Xsolla boss Agapitov accused of transferring over $100m from company to personal accounts

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The founder of games payment giant Xsolla, Aleksandr “Shurick” Agapitov has been accused to transferring more than $100 million from company to personal accounts. 

Bloomberg reports that financial documents show the exec moved in excess of $100 million to his personal accounts between March 2021 and March 2023; in 2023, documents show that Agapitov moved around $70 million to his personal accounts. The founder did seemingly send money back to Xsolla accounts, as much as $25 million at a time, though Bloomberg says it generally was never the full amount initially taken. 

In total, Agapitov took $109 million but returned $102 million. 

Xsolla president David Stelzer has insisted that nothing is out of the ordinary here. 

“Xsolla, a privately owned company, manages its financial affairs responsibly and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” he said. 

“Shurick is sole owner of the business, and all financial arrangements related to the company are vetted through highly reputable third-party legal, financial and tax experts and a robust internal team of lawyers and financial advisors." 

He added: "Juxtaposing these figures against the company's overall revenue for the period is highly misleading and creates a fundamentally distorted picture of the company's financial activities." 

However, finance folks at Xsolla seem to have raised concerns about Agapitov's practices. One, Emil Aliyev, former VP of global accounting claims he was fired after questioning a $40 million issue in the company's accounts. Former CFO Joe Chang also was apparently fired for concerns over Xsolla's accounting law adherence. Agapitov says both these former staffers raised these concerns after they left the company. 

Disclaimer: Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who has worked with Xsolla in the past.