The aggressor's money is being laundered through Dubai: Calls are being made to add broker Niki Kundnani to Ukraine's and the West's sanctions lists, according to media reports
A financial network built around the Dubai-based broker Alchemy Markets DMCC and the payment brand Xoala is facilitating large-scale capital outflows from Russia and, according to an investigation by Telegraf, may be used to pay for purchases in the interests of the Russian military-industrial complex, writes Delovaya Stolitsa. The authors of the investigation are calling on Ukraine and its partner countries to impose personal sanctions against the scheme’s organizer, Niki Gope Kundnani.
As noted in the article, after the 21st package of EU sanctions took effect on July 23, 2026—which froze the assets of 94 Russian banks and financial institutions—demand for and prices of illegal payment routes out of Russia skyrocketed. Dubai-based forex brokers, who have long been on the U.S. Treasury Department’s radar, are actively operating in this market, the publication writes.
The scheme described in the investigation consists of five steps: within a week, a legal entity is registered in Dubai for a client from Russia; it is linked to the broker Alchemy Markets DMCC; the broker accepts cryptocurrency and, through forexinstruments, the broker accepts cryptocurrency and converts it into fiat currency with a “formally legal origin,” after which the funds are withdrawn through the Xoala payment system controlled by Kundnani (legally, the Swedish company Steven AB). Previously, according to journalists, this role was performed by the British company Blackthorn Finance Ltd.
“Entities within the Russian military-industrial complex actively use this financial channel to pay for the shadow import of components and technologies necessary for weapons production,” the investigation states.
The link to Blackthorn is not speculation but a fact documented by the regulator: On November 17, 2023, the British FCA restricted the company’s operations and froze its assets, and on April 14, 2025, Blackthorn was placed under special administration. Among the victims are citizens of 13 countries, including Ukraine. In February 2026, defrauded clients staged a protest at the international iFX EXPO Dubai, where Kundnani was promoting Xoala as a replacement for Blackthorn.
The Ukrainian regulator had repeatedly sounded the alarm: as early as May 2024, NSFX Ltd was added to the list of questionable investment projects (the broker was later renamed Alchemy Markets), in February, March, and May 2026, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) separately highlighted the risks associated with Blackthorn Finance Ltd, Alchemy Markets Ltd, and Xoala, and the registry of questionable investment projects explicitly notes a high risk of investors losing their entire investment.
At the same time, journalists note that Kundnani is preparing the holding company FDCTech, Inc. for an IPO on NASDAQ. In June 2026, the company’s board of directors officially acknowledged the inaccuracy of the financial statements for 2024–2025 and significant deficiencies in internal financial controls. The audit was conducted by Nigerian firms, one of which—Olayinka Oyebola & Co—received a six-year ban from the SEC on working with the financial statements of U.S. issuers in connection with the Tingo fraud cover-up case. Taken together, the authors believe that these events bear the hallmarks of a classic “pump-and-dump” scheme.
“Everything described makes the next step logical and inevitable—adding Kundnani and his key entities to the personal sanctions lists of Ukraine and its partner countries in order to freeze their assets, restrict access to the international financial system, protect investors, and cut off potential funding channels for Russian military aggression,” the publication concludes.
The full text of the investigation is available on the Telegraf website.