BetBoom & TI 11
The media rights for TI 11’s Russian Language Broadcast were purchased by BetBoom.ru, and thus far all official coverage has taken place on twitch.tv/betboom_ru.
There are a few concerns I have regarding their ownership.
BetBoom is owned by the Russian Company “CTOM”, as they display publicly on their website.
CTOM were officially granted their betting license by the Russian Government on July 15th, 2010.
“CTOM” is owned by two different Russian entities.
They each own 50% of “CTOM”.
Listed as the sole owner of VK 369 is Marina Sergeevna Danilova.
She is the daughter of Tatyana Gennadyevna Nesterenko.
Tatyana led the Federal Treasury for nine years (1998-2007) and was Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2021.
She now works as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Otkritie Bank. She is directly responsible for interacting with government authorities, including the Russian government and the Bank of Russia.
As of April 20th, 2022, she was put on the USA’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.
After spending a week scouring the internet with the assistance of many Ukrainian and Russian friends & colleagues, there’s still no formal financial link I can find between Tatyana and her daughter Marina. I have been unable to find even a single photograph of them together, nor even a photograph of Marina herself. I find it very strange that Marina, who holds a significant ownership stake in numerous entities (PARITET LLC , “STAR BET”, “GOLDEN BET” “CTOM”) seems to have absolutely no public presence anywhere on the internet.
As all persons and businesses within the U.S. are prohibited from doing business with blacklisted individuals (or find themselves subject to sanctions for violating the law) it should not be surprising that ownership of any corporate entities would not be kept in Tatyana’s name.
While I can’t prove that this is the case here, it is common practice within Russia to hold assets in the names of family members in order to circumvent sanctions, potential seizure, and to evade taxation.
Noting Tatyana has been singled out as an individual on numerous lists of formal sanctions, along with her longtime stint in power within the Russian Government, I feel strongly that BetBoom, its ownership, and its potential ties to members of the Russian State warrant further investigation by both Valve and the community.
Cheers,
Kyle
