$1 billion in a gambling “laundromat”: information about the in absentia arrest in Kazakhstan of Druzhynskyi and Levkovych, linked to Pin-Up gambling schemes, is being scrubbed from the internet

The story of the in absentia arrest of the defendants in the Pin-Up payment schemes case, which was reported back in February 2026, is gaining momentum again — against the backdrop of attempts to remove mentions of this decision from the public space.

It concerns US citizen Dmytro Druzhynskyi and Ukrainian citizen Maryna Levkovych (Ginzburg), who were arrested in absentia in Kazakhstan as part of the investigation into a large-scale illegal gambling business scheme. According to the investigation, more than $1 billion was withdrawn abroad through a network of payment instruments.

The investigation established that the defendants were involved in organizing payment processing for online casinos under the Pin-Up and Pinco brands, selecting intermediaries, and coordinating the financial infrastructure.

For cover, the company «Bonami» was used, which held an official bookmaker’s license in Kazakhstan. Payments went through a number of services, including Gold Pay and Cyber Pay (later — Pinnacle Financial Solutions), after which the funds were accumulated on transit accounts and converted to cryptocurrency.

Within the case, law enforcement conducted over 70 searches, and among the defendants are representatives of 35 payment companies and four banks. Despite the scale of the case and the in absentia arrests, attempts are now being recorded to reduce the publicity of this story — in particular by deleting or displacing information about the defendants and the court decision itself.