Alexander Smirnov was a key source for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) probe into Hunter Biden’s role at Ukrainian gas and oil company Burisma. Grand jury charges allege that he fabricated the story and also revealed his connections to the cryptocurrency industry.
The charges detail how one of Smirnov’s associates, identified as ‘Associate 2,’ was “an American who owned a cryptocurrency business.” Smirnov allegedly presented this associate to Burisma to see if it would be interested in using their crypto product. Unfortunately for this associate, “the Burisma representatives weren’t interested.”
Furthermore, the document details how another associate — Associate 1 — “also works for” someone “who is the founder/CEO of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology business.”
The grand jury documents don’t explicitly reveal the identity of these crypto executives or the nature of these blockchain firms, but there is some evidence of Smirnov’s previous work in the industry that may provide a clue.
Press releases from 2017 and 2018 describe a product called ‘LH-Crypto,’ which was promoted by an Alexander Smirnov. This product was launched in cooperation with Larson & Holz, a foreign exchange broker that made sure to promote the crypto to its customers.
LH-Crypto was an initial coin offering (ICO) that intended to offer margin trading for crypto traders, with the firm’s chief executive George Pavloff describing the target market for this token as “crypto traders who want to trade more than just crypto instruments.”
The token listed several important advisers, including Yan Art, who is described as the “vice president at the Association of Russian Banks.”
Smirnov, along with Larson & Holz’s Antonis Lapos, went on the road to promote the ICO, making appearances in Milan, Lugano, Zurich, Geneva, and Monaco. It was also promoted in Russia, with Pavloff taking meetings in Moscow to promote it. Furthermore, Larson & Holz have a Russian-language YouTube channel where it promotes the ICO.
The business structure of LH-Crypto is confusing. The website describes a contact address in Hong Kong, however, a review of Hong Kong corporate registries reveals that Larson & Holz IT Limited was dissolved in 2015. Archives of the LH-Crypto website describe several other entities that were used for this project, including ‘Larson and Holz IT Ltd’ entities registered in the Marshall Islands as well as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
This page also lists ‘Larson and Holz IT LP’ registered in the United Kingdom. A review of Companies House shows that the firm has been renamed Astra Global LP and lists one person with significant control, Kirill Kuzin, who lists an address in Saint Petersburg.
Additionally, the ‘International Business Companies Registry of Belize Struck Off 2019’ also includes ‘Larson & Holz IT Limited.’
The ICO finished in February 2018 and apparently raised over $10 million.
The websites for Larson & Holz as well as LH-Crypto are no longer available, and the project seems utterly abandoned, joining the long list of ICOs that never achieved their goals and were run by people eventually accused of crimes.