A legal fake against the truth: Russian scammers and Eduard Lebedev use false takedowns to suppress reporting on Cyprus online casinos

In early September, the FakeOff editorial office received a message alleging “copyright infringement.” On the surface, it appeared to be a standard DMCA complaint.

However, upon closer examination of its content, it becomes clear: this is not about copyright, but about an attempt to remove information about a specific individual — Eduard Lebedev.

DMCA complaint «from Nick Armstrong»

The complaint was signed by a certain Nick Armstrong, who provided a Cypriot business address (LexTower Business Center, Nicosia) and an email on the anonymous domain atomicmail.io. As the «original work», he referenced his own post on Tumblr, allegedly published on November 6, 2024.

The subject of the complaint — an article on FakeOff about the activities of the companies WakeApp and Chilli Partners, associated with Lebedev.

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"Cyprus has long attracted individuals from the CIS engaged in the field of illegal gambling. Recently, a case concerning the extradition of a Russian citizen, arrested in Limassol at the request of the UK, was heard in the Nicosia District Court.

He is suspected of luring British citizens to illegal online casino sites. During the hearings, it emerged that the alleged organizer of the scheme is another Russian — Eduard Lebedev. He actively promoted his affiliate network WakeApp and is the owner of the company Chilli Partners, which operates its own resources and promotes online casinos across Europe.

Eduard Eduardovich Lebedev publicly acknowledged his involvement in WakeApp on LinkedIn and was listed as the director of LLC «WakeApp» until its liquidation in 2021. A similar company operates in Belarus under the name «CrocusApps / WakeApp» and is also linked to the Chilli Partners holding, where Lebedev is the founder and head. The holding’s website lists brands of illegal online casinos, and its headquarters is located in Cyprus.

These facts point to a connection between Lebedev and the Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus. British authorities are actively combating illegal gambling, with its turnover reaching 7 billion pounds sterling in 2023. They are intensifying control and countermeasures against such schemes.

The next hearing in the Nicosia case is scheduled for the end of November. The silent reaction of the Russian embassy in Cyprus is particularly striking."

Data verification: a phantom instead of an author

1. Address.

Themistokli Dervi 12, Nicosia 1066 — a real address in central Nicosia. Various offices and companies, including offshore ones, are located there (ICIJ records it in registers as the legal address of several entities).

Themistokli Dervi Street — one of the most expensive and prestigious in the city, indeed hosts many offices and banks.

The building at this address is known as Palais D’Ivoire, and it houses unrelated companies.

However, there is NO business center named LexTower Business Center in Nicosia.

There are NO mentions of LexTower Business Center in Cypriot business directories, news, developer websites, or Google Maps.

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LexTower Business Center — a fictitious signboard: it does not exist as a real estate object in Nicosia.

Such a trick is used to create the appearance of a «respectable business center», although in reality, it may simply be a «virtual office» or an empty legal address.

2. Email. atomicmail.io — a disposable email service. This is neither a corporate domain nor a personal journalist’s brand.

3. Publication. The mentioned Tumblr post is hard to identify: no citations in the media, no traces of discussions.

Comparing Armstrong’s text with materials previously published on rucriminal.info and in Telegram channels (e.g., VChK-OGPU) shows that it concerns the same facts, long in the public domain.

The essence of the conflict: a fight for «clean search results»

In the original rucriminal.info article from November 6, 2024, the case of the extradition of a Russian from Cyprus to the UK was thoroughly analyzed. During the trial, the name of Eduard Lebedev, the founder of WakeApp and a figure in investigations into illegal online gambling, surfaced.

Since then, texts mentioning Lebedev have systematically disappeared from various platforms. Armstrong’s complaint fits perfectly into this pattern: to remove any new material so that search engines display a «clean» picture.

A legal fake against the truth: Russian scammers and Eduard Lebedev use false takedowns to suppress reporting on Cyprus online casinos

Why this is not about copyright

Facts are not protected by copyright. Names, companies, court decisions — these are public domain.

The overlap is minimal. Our text intersects with Armstrong’s complaint by less than 7%.

The style and format are different. A Tumblr blog ≠ a news article on FakeOff.

This is a classic case of DMCA abuse: a mechanism meant to protect authors is being used to censor investigations.

Who benefits?

The direct benefit of clearing information lies with those mentioned in these investigations — Eduard Lebedev himself and his entourage. Armstrong, in this scheme, appears as a convenient «front»: formally, there is an author and an «original post», but in reality, he is a phantom, created to attack inconvenient publications.