US prosecutors have accused Vladimir Okhotnikov, also known as Lado, of running Forsage, which they say was a global Ponzi and pyramid scheme built on a fraudulent crypto investment platform. According to investigators, the scheme cheated investors out of at least $340 million between 2020 and 2022. A court in Georgia later found him guilty of laundering $1.1 million linked to the operation.
Once these cases became public, Okhotnikov left for Dubai, where he repeatedly restarted versions of the alleged scheme. At the same time, he began launching new ventures, including gaming firms and companies selling anti-ageing supplements based on unverified DNA technology.
This entire investigation is part of the wider probe called The Coin Laundry, a joint investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and The Indian Express. The project examines how parts of the crypto world have benefited from illegal money moving across borders.
Who is Lado?
Famously known as Lado, Vladimir Okhotnikov is a 47-year-old Russian businessman accused of running a series of international crypto scams. Investigators say these schemes may have drained up to $1 billion from millions of people across four continents.
Lado has also built a flashy public image. He produced a film featuring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, with Bollywood actor Disha Patani listed in the cast. He has fronted several investment events in India, and earlier this year, he even managed to get Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, to appear on the cover of his new magazine, which was unveiled during her birthday celebration in Mumbai.
Lado’s Links to Disha Patani, Kevin Spacey and Elon Musk’s mother
Vladimir Okhotnikov’s movie Holiguards Saga – The Portal of Force is set to premiere in Lisbon on December 20. The supernatural thriller is inspired by a comic book loosely based on his own life, where he plays a mentor-like character named Dao. For Okhotnikov, the $10-million project, filmed mostly in Mexico, also seems to be an attempt to break into Hollywood and attract new investors.
Photos from a cast event held in Dubai last November show Mumbai actor Disha Patani on stage with Okhotnikov. When The Indian Express asked her team about her involvement in the film and whether she knew about the allegations against him, they said they were not in a position to discuss the project.
Requests for comment sent to Okhotnikov, Kevin Spacey, and Maye Musk went unanswered, according to the ICIJ.
India — One of the main targets for Lado
India has emerged as one of the main targets for Vladimir Okhotnikov, especially investors in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. At an investor event in Bengaluru last year, he appeared through a video message claiming that his platform had been renamed from Meta Force to Holiverse and that he had obtained all the licences needed to run it in India, according to those present.
In April, he picked Mumbai to unveil Holiguard magazine. The launch was organised by Elledgy, a media and marketing company that has promoted his ventures around the world and also helped produce his film.
The magazine’s first issue was released during a birthday celebration in Mumbai for Maye Musk, who turned 77. The event was arranged by Elledgy owner Elvira Gavrilova, now known as Elvira Paterson. Social media posts show a member of her team taking photos as Maye Musk blew out a candle on a chocolate cake.
Financial documents reviewed by Expresso, an ICIJ partner, indicate that Elledgy covered the cost of the hotel where the party was held. Guests — including a well-known artist and public relations professionals — described the evening as a lively, whirlwind experience and credited Gavrilova for putting the glamorous event together.
How did Forsage end up facing fraud charges?
Regulators across several countries began raising concerns about Vladimir Okhotnikov’s platforms as early as June 2020, when the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission issued the first warning. In 2021, the Montana Commissioner of Securities raised similar alerts. Soon after, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against Forsage’s four founders, including Okhotnikov. He dismissed the accusations at the time and shifted responsibility onto the other founders.
In a detailed 49-page order, the SEC described a group of Forsage promoters in the US as aggressive “crypto crusaders” and labelled Forsage itself as an illegal operation. The agency said the platform fit the classic model of a pyramid and Ponzi scheme, handling around $300 million in transactions without any genuine product sales.
The SEC’s action alerted authorities and banks in Georgia, where Okhotnikov was living until 2022. After publicly rejecting the SEC allegations, he left Georgia and moved first to Turkey and later to the United Arab Emirates.
He was in Dubai when a US jury in Oregon charged him and several Russian partners in 2023 with conspiracy to commit fraud, an offence that could lead to up to 20 years in prison. Both the US Department of Justice and SEC cases are still ongoing.
According to an 11-page indictment, prosecutors say Okhotnikov and his team made misleading claims about Forsage, which began operating in 2020. Investigators allege that the group promoted the platform as safe and profitable, while actually running a pyramid-style operation that depended on new investors’ money.
In March 2024, a court in Georgia found Okhotnikov guilty of money laundering in his absence and sentenced him to 10 years. The court issued an international arrest warrant and seized assets worth more than $1 million.
Despite the growing legal pressure, Okhotnikov launched another platform called Meta Force from Dubai. He also promoted his plan to build an interconnected “cinematic universe” linked to Meta Force, known as the “Portal of Force.”
His latest venture, Meta Whale, has already drawn around 40,000 users a month since its launch in May, according to its website.
On October 6, Slovenia’s financial regulator ATVP issued a public notice urging investors to be extremely careful. The agency said all of Okhotnikov’s ventures – Forsage, Meta Force, Holiverse and Meta Whale, were essentially connected and that none of them had permission to offer crypto-related services within the European Union.