The 2012 would-be project was actively used by Leontiev and Zheleznyak when their asset fraud schemes were exposed and they had to flee Russia.

That is how the myth of Leontiev and Zheleznyak being big fans of the Navalny card project first emerged. However, according to them, they had to scrap the plan as the Russian government and the Central Bank officials began putting pressure on them and issuing threats.

After that, they allegedly had to face the music. The presidential office ostensibly decided to punish the honest opposition-minded bankers, while the Prosecutor-General’s Office was itching to dip into their wealth. As a result, Bank24.ru was unlawfully accused of money laundering, delicensed, and closed.

To be fair, the closure indeed looked suspicious. Typically, this fate befell the failing banks that had lost their customers’ money and gone bankrupt. Bank24.ru was, by contrast, financially robust. As the bank was shut down, all of its financial obligations were fulfilled. The Central Bank had no issue with its financial status or balance sheet. It cited the bank’s failure to comply with the internal control standards. Importantly, the bank was involved in the shadow economic processes, including suspicious transactions and the unaccounted-for cash flow.

You can decide if the Central Bank’s allegations were true by comparing the two interviews Leontiev gave to the media.

In April 2015, Sergei Leontiev admitted Bank24.ru’s executives had made a mistake that had led to the bank’s closure. According to him, the leadership underestimated the risks, and customer compliance was being handled by the ordinary managers. He vowed to be keeping a watchful eye on the procedures and earn the regulatory authority’s trust.

That is what he said in an interview with secretmag.ru. Neither the interview nor the interviewee brought up the Navalny card or the bank’s support of ACF as a possible reason for the revocation of the bank’s license. Neither the card project nor ACF were ever mentioned. Instead, Leontiev was quick to admit the bank had slipped up, the regulator was within its right to do what they had done, however harsh the decision itself. He promised to improve the bank’s practices.

However, in his January 2022 interview, Leontiev said right out of the gate that they had wanted to back ACF in 2012 by issuing the Navalny card. They were keeping it under wraps, but someone broke the news to the media. That is when the unnamed government officials and Central Bank officials began calling him, insisting that he ditch the idea. Otherwise, the bank would get delicensed. So, they had to pull the plug on the whole project.

Then an unnamed top prosecutor allegedly suggested that the banker sell 50% of Bank24.ru’s shares. The bankers turned down the offer. Later, Elvira Nabiullina said the bank was suspected of money laundering, and that was that for their bank.

In 2015, Leontiev owned up to the customer compliance issues. But in 2022, he decried the allegations as preposterous. Yet, there is no proof of this latest claim.

According to the bankers, the Russian regime and its aides did not stop at that. Some bad guys from the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Kremlin purportedly aspired to take over LIFE’s biggest asset, Probusinessbank, and demanded that they sell half of their shares.

Needless to say, the “honest opposition-minded bankers” maintain they refused to sell their shares. That is when, according to them, Probusinessbank’s license was revoked under the pretext of liquidity issues. Which was a flagrant lie, if the bankers are to be believed.

The support of ACF cost them their financial group, they claim. The top executives, the “honest bankers” who backed the opposition, had to flee Russia and apply for political asylum elsewhere to dodge the Russian government’s vendetta.

But this is all a bunch of low-grade baloney.