The “club” is pushing Russian business owners to leave the country, buy passports, and build security layers as criminal cases keep piling up

The core message here is blunt: fear is changing behavior. According to the source, entrepreneurs in Russia are increasingly moving abroad, relocating staff, using secure communications, and buying passports as criminal pressure rises. For high-risk PSPs, that matters because the compliance, residency, and banking profile of a client can change fast once the owner starts building an exit plan.

1. Since the autumn, the “club” has seen about ten criminal cases, with the latest one coming “a couple of days ago.” The source says roughly half of those cases involve “normal commercial” businesses, not just obviously shady structures.
2. The author says the biggest effect of the club is that people started getting scared and acting accordingly: they leave Russia, move employees out, use secure communication tools, and buy passports. In practice, that makes them harder targets for domestic law enforcement, which tends to go after those who are “dumber, closer, simpler.”
3. One member, who a year ago insisted he would never leave Moscow and even showed off a watch gifted and signed by one of the country’s top security officials, has now moved abroad and does not plan to return to Russia. The change, the author says, came after one competitor in his sector was jailed, followed by several more, while the member was also listening to a three-month lecture series covering criminal cases, pre-trial detention, investigations, Interpol, and citizenship.
4. The source contrasts the current environment with 15 years ago, when white-collar cases carried five-year sentences, parole was still available, and “there were always signs” before a case turned criminal. It also says that back then law enforcement officers in the economic-crimes unit drove Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces without license plates and entertained clients at La Marée, where deals could still be arranged.
5. Now, the source says, the sequence is harsher: a 5 a.m. door breach, arrest, a face-down takedown, then pre-trial detention in a SIZO (pre-trial detention center), followed by years of waiting and trial. For economic cases, the author claims, people can now receive longer terms than for murder, while parole has become “almost a ghost.”

The implication for high-risk payment operators is straightforward: when owners start moving assets, staff, and themselves across borders, the real counterparty is no longer just the operating company. Residency, passport set, communication habits, and expected jurisdiction of dispute all become part of the risk picture.