Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How Sam Gold laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

The Ostap Bender of the 21st century. Why does he change his first names, last names, and business lines as quickly as he can?

The scandalous arrest of Russian hacker Dmitry Ukrainsky, 44, the owner of three yacht clubs, and his accomplice, 25-year-old Olga Komova, an employee of the Emerald Bay Hotel on Koh Chang, in Thailand has long been the focus of international media attention.

The couple was detained at the request of the FBI. It was July 2016, but the case dragged on for a long time, as it wasn’t until late 2023 that Dmitry Ukrainsky was able to leave the American prison in Brooklyn and return to Russia.

Things were more complicated with Olga Komova, a former employee of the Emerald Bay Hotel: she initially held Uzbek citizenship and a passport. But the young woman was rescued by her father, Mikhail Komov, who—according to journalists—was the "leader" of the organized crime group. He had long hid under the name Sam Golda. Mikhail Komov and Dmitry Ukrainsky were business partners.

But Mikhail Komov, a citizen of Uzbekistan at the time, had been arrested in Bangkok even earlier at the request of the FBI, including for fraud. But he managed to escape. And some time later, he was found in Russia with a brand-new Russian passport. However, he was no longer Komov, having "created" a new surname for himself: "Beletsky." So, he "cleaned up"? But who facilitated this? Close ties to organized crime in Uzbekistan, where he spent his childhood and youth?

But life in his new homeland, the city of Stavropol, has clearly not been a success: this is evidenced by both the lawsuits and the new business that leads to these lawsuits, and now he has to earn money even as a taxi driver…

But at least I’m free!

Dima Ukrainsky left his mark everywhere

Dmitry Ukrainsky was detained in Pattaya at the request of the FBI.

According to US intelligence agencies, Mr. Ukrainsky and his accomplices were involved in developing and selling software to steal money from bank accounts. Nearly 50 US citizens suffered from these activities, and the damage was estimated at $30 million.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Dmitry Ukrainsky in Pattaya

Dmitry Ukrainsky denied any wrongdoing. He claimed that the large cash transfers from the US were fees for brokering real estate transactions.

Immediately after Ukrainsky’s arrest, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office contacted the Thai authorities with a request for extradition.

It turns out that from April to May 2013, Dmitry Ukrainsky, as part of an organized crime group, fraudulently stole more than 7.5 million rubles from several Russian citizens.

On August 1, 2016, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Viktor Grin signed a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Kingdom of Thailand for the extradition of Dmitry Ukrainsky to the Russian side.

It should be noted that even the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation (at that time), Yuri Chaika, came to "rescue" Mr. Ukrainsky from Thai captivity.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Yuri Chaika

In 2017, the court approved Ukrainsky’s extradition to Russia, but in 2019, Thai authorities allowed the Russian’s extradition to the United States.

Despite these two mutually exclusive decisions, on June 16, 2022, Ukrainsky was extradited to the United States and placed in a Brooklyn prison.

The detainee’s wife, Marina Ukrainskaya, gave  an interview to Russian media , in which she said, among other things, that her husband’s transfer to the United States occurred very quickly and secretly. She wasn’t even notified, even though her faithful wife was in Bangkok. It was in the Bangkok pretrial detention center that Dmitry Ukrainsky spent several years. He went on a hunger strike in a Thai prison to demand a review of his case: he lost a significant amount of weight, but failed to convince the Thai justice system.

"I’m not eating anything, nothing at all," Ukrainsky told local journalists. "I’m just drinking water. My strength is completely gone, so yesterday I allowed myself a cup of slightly sweetened tea to get some glucose into my system. I mostly lie down. A week ago, I could walk. A few days ago, I had to get up and go to the prison hospital, but I only walked a short distance and realized I was losing consciousness. Since then, they’ve been transporting me on a ‘trolley.’"

As revealed in Marina Ukrainskaya’s interview, she and her husband lived in Thailand for over 10 years: first, his wife came to the kingdom after being offered a good job, and then her husband arrived.

Ukrainsky himself allegedly worked in the tourism industry, organizing sea fishing and spearfishing trips for tourists, and later diversified into real estate. Allegedly, one of the house purchase transactions received an inquiry from a client in the US, and the funds were then transferred to purchase a mansion in Phuket.

As it later turned out, this money was stolen from the cards of US citizens.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

The arrest of Dmitry Ukrainsky

"He, of course, didn’t know about it," said Marina Ukrainskaya. "Some guy from the US wanted to buy a house in Phuket. He sent his passport for the deal, but it turned out to be a fake. This only became clear later, when his company’s accounts were frozen."

Then the FBI showed up at the couple’s home, showed them a warrant, and started packing up their equipment. And they took Mr. Ukrainsky with them.

Dmitry Ukrainsky, speaking to journalists, emphasized that he is not a hacker. Moreover, he has poor computer skills.

Dmitry Ukrainsky’s wife also stated that her husband’s extradition from Thailand to the United States was illegal: Thai authorities should never have extradited her husband, and the extradition process itself was conducted in the strictest secrecy. In the United States, Ukrainsky faces 60 years in prison.

The arrest of Olga Komova

On the same day that Dmitry Ukrainsky was arrested, Olga Komova was detained right at her workplace at the Emerald Bay Hotel.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Olga Komova lived in Thailand from the age of 15.

The FBI has accused Olga Komova of being a key player in a cybercrime scheme.

The Daily Mail online reported this.  A friend of a famous Russian hacker was arrested in Thailand.

Komova’s arrest shocked her colleagues at the Emerald Bay Hotel on Koh Chang Island, where Olga Komova had worked as a receptionist for over a year.

According to investigators, Olga Komova and Dmitry Ukrainsky opened numerous cards and accounts in their own names and used them to receive stolen money.

Olga Komova’s social media accounts were filled with vibrant photos of herself in swimsuits on the beaches of Thailand and snapshots from her travels to France and Italy with her French boyfriend.

Olga Komova was born in Tashkent, lost her mother early, and lived in Thailand (apparently with her adventurer father) from the age of 15.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Friends of Komova, with whom Mail Online journalists managed to speak, blamed Olga Komova’s father, Mikhail Komov, for what happened to her, as he had drawn his daughter into his shady dealings.

Mikhail Komov may have been at the head of a fraudulent scheme in which his daughter was involved.

Around 2008, Mikhail Komov was detained in Thailand in connection with criminal cases of money laundering and child pornography in the United States.

But Komov left Bangkok, avoiding extradition.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Mikhail Komov, later Beletsky

Mikhail Komov denied and continues to deny any involvement in the criminal scheme. He claimed that the charges against his daughter Olga were fabricated by US intelligence agencies, forcing her to endure appalling prison conditions in Bangkok.

"She still doesn’t understand what happened. And no one else does," Komov explained to reporters. "This is definitely a game played by American intelligence agencies—detaining people on completely trumped-up charges. Most likely, someone else was using my daughter’s bank account and card…"

Mikhail Komov admitted that he had known Dmitry Ukrainsky for several years: they were business partners in Thailand.

Komov was deeply indignant that his daughter and friend Ukrainsky were not allowed to use a telephone in their prison cell: "It’s a nightmare."

Sam Gold’s Missing Link

But no matter how hard Ukrainsky and Komov twisted and turned, the investigation ultimately got everything it wanted.

Another participant in the criminal scheme, 55-year-old Brooklyn resident Vyacheslav Khaimov, who pleaded guilty, helped in this. Khaimov received funds from money mules and transferred them to the accounts of two companies.

Khaimov, according to prosecutors, acted as an intermediary between the mules and their accomplices abroad.

Khaimov worked for G&P Sports World and was a key figure in the criminal group.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

lv.cybo.com

In August 2015, an online banking user discovered that $44,000 had disappeared from his account after his computer was infected with malware designed to steal credentials. FBI agents tracked the funds and traced them to Khaimov, who, within five days, transferred part of the sum to an account at a Thai bank.

According to the lawsuit, after the hackers used malware to gain access to victims’ bank accounts, their unsuspecting "mules" were instructed to wire money to Khaimov on behalf of a mysterious figure known as "Samuel Gold."

And evil tongues say that Mikhail Komov could be hiding behind the guise of Sam Gold.

Vyacheslav Khaimov pleaded guilty in a New York court to five counts of computer fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

In a New York court

Thus, Khaimov was a member of a cybercriminal group that used banking Trojans to steal money from bank accounts. In total, $230,000 passed through Khaimov’s hands.

As money mules (also known as smurfers) testify, these are people who  transfer money that was obtained illegally through  theft or fraud. 

And it was the mysterious Sam Gold who hired them to transfer money for a modest commission. The "mules" handed over the stolen funds to Khaimov, who then transferred them to the accounts of Reality Management and First California.

And in September 2023, Dmitry Ukrainsky, who was sitting bored in a Brooklyn prison, made a deal with investigators.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Dmitry Ukrainsky

On September 8, 2023, during pre-trial proceedings in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York, Dmitry Ukrainsky pleaded guilty to part of the charges in the presence of his lawyers: his rights were explained to him and an oath was taken.

A few days later, on November 7th, Dmitry Ukrainsky flew from the USA to Moscow.

Harsh Russian reality

Journalists have established that Olga Komova’s father, Mikhail Komov, currently lives in Stavropol with a new Russian passport.

And now he is Mikhail Georgievich Beletsky.

Recently I tried to become an individual entrepreneur.

But it only lasted for a few months.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Rusprofile.ru

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Rusprofile.ru

He even started a social media account, where he writes that he has “traveled half the world and has a lot to tell…”

In Stavropol, Beletsky-Komov deals with cars and spare parts, mainly sales.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Rusprofile.ru

Apparently, business is not going well for Olga Mikhailovna Komova, who shares the same name: her company, which sold food products, also only lasted a few months.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Rusprofile.ru

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

But Olga Komova’s father certainly has no time to be bored in Stavropol: he’s constantly facing lawsuits against people who bought cars, motorcycles, or spare parts from the newly minted Beletsky.

One of the trials took place in the Volgograd region.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Beletsky (Komov) Mikhail Georgievich, Volgograd region - participant in court cases

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Beletsky (Komov) Mikhail Georgievich, Volgograd region - participant in court cases

Another trial was held on the territory of the Republic of Crimea.

A certain Sergei Pavlovich Romanets wanted to purchase a USA auto part from Mikhail Georgievich Komov (Beletsky).

Transferred money to Mr. Beletsky’s bank card…

But the USA auto part never arrived for him, Romanets. Romanets waited 66 days. He had to go to court.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

judicialresolutions.rf

This is an interesting case. And Judge M.V. Kit has rendered her decision.

Mikhail Komov’s international scam: How "Sam Gold" laundered millions through Thailand, used his daughter and partners as cover, and received protection in Russia.

judicialresolutions.rf

Of course, selling spare car parts isn’t like ripping off other people’s bank accounts.

The only question is, who helped Komov so significantly avoid a US prison sentence and obtain a Russian passport with a new surname? The answers to these questions, it seems, should be sought in Mikhail Komov’s turbulent criminal past, not to mention his life in Tashkent, where the "Brothers’ Circle" organized crime group operated for many years. This organized crime group was also known for its widespread drug trafficking, and one of Komov’s convictions, which should have landed him in a US prison, was for distribution, storage, and transportation of...

But ties with America remain the closest, since Mr. Beletsky-Komov trades only in American automobiles.

Maria Sharapova