Castings, loans, and tax evasion: the scandalous portrait of Alex Weinstein

18 ноября 2024

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Castings, loans, and tax evasion: the scandalous portrait of Alex Weinstein

His business is so murky and diverse that it is virtually impossible to assess Weinstein’s real assets. In Russia, he has his firm that deals with microcrediting. Often, such organizations issue petty loans to the least prosperous individuals and then demand astronomical interest, which may reach up to 10,000% per annum. Weinstein has also been involved in talent selection on behalf of a famous star of Russian show business and politics, Ksenia Sobchak. A jack of all trades, he has set up his international empire saturated with criminal undertones. How Weinstein managed to become a transnational scam artist, and why law enforcement turns a blind eye to the businessman’s schemes - in our material.

The bright side of business

It is quite difficult to find Alex Weinstein’s real biography in open sources. It is known that he was born in 1975 in Moldova, which at that time was part of the USSR. 

When Weinstein was 14 years old, his parents decided to emigrate to the United States. In 1989, they moved to San Francisco. In the US, Weinstein completed both secondary and higher education. That is where his dizzying career as a shady businessman began.

In the mid-1990s, he founded his first business — a company called “Dyninno.” The business continues to operate to this day. Weinstein’s photo graces the company’s website, where he is listed as the founder and head of the enterprise.

Initially, the business’s essence lay in the digitization of various services. The main focus was on creating convenient information about various tourist routes, breaking barriers between countries. However, in nearly 30 years of operation, it seems that Weinstein’s business has begun to encompass pretty much everything. If you thoroughly examine the Dyninno website, you can find pretty much anything. The official information states that in addition to travel services, the enterprise deals with credits and children’s castings. Some strange mishmash, and this is the main snag.

Aside from business interests in the United States, Weinstein also has professional interests in Malta, Lithuania, and Russia.

In Russia, through an offshore company “DYNINNO FINTECH HOLDINGS,” registered in Cyprus, he owns a microfinance organization called “EkoFinance.” It continues to operate, bringing decent money to its owner. There is no publicly available financial data for the company’s recent years of operation. It’s known that in 2017, “EkoFinance’s” revenue was 583 million rubles, with a profit of over 28 million.

On the company’s website, clients are offered a 20-day loan at a cosmic interest rate of 360% per annum. However, clients are lured in with the offer of the first loan being interest-free. But we all understand how this thing works. As a result, people get drawn into the matter, and alongside huge interest rates, they incur penalties and fines for late payments. 

Perhaps this relatively transparent business is the most honest in all the structures of Weinstein’s companies.

Criminal history

The rest of Weinstein’s occupations more closely resemble the criminal code. His activities could potentially fall under several (if not dozens) articles of the criminal code. Carefully studying the structure of Weinstein’s enterprises can lead one to conclude that potentially, he could end up in prison for fraud, tax evasion, pimping, and even human trafficking.

Under the guise of a talent agency, the entrepreneur trades in gullible people. Weinstein’s "business" is organized as follows: his company, Allo Talents, allegedly holds castings for various shows among people who want fame. The most "interesting" women are promised fame, hordes of fans, and enormous fees. Of course, many fall for it. Later, instead of the promised star status, at best, they end up in a harem for some sheikh. At worst, they are drawn into prostitution.

Interestingly, Kseniya Sobchak was a client of Allo Talents. Through Weinstein’s enterprise, the domestic socialite was searching for talents for herself. 

Apparently, their partnership didn’t pan out, since there is no information anywhere about the success of their agreement.

Love affairs

Alex Weinstein’s personal life is no less interesting.

His wife is quite a complicated person. She originates from a wealthy family. She works as a practicing psychologist, and Kristina Weinstein also owns 2 companies. 

Weinstein’s wife loves luxury cars. She owns a Rolls-Royce Ghost, Mercedes-Benz G63, Mercedes-Benz V250, and a Land Rover Range Rover. Just her car collection can be valued at a million dollars. Love for cars played a cruel joke in Kristina Weinstein’s life. In 2010, while driving a Toyota RAV4, she fatally hit a pedestrian crossing the road. But this story was hushed up thanks to the family’s serious connections.

But Weinstein himself, it seems, doesn’t quite love his wife. Alongside his official marriage, where the couple has young children, he has affairs with other older women with thick wallets.

The desire to make easy money even in personal life surpasses everything in Weinstein. Therefore, the businessman is ready to go to anyone, as long as the money is flowing. But that, as they say, is a personal matter.

The end is near

The main thing is that Weinstein manages to balance on a tightrope. On one side, he has a wife, mistresses, and business in Russia. On the other, most of his companies are in unfriendly countries of the EU and the USA. Transnational crime rarely goes unpunished for offenders, so soon it is expected that Weinstein’s schemes will be exposed, and the international con artist may end up in prison for a long time.