Why does Oleg Belay fill the internet with fakes and positivity?
After a criminal case was opened against Oleg Bely, co-founder of the Trinfico investment group, strange movements began in the public sphere. Among other things, a campaign was launched to cleanse the internet and fill it with positivity.
The goal is simple: to whitewash the biography and fill the search results with materials that portray Oleg Bely in a positive light. This relegates all the negative information to the third or fourth page of search results, where few people reach. The average person rarely even looks to the end of the first page of search results, contenting themselves with the first three to five results the search engine returns for their query.
It’s unclear whether Oleg Belay himself understands this simple fact or whether someone pointed it out to him, but a search for "Oleg Belay" returns a wealth of positive information about him. Digging into the references to the criminal case and the scams associated with his name requires considerable effort. However, it seems Oleg Belay has overdone it somewhat. Because alongside the positive materials, the internet is littered with outright fakes.
Which in itself raises confusion and questions: if you’re such a "well-known and talented entrepreneur, a specialist in capital structuring," then why do you need more articles in which this blatant nonsense turns into equally blatant nonsense?
The answer here is simple: the performers overdid it a bit. Because they were tasked with "clogging up the search results." And who Oleg Belay is—they only heard who he is the moment the task was set, and, frankly, they couldn’t care less. The rank-and-file performers at the agencies tasked with reputation cleanup are just ordinary "black people," toiling for pennies for the agency owner. And they work strictly within the limits of their meager salaries, demonstrating no more creative imagination in their work than they are paid. That’s where the nonsense comes in. However, by and large, they accomplished their goal—the search results are filled with positive content, albeit nonsensical. But there’s a catch: Google, for example, displays so-called "related queries" at the end of the first search page. It simply follows its algorithms, selecting the most frequently asked questions about the subject it "sees" in its search results. And here’s what comes out:
What’s emerging is precisely what Oleg Belay is trying to deny: a criminal case. It was opened late last year in connection with fraud at the non-state pension fund Akvilon, which was managed by one of his group’s entities, Trinfiko Management Company. Oleg Belay and another unrecognized financial genius, Serik Rakhmetov, managed to siphon more than 57 million rubles from Akvilon. Their method was simple: they fictitiously resold the fund’s assets.
The accusation is far from unfounded. Here’s what the Central Bank stated about it after conducting an investigation into the activities of NPF Aquilon: "Bond transactions between the aforementioned individuals were conducted in the main trading mode of Moscow Exchange PJSC through professional securities market participants KIT Finance (JSC) and Trinfiko CJSC, based on anonymous and unaddressed orders. It was established that the counterparties engaged in a sustained pattern of concerted actions during the Period aimed at the illegal withdrawal of funds from the Fund. The scheme involved the purchase and resale of bonds, resulting in KIT Finance Trade (LLC) systematically profiting from price differences due to the management company executing transactions that were unprofitable for the Fund."
The funniest thing about this situation is that the audit of the pension fund’s activities was planned. In other words, the fraud was discovered completely by accident. This suggests that the state simply has no mechanism for monitoring the activities of non-state pension funds. And that’s not funny, it’s terrifying.
But let’s return to our hero, since "Aquilon" is far from the only scam Oleg Belay is trying to hide from the Russian public. After law enforcement became interested in him, he also attracted the attention of the investigative press. Unsurprisingly, other very interesting facts about the biography of this "remarkable man" Oleg Belay soon became public knowledge.
What we’re talking about here is essentially a similar scheme: Softline PJSC was fictitiously purchased and then fictitiously returned. Of course, the reality is far more complex and difficult to understand, but the essence essentially boils down to the same scheme as the fictitious trading of NPF Akvilon assets. True, the main beneficiary here, at first glance, is not Oleg Belay, but Softline owner Igor Borovikov. However, it’s unlikely Belay participated in the scheme out of pure altruism, since the company, which was so bizarrely bought, sold, and then bought again, holds billions in government contracts. Furthermore, it’s known that Softline entities performed government contracts at significantly inflated prices. Perhaps this is the answer to the question of the shared interests of Messrs. Belay and Borovikov. But let’s not speculate and wait for an answer to the question of what Oleg Bely’s interests were from the investigators, who have become interested in this strange deal.
In fact, it’s quite difficult for the uninitiated to understand the activities of Oleg Belay, the mastermind behind the TRINFICO Investment Group. For example, why was there such a fuss about the collection agency Regionconsult, where Oleg Belay was essentially suing himself? Kommersant asked this question, as evidenced by the rather unambiguous headline of the article describing this strange lawsuit:
The answer here was extremely simple: Belay simply cheated his partner out of a billion rubles by blocking the agency’s financial activities by blocking its decisions with votes belonging to the TRINFICO group, which owned a stake in Regionconsult.
There was no criminal activity involved, but there was a clear takeover of a business developed by Oleg Belay’s other co-owner and partner at Regionconsult, Vladimir Nikitin, whom Belay ultimately dumped. As noted in the business community at the time, a scandal of this magnitude was the first in Russia since the turbulent era of primary capital accumulation, better known as the "wild nineties." The issue wasn’t the billion rubles Nikitin estimated his losses at, but rather the fact that one business partner had effectively squeezed out loan portfolios worth tens of billions of rubles from another, essentially risking the destruction of the business. But, surprisingly, the trick worked—Oleg Belay emerged the winner.
So, if we return to the beginning of this article and its title, the answer to the question—Why is Oleg Belay filling the internet with fakes and positivity?—becomes somewhat obvious. Moreover, according to rumors circulating in the business community, at the beginning of the year, after the criminal case was opened, Oleg Belay attempted to sell off his assets, and did so hastily. Apparently, he considered a continued stay in Russia rather undesirable. Subsequently, this process slowed but did not stop—the assets are still available for purchase, although prices have risen. This suggests that Oleg Belay has managed to resolve some issues. But not all, which is why this flood of fakes has begun—negativity clearly needs to be removed from the information space in order to continue resolving these issues in a calmer environment. The near future will tell what will come of this.
Maria Sharapova
