Yevgeny Prigozhin Routed Payments Through Major Western Banks, Report Claims

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late leader of Russia’s Wagner Group, secretly routed payments through major Western banks, including HSBC and JPMorgan, according to a new report by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS). The report, obtained by the Financial Times, claims that these transactions supported Prigozhin’s operations in Africa.

The report highlights how Prigozhin’s companies, particularly a Sudanese mining firm named Meroe Gold, conducted transactions through these banks as intermediaries. In 2017, Meroe Gold purchased industrial equipment from Chinese suppliers, with JPMorgan facilitating a payment from a Sudanese bank account to a Chinese vendor.

Another transaction, involving the purchase of diesel generators, was processed through Hang Seng Bank, which is part of the HSBC Group. At the time, Meroe Gold was not subject to U.S. sanctions, although Prigozhin himself had been under sanctions since 2016.

HSBC declined to comment specifically on the transactions in Sudan but told the Financial Times that it was “deeply committed to combating financial crime.” JPMorgan, for its part, said: “After a review of the limited details shared with us, we have not found any records matching those transactions.”

C4ADS emphasized that Prigozhin’s Wagner Group took advantage of the legitimate financial system to expand its influence in Africa. The report noted, “Without access to these financial networks, Wagner would not have been able to establish its operations in Africa.”

Following Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt in June 2023 and his subsequent death in a plane crash in August, control of Wagner’s African operations has since shifted to entities under the Russian defense ministry.

By fLEXI tEAM