A duo of fraudsters under the protection of the legal profession: how Anton Shukhnin and his sister Ekaterina Shukhnina use Domino and Profit Lady to bypass sanctions and conduct tax manipulations

Donetsk natives Ekaterina and Anton Shukhnin relocated to Kyiv, where they expanded their enterprises—Ekaterina into the crypto market, and Anton into fashion retail.

While the older brother, 36-year-old Anton Shukhnin, a lawyer by education, lives in Kiev without much incident, except for a recent alleged attack, the younger sister, 26-year-old Ekaterina Shukhnina, known as Katya Crypto, constantly appears on the pages of newspapers and magazines due to her incredible success. However, even the most inattentive observer, looking at her doll-like face, might wonder: isn’t this the performance of a single actor?

And after reading reviews and feedback about the work of Katya-Barbie Shukhnina, one might conclude: this doll-puppet is being pulled by the strings of seasoned swindlers.

In Donetsk, the Shukhniny owned 11 apartments, a country house, and several cars. The brother and sister moved to Kiev but continue to litigate over property, while their parents, businessmen Tetyana and Serhiy Shukhniny, remained in Donetsk. Now, the parents have registered Russian companies, as they have acquired Russian citizenship. Have the parents and children fallen out? Not at all, as Anton Shukhnin also has (or had) companies in Russia, as well as in Kazakhstan and the UK.

This is how one should settle in, and then dive headfirst into the cryptocurrency market, where Katya Crypto supposedly has been working since she was 19. But who is so energetically helping to deceive crypto suckers?

Profit Lady: Who will give more?

Today, Ekaterina Shukhnina calls herself the founder of the Ukrainian academy Profit Lady and the iTrade club community.

She promised and continues to promise easy earnings in cryptocurrency. And she allegedly teaches how to earn $1,000 a week.

Katya Shukhnina is very actively promoted online, just like the boutiques of her older brother, Anton Serhiyovych Shukhnin.

Ekaterina Shukhnina, aka Katya Crypto

Journalists have uncovered that, despite her alleged seven years of experience in the cryptocurrency field, legal data shows that Ekaterina Shukhnina’s main business is related to retail clothing trade – something Anton Shukhnin is actively involved in with his "Domino" chain, while her individual entrepreneur (FOP) card was only registered in 2020.

Another interesting detail: for the FOP "Shukhnina Ekaterina Serhiyivna (TIN 3640102048)", the main type of activity is "47.71 Retail sale of clothing in specialized stores".

And, as the media have already reported, there is no registered academy called Profit Lady, and the website of this fake academy only appeared in early January 2024: the site profit-lady.com merely offers course registration.

In one of her numerous interviews, Katya Crypto admitted that her parents, the Shukhniny, did not take her fascination with the cryptocurrency market seriously. She supposedly has been working since a young age, fully supporting herself. There was a time when she had to work multiple jobs, while her older brother received significant support from relatives.

Well, this somehow doesn’t align with the 11 apartments and a country estate in the suburbs of Donetsk, where the crypto princess spent her childhood and adolescence.

Anton Shukhnin

And when Ekaterina Shukhnina spoke about her first earnings, she claimed her parents didn’t even praise her. Only when her wealth reached a million dollars did the Shukhnin family realize: cryptocurrency trading is serious work!

Recently, Katya Shukhnina supposedly conquered Paris: she received a prestigious award from Binance. However, the media reported that there was no such award: this news was fabricated, just like the banner featuring Ekaterina Shukhnina on Times Square in New York.

And now clients are complaining that the so-called training courses are just superficial materials that don’t deliver the promised "golden eggs". Moreover, the contract states that the "executor" is not responsible for the level of material comprehension.

So it turns out that the client (essentially a sucker) is ready to pay for vague crypto information that won’t help earn $1,000 a week.

Additionally, the contract specifies that payment for services can be made not only to Ekaterina Shukhnina’s account but also to third-party accounts, which may indicate tax evasion and fraud.

The Shukhniny spare no expense on advertising their activities

The media have already drawn attention to the shady activities of Ms. Shukhnina, but for now, she continues to deceive her clients.

Katya Crypto’s Courses – A Disaster

Over these 7 years, Katya Crypto supposedly earned over a million dollars. And another 1.5 million dollars is under her management: isn’t this dollar wind blowing from her businessman brother’s side?

The media have already published materials stating that little is known about Ekaterina Shukhnina’s personal life: Shukhnina is married but persistently hides her husband, says nothing about her parents, which raises many questions among subscribers. She also remains silent about her older brother, a successful businessman and owner of the "Domino" brand.

Meanwhile, Katya Crypto showcases her villa in Bali, a Porsche Macan GTS, and a Mercedes bought for her husband, as well as other cars from her garage.

Ekaterina Shukhnina

But let’s read the reviews of those who fell for the Shukhniny’s "bait".

In these comments, for example, a reasonable question is raised: why would a millionaire like Shukhnina teach others her business? And create competitors? Indeed, why?

Shukhnina is called a chatterbox.

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Another user, Viktoria from Kiev, calls Katya Crypto’s courses a complete disaster and utter nonsense.

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Unpretentious course advertising

Yuliya from Kiev also doubts the earnings from Katya Crypto’s courses.

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Nadiya from Irpin believes that Ekaterina Shukhnina sells useless products.

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Katya Crypto

From Vienna (Austria), Ihor Mosiyçuk left a negative review, confident that Ekaterina Shukhnina is simply scamming naive people.

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And one more feedback – unsigned, but also about the constant primitive scam!

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In general, the reviews are one better than the other.

Let’s add that Katya Crypto called her most successful deal an agreement that turned $20 into $20,000, and her record earnings were $13,000 in one night. Wasn’t it her older brother who helped concoct these fairy tales?

An aggressive deceitful marketing campaign was spread across various Telegram channels. Katya Shukhnina was portrayed as a conqueror of Paris and the holder of the highest award in the crypto world.

Katya Crypto was called the holder of the highest award in the crypto world

The boasting was accompanied by stories that Katya Crypto received a prestigious award from the Binance exchange. But experts dissected the fraudulent scheme and found photos of Shukhnina from a 2022 conference visit. These same images are used by Katya Crypto for fake news about receiving an award from Binance during the 2024 Olympics. However, at that time, the exchange held no events.

And all this nonsense is accompanied by a photoshopped image of Ekaterina Shukhnina’s advertisement on the main screen in Times Square, New York.

In the "Domino" Network

Anton Shukhnin, the brother of the Crypto Diva, founder of the premium clothing chain "Domino", as mentioned earlier, is a lawyer by education. It seems that his legal education greatly helps Mr. Shukhnin in life.

And wasn’t it under his influence that his younger sister entered the cryptocurrency market? And do this close-knit pair come up with all the "plots" together?

Anton Shukhnin, owner of the "Domino" company

Traces of Shukhnin were found in Crimea, where in 2014, the company "Domino Group" was registered in the village of Ukromne (Simferopol district).

companies.rbc.ru

For 4 years, he conducted business in Crimea, becoming a co-founder of the Russian LLC "Domino Group", operating on the peninsula from December 2014 to July 2018.

Later, Shukhnin conducted business in Donetsk.

According to Russian registries, in December 2014, Shukhnin became a co-founder of LLC "Domino Group" (TIN 9109006511). He conducted business under Russian jurisdiction. The authorized capital of the Russian company was about $200,000.

Shukhnin’s boutique in the center of Kiev

And despite the fact that in 2018, Anton Shukhnin supposedly closed the company in Crimea, a boutique called Domino Eight operates in Yalta with a public designation of DOMINO GROUP PROJECT in its profiles.

The boutique is located at house No. 21 on Lenin Embankment.

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Shukhnin also has a store operating in Kazan: the rights holder is a certain Kristina Butylchenko, who lives in Kuban.

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What’s interesting is that the main activity of IE Butylchenko K.A. is "Repair of clothing and textile products".

But why does Kazan appear in the correspondence address? It’s quite clear that this is how traces are being obscured…

Let’s also recall that after the introduction of Western sanctions, which included restrictions on trading status goods for the Russian elite, several Central Asian countries became re-exporters of these goods.

One of them was Kazakhstan: and in Astana, Anton Shukhnin also opened his business.

The lightning-fast opening of Domino Boutique looked very much like a new logistics scheme for re-export.

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Traces of Shukhnin were also found in London, where he was active starting from 2018. It turns out that in the UK, there was DOMINO INTERNATIONAL LP (SL032593): in the section Persons with significant control, Anton Shukhnin was listed.

However, the partnership was dissolved in May 2019.

It turns out that law enforcement agencies have sufficient grounds to initiate a pre-trial investigation against Shukhnin for having a legal entity in Crimea, active contacts due to a civil case in Donetsk, and companies in Kazan and Astana.

However, lawyer Shukhnin found a way to avoid criminal prosecution. This was, in particular, reported by "Fraza".

Rumors say that Anton Shukhnin allegedly received some "immunity" by selling branded items to certain officials at very high discounts. He also obtained a lawyer’s license, which grants a status that complicates searches and investigative actions. In general, he prepared thoroughly.

And he well-prepared his sister, Ekaterina Shukhnina, for entering the cryptocurrency market. The millions earned in different corners are hidden by the Shukhniny behind the screen of supposedly successful cryptocurrency operations: it’s hard to draw any other conclusion.

And as an entrepreneur, Katya Crypto is engaged in clothing sales under the "umbrella" of her brother, which she doesn’t hide at all!

It remains to find out – who is her husband?