TAKE THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/SHELL COMPANY CHALLENGE

Vladimir Putin with the late Ravil Maganov

If you read our recent article, Using AI to Extract Every Drop of Information about that Shell Company, you know how important artificial intelligence platforms are in quickly and efficiently squeezing obscure data out of the massive resources at your disposal, when trolling for everything that you can get on a shell company, which is either legitimate, or a possible front for financial crime, or worse. You are usually working on a time-sensitive matter, as a compliance officer. Does your bank accept and onboard the client or not?

Let's conduct a practical test; those readers who are already using AI systems, featuring machine learning and advanced analytics, on a shell company, check to see whether there are any Russian sanctions violations present. I myself don't know the answer yet, but we are presenting this as a field training exercise, to demonstrate the ability of an AI-powered program to answer problems that were previously deemed impossible to resolve in real time.  

This is not a judgment against the shell company or its line of business; the presence of a major Russian shareholder merely poses the question of whether there's a violation of sanctions imposed in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, or any other existing sanctions place, Uk, EU, USA or otherwise.

To get started:

(1)STEVE BOURBONNAIS appears to be a middleman who has been involved in a number of companies, one after the other in succession, every three years, whilst living in Switzerland.

(2) GET ENERGY is an empty shell company first registered in Switzerland; it then becomes an energy holding company in the United Kingdom. GET ENERGY HOLDINGS LTD. 

(3) The company has zero activity in anything, until a high profile Russian becomes a shareholder.

(4) He is ALEXANDER POTAPUSHIN, the former LUKOIL CEO. 

(5) RAVIL MAGANOV, The Chairman of Lukoil, dies after falling out of a hospital window on September 2, 2022. He is the eighth Russian oil and gas executive to have died under unusual circumstances in a year. Maganov had expressed reservations about Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

(6) Shortly after Maganov's death,  Get Energy attracts several new shareholders; all appear to be offshore. Coincidence?

(7) When you look at the filings, you see that the company closed down, with no assets, in Switzerland. Then, it becomes slightly active in the UK, but it has no value. All of a sudden, after the war in the Ukraine starts, the company raises 400k on a valuation of 5m. 

Your mission is to determine whether any violations of Russian sanctions exist. Here is what a typical EDD search would turn up. Keep your answers to yourself, and we will follow up at a later date. Good luck, compliance officers. Query: Why does an affluent Russian national become a shareholder of this shell company?