$37 Billion Enigma: Russian Company Disappears After Record Profit Announcement

A mysterious Russian company, Banknota LLC, which reportedly achieved staggering profits rivaling those of the country’s top energy firms, has seemingly vanished. RTVI, a Russian-language media outlet, along with independent Russian sources, has been investigating the company, as noted by a Newsweek report.

RTVI’s article, “The Most Profitable Company in Russia You’ve Never Heard Of,” revealed an “unexpected discovery” in June, the month when Russian firms disclose their annual earnings. According to RTVI, Banknota reported a massive $37.1 billion in profits last year before disappearing. The company claimed revenues of 3.7 trillion rubles (about $40.4 billion) and a net profit of 34 trillion rubles (approximately $37.1 billion), surpassing all but the state-owned energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom.

Banknota’s website, now inaccessible but archived on the Wayback Machine, advertised mortgage lending, auto loans, and interest-bearing business loans. RTVI noted that Banknota did not have a banking license. The Unified State Register of Legal Entities lists Dmitry Frolov, a Moscow resident with previous petty theft convictions and marked as “unreliable” by Federal Tax, as the sole owner.

RTVI reported that Banknota was founded in June 2023 along with four other companies, operating out of locations such as a business center and a residential basement. However, there were no actual offices at these addresses, and current tenants had never heard of Frolov or his companies.

Experts interviewed by RTVI questioned the legitimacy of Banknota’s reported profits, suggesting that such figures are unrealistic for a business involved in mortgages and auto loans. They pointed out that brokers, intermediaries between banks and borrowers, do not require a license. Banknota had also notified Russian tax authorities in December of a branch in Belarus, but no such branch is listed in Belarusian business records. Experts speculated that the company may have moved funds abroad before its disappearance, with one remarking that the financial data in Banknota’s reports “cannot be taken seriously.”