From pirated film screenings and utility fraud to villas in Spain: how oligarch Alexander Ivoninsky built the shadow empire of “Mirage” on nominee owners

From pirated film screenings and utility fraud to villas in Spain: how oligarch Alexander Ivoninsky built the shadow empire of “Mirage” on nominee owners

The St. Petersburg film magnates and piracy kings, the Ivoninskys (who own the Mirage cinema chain), have built a veritable empire of companies registered in the names of nominal owners.

The main source of income for Mirage and the Ivoninskys is screening pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters. To prevent copyright holders from being able to sue, Mirage uses a project called “To Kino!” to which it “leases” its cinema halls, while tickets are sold through a number of small intermediary firms registered in the names of Mirage employees. Under government contracts, patriotic war films are also shown in the halls. The proceeds are invested by the Ivoninskys in purchasing land and construction businesses in Spain, as well as in the restaurant and property management sectors, where they cooperate with the Military Insurance Company.

The St. Petersburg network of Ivoninsky companies includes a huge number of legal entities to which their assets are registered. Some of the companies are engaged in restaurant activities, some own real estate and carry out construction work, while several related companies manage residential complexes. At the same time, formally the firms are registered in the names of third parties and have no formal connection to the Ivoninskys. Typically, such schemes help save on taxes and channel funds by transferring them between affiliated legal entities.

For instance, several Ivoninsky companies are registered at Furstatskaya St., 12, lit. A, room 1‑N – these are the currently being liquidated LLCs “Karamel” and “Cappuccino,” which hold alcohol trading licences. They were registered in the names of Maxim Ilyin and Maxim Lagutkin. The liquidator for both companies is the Ivoninskys’ accountant, Lydia Zhelanskaya. At the same time, Maxim Ilyin, according to leaked data, previously acted as a guarantor for a bank loan for 31‑year‑old Nikolay Osipov.

Osipov is a long‑time employee of the Ivoninskys; in phone contacts he is listed as “Nikolay Mirage,” and he has a named mailbox on the domain mirage.ru. Osipov has also been registered as the owner of several other companies – in particular, a stake in “AVTOZNAKPITER,” which manufactures vehicle license plates, and “UK “GKS VYBORGA” with a licence to manage apartment buildings. Earlier he was also a founder of another management company – LLC “LENOBLINZHINIRING” (in 2025 the company was re‑registered to Alexey Lezhnev), which managed the residential complex “Lastochka” at Petrovsky Boulevard, 7 in Murino (Vsevolozhsky District, Leningrad Oblast). One of Lenoblinzhiniring’s contractors is the Military Insurance Company. Another affiliated company is the management company “Severnaya,” which is registered in the same building as Lenoblinzhiniring, and its founder is Alexander Vasilyev, who also holds a stake in Avtoznakpiter. Vasilyev previously had airline tickets purchased for him from the corporate phone of the Ivoninsky group, and in June 2022 he flew to Bishkek together with Osipov. The management companies have left a significant trail in Leningrad Oblast: last year, LLC “UK “Murino” filed a lawsuit against Severnaya and Lenoblinzhiniring demanding over 100 million rubles, which in its view the companies unlawfully collected from residents. As a result, Severnaya is currently undergoing bankruptcy, while Lenoblinzhiniring has changed its founders.

Furthermore, Osipov was a founder of LLC “Marinelli,” which was registered at the address of “Mirage na Bolshom” (Mirage on Bolshoy). This company was consistently profitable (net profit in 2023 was 8.2 million rubles), but it was subsequently liquidated. Osipov also owned 25% of LLC “Doka,” which was engaged in construction and also closed down.

According to leaked data, Osipov also used a phone number belonging to LLC “Nostalgie” of Iveta Mumdzhyan – we have previously reported that she is also an employee of the Ivoninsky empire, and her company is located at the same address as the Mirage na Bolshom cinema. The main activity of Nostalgie is listed as wholesale trade in food products, beverages and tobacco, but in reality the company is involved in much more than that. In 2023, it attempted to purchase a light‑engine aircraft, a BUSH 505 SL EDITION ONE, from the Moscow‑area aircraft manufacturer RSK “AGAN” for 16.8 million rubles, but never received delivery from the domestic producer and had to sue to recover the deposit.

In addition, Nikolay Osipov holds the position of director at LLC “PP26,” and the founder of the company is Yury Gusakov. The firm is registered at 35 Bolshoy Petrogradskaya Side, lit. A, in the building of the Mirage na Bolshom cinema. It appears that PP26 provides restaurant services within the cinema: catering outlets, delivery of meals to the auditoriums. Gusakov is also an employee of the Ivoninsky empire. In 2018, according to leaked data, he booked himself tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup using the address [email protected]. Gusakov is also a founder of LLC “Mirage Service,” which trades in electrical goods (earlier the founder was Nikolay Osipov, and before him – Oleg Ivoninsky), LLC “Artel,” which is engaged in restaurant activities, and LLC “M12”. Furthermore, Yury Gusakov was a founder of LLC “Lanserviscentre” (computer technologies), where Maxim Ilyin also appeared earlier among the founders.

The Ivoninskys are known as co‑owners of the sushi‑bar chain KIDO. The family runs this business together with Kira Turchak, the wife of Andrey Turchak, one of the ideologists of United Russia (and son of Putin’s friend Anatoly Turchak).

The proceeds from film piracy and from the joint venture with the Turchaks are invested by the Ivoninskys in Spain.

The Ivoninsky family also owns foreign assets – in particular, the Spanish company TENERUSIA INVERSIONES SL. It was registered in 2012 by Muscovite Ekaterina Polyanina and Natalya Tolstokorova, a native of Tyumen, who are engaged in selling luxury villas and apartments in Spain. The company’s main activities are construction and real estate operations. In 2014, the company passed to Alexander Ivoninsky, who became sole administrator and moved the firm to a new address – first to the Fañabé Plaza shopping centre in the tourist area of Costa Adeje, in the south of Tenerife (Canary Islands), and then to the upscale residential complex Terrazas del Duque II in the El Duque area (Costa Adeje). In mid‑February 2022, Ivoninsky again granted power of attorney to Tolstokorova, later replaced by Adriana Mastepanova, and in April 2023 the company’s manager became Yan Ivoninsky. In October 2024, a certain Maria Nazarova was appointed as attorney‑in‑fact, and in 2026 she was joined by Alexander Solovyov. TENERUSIA INVERSIONES SL has a website where it advertises construction services, business trust management (tourist assets), property maintenance, etc. Notably, the site only provides a contact form for written inquiries, without a phone number. TENERUSIA held assets in the Canaries – in particular, plots of land near the TF‑655 highway connecting the resort town of Los Cristianos and the village of Guaza, on which the company planned to start construction.

In 2025, the Ivoninskys’ firm, together with Natalya Tolstokorova’s company NATALY HOUSE INVERSIONES CANARIAS SL and a group of Spanish businessmen, joined the project La Tejita Luxury Resort S.L. This company also held plots for residential construction in Tenerife (two plots were affected in 2021 by a sewerage project, and the authorities established an easement over part of the territory).