia, the police officer and the SSU intermediary were also supposed to receive approximately $45,000 a month from Zborovskiy and Neurolink.

Moreover, after the SSU officially issued the aforementioned response and Neurolink was able to continue operating without interference, the police officer was supposed to receive a percentage of the company’s monthly income. He would then pass approximately UAH 100,000–200,000 of that amount to the SSU intermediary. The payments were intended to secure the “further resolution of issues that might arise regarding connections to LLC Neurolink.”

In April 2025, the favorable response from the SSU was obtained, and the $20,000 bribe was handed over to the intermediary. During the transfer of the money, the operative from the Operational Developments Department was detained, and his belongings were seized as material evidence.

Investigators documented the conspirators’ meetings and communications via messengers and also seized documents that were intended to ensure Cosmobet could continue operating without interference.

The fact that the management of Cosmobet had to involve corrupt law enforcement officials to obtain confirmation that the company had no ties to Russia suggests that securing the Ukrainian security service’s approval through official channels may otherwise have been impossible. After all, the company’s Russian connections appear to run deep.

Formally, LLC Neurolink was founded in November 2023 by Mikhail Zborovskiy and LLC Neoplay. “Antikor” previously reported that Zborovskiy had been far removed from the gambling industry until a certain point. He studied to become an auditor and worked as an economist at a bank. The Cosmobet platform was officially launched in early June 2024, after which the internet was flooded with identical pieces on low-profile websites about Zborovskiy’s biography and his expert commentary on Ukraine’s gambling industry.

One of Mikhail Zborovskiy’s previous employers is listed as XGen Solutions LTD. The same company is mentioned in a court ruling concerning the sanctioned online casino Cosmolot, which is linked to Russian businessman Sergey Tokarev. Moreover, according to media reports, Zborovskiy himself previously worked at Cosmolot.

Mikhail Zborovskiy’s registered address is a house in the village of Krasylivka, Ivano-Frankivsk region. However, the house is owned by his father.

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Apparently, Zborovskiy’s relative has a propensity for alcohol, having been fined twice for drunk driving.

A man with exactly the same first name, last name, and patronymic as the nominal owner of the Cosmobet casino divorced his wife in March 2024. These records can be found in the court registry.

And in the same month, Zborovskiy’s possible former wife became the owner of a two-bedroom apartment in a newly built residential complex in Kiev. She received the property under a gift agreement.

A similarly sized apartment in this residential complex can currently be purchased for $155,000.

So why did Zborovskiy and his associates try to buy an SBU response confirming that Cosmobet had no ties to Russia through bribes? The reason is that earlier this year, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) detained the nominal owner of another online casino, PIN-UP, which is suspected of laundering Russian money. Investigators found that the detainee had no legitimate sources of funds to contribute UAH 30 million to the authorized capital of the company that obtained the gambling license.

In July 2025, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kiev ordered the special confiscation of assets, transferring UAH 2.6 billion to the state budget from a company operating under the PIN-UP online casino brand.

This case could not have failed to alarm the management of Cosmobet, because it partially resembles what may be hidden behind its facade: Zborovskiy is a nominal owner registered at his father’s rural home; LLC Neurolink has an authorized capital of UAH 30 million — exactly the same amount as PIN-UP; and there are alleged links to Russian gambling businessmen through Tokarev.

That is precisely why, throughout the spring of 2025, Cosmobet’s owners allegedly bribed law enforcement officials in exchange for a percentage of the company’s operations, effectively securing their silence over the online casino’s Russian connections.

And apparently for the same reason, in May 2025, Zborovskiy was removed from the list of founders of LLC Neurolink and replaced by an unknown Cypriot, Andrey Dobrovolskiy, who resides in a villa on the Limassol waterfront.

An interesting coincidence: according to the State Bureau of Investigation, the management of the PIN-UP online casino, from which the largest-ever amount of money was confiscated for the state budget, held meetings with Russians precisely in Cyprus, where the new formal owner of Cosmobet resides.

So, can Mikhail Zborovskiy feel safe now that he has been removed from the list of Cosmobet’s founders? Hardly, since the bribe for the “favorable” response from the SBU was handed over precisely while he was running the online casino.