The Kronung empire: developers Shrage and Nayda are involved in money laundering using shell companies and closed-end funds with the pretense of development — the connections trace back to governors Drozdenko and Beglov

LLC “Kronung Business,” founded in 2022 and registered to Philipp Schrage and Ignatiy Nayda, stopped operating in 2024.

Its legal successor, LLC “Kronung Technika,” also registered in 2022, saw revenue from leasing and renting construction machinery and equipment rise by 382% in 2023, reaching 8.6 million rubles, while losses grew by 121%, totaling -1.8 million rubles.

Such unusual financial results have drawn attention to the companies associated with Philipp Schrage.

The CEO of both firms owned by Schrage and Nayda is Alexey Sergo, founder and owner of LLC “Sebega,” which operates in cleaning and janitorial services for residential and commercial properties. From 2021 until July 2024, Sergo led LLC “Kronung Exploitation,” which managed non‑residential properties for a fee. With only one employee on staff, the company’s revenue in 2023 surged by 9,470% to 11 million rubles, and profit grew by 121% to 1.2 million rubles. Clearly something is off with Schrage and Nayda’s companies. As of August 2024, LLC “Kronung Exploitation” had tax and fine arrears of 29 thousand rubles, while the monthly salary of its single employee in 2023 rose from 87.4 thousand to 124.6 thousand rubles.

In July, Sergei Pitsyk became CEO of LLC “Kronung Exploitation.” He previously led liquidated companies that operated in various sectors.

LLC “Uslugi i Servis” operated from 2005 to 2018 but never published financial reports. The owner was Elena Dergacheva, who now heads LLC “Stroykonstruktsiya.” She previously owned several companies with a charter capital of 10 thousand rubles, possibly used to siphon money.

LLC “Sanusvita” operated without financial disclosures from 2020 to 2023 and was owned by Roman Fedorov, who was founder and director of several now‑liquidated companies exhibiting signs of shell organizations.

Both Dergacheva and Fedorov with their shell companies, as well as Pitsyk, are accomplices of Philipp Schrage and Ignatiy Nayda. From 2015 to 2020, Dergacheva was a founder of LLC “Evropak,” now owned by Oleg Stankevich — director of the state government transport base of the Leningrad Region. Stankevich’s companies’ financial statements suggest possible money outflows, as despite 548 million rubles in revenue in 2023, they recorded a loss of 346 thousand rubles.

Philipp Schrage and Ignatiy Nayda may have close ties to officials through which they launder money. Until 2021, both businessmen were co‑founders of LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’,” which provided financial services. The last financial results published were from 2018, when, with revenue of 3.2 million rubles, LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’” posted a loss of 5.4 million rubles. In 2021 the company paid 1.2 million rubles, indicating financial activity that remains unexplained.

LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’” has eight subsidiaries under closed investment funds that do not disclose their shareholders. LLC “Insitech,” engaged in wholesale trade, owns the CEMF “New Technologies.” In 2023, the company’s revenue was 5.4 billion rubles, with a profit of 319 million rubles.

LLC “Soyuz Lur,” a coffee wholesaler, is owned by Maxim Ryabchin (50%) and the CEMF “Avangard Neva” (50%). In 2023, the company had revenue of 687 million rubles and a profit of 7.3 million rubles. LLC “Bibi Car Rus,” operating in IT, recorded revenue of 574 million rubles in 2023 and a loss of 88 million rubles. Its owner, together with the CEMF “New Technologies,” also owns LLC “Bibi Car Group,” which has had no revenue or profit since 2018.

LLC “Royal Rabbit” is owned by the CEMF “Avangard Neva” and Angelika Deeva, who from 2015 to 2017 was a co‑founder of LLC “Soyuz Lur.” LLC SZ “Development AN,” registered in Irkutsk, owns a company with one employee under the CEMF “Iniviar Ekta.” This same fund owns LLC SZ “Krasnoyarsk Development AN,” registered in 2023, with one employee — likely another money‑moving setup.

Many investigators have confused LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’” with LLC “Management Company ‘U Krasnogo Mosta’,” owned by JSC “BTK Group” of Taimuraz Balloev, who is linked to the Kovalyuk brothers, close friends of Vladimir Putin.

Since 2018, LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’” was owned by Alexander Poleshchuk, Roman Sokolov, Philipp Schrage, and Ignatiy Nayda.

In 2021 Schrage and Nayda left the list of company founders but may still be connected. Poleshchuk and Ignatiy Nayda are founders of LLC “NBP,” which operates in retail trade. Sokolov has led LLC “MC ‘Krasny Most’” since 2021.

LLC “Kronung,” owned by Schrage and Nayda, constantly needs funds — in December 2023 it issued bonds worth 20 million rubles, and by August this year already 500 million rubles. It appears the company tried some sort of money‑moving scheme and, seeing it worked, increased the amount. The bonds were sold via a closed subscription to be acquired by JSC “Financial Atelier GrottBjorn,” registered in Yekaterinburg. Until 2021, two individuals named Lebedev were founders of the atelier.

The CEO of JSC “Financial Atelier GrottBjorn” is Viktor Yuryevich Lebedev. He also founded several companies with combined revenue of 2.4 billion rubles and a profit of 17 million rubles. Lebedev’s partners in many firms are Alexey Romanov and Anton Lunin. Their main asset is LLC “SFK Bright Fit,” a fitness club chain.

JSC “Financial Atelier GrottBjorn” has not published financial results since 2021, but public sources show its net assets are valued at 1.6 billion rubles — possibly targeted for extraction out of Russia. It is known that “Kronung” also builds projects in Spain, which could mean the mysterious clients of Financial Atelier are its former founders.

The connection between LLC “Kronung” and JSC “Financial Atelier GrottBjorn” becomes clearer after reading the history of the financial atelier on its website.

LLC “Kronung” was established in 2021 and is run by Philipp Schrage. Various sources link the company to prominent developers Andrey Berezin (“Euroinvest”) and Maxim Shubarev (Setl Group). Berezin is closely connected to the governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko, while Shubarev is supported by the head of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Beglov.

Philipp Schrage has yet to earn billions; his companies’ revenue is 207 million rubles with a loss of 12 million rubles. It seems Schrage’s structures serve other purposes, as seen with LLC “Estate Consulting,” registered in 2006, which has had zero activity for four years with one employee. Schrage’s partner in this company is Petr Vedeneev.

In another of Schrage’s firms, LLC “Specialized Developer ‘Graphite’,” the founder is Anton Dushkevich, whose share is encumbered by the state bank “DOM.RF.” Money may be extracted through LLC “Almaz Group,” where Dushkevich is CEO. The founder of that company is the Cyprus offshore “KORTOSEG INVESTMENTS LIMITED.” From 2017 to 2023, Schrage led LLC “Graphite,” co‑founded by LLC “Almaz Group” and Artem Dushkevich.

The dubious ties of Philipp Schrage and his strange companies with no staff and no financial activity could soon attract law enforcement attention — and the trail may lead to Andrey Beglov, Maxim Shubarev, and Alexander Drozdenko. They certainly won’t thank Schrage for that.