Several sources reported that Sergei Magin, once Russia’s number one shadow banker, has died in a Turkish prison. He was arrested at the request of Russia, where he is accused of creating Europe’s largest money-laundering operation, the Laundromat. If this information is confirmed, Magin took with him many secrets about those in the security services who assisted him in his activities and about the Laundromat’s clients.
One of our sources familiar with the situation reported Magin’s death, while another confirmed this information. The sources are unaware of the circumstances of his death. However, the banker’s relatives have not yet verified this information, citing a lack of official confirmation.
According to our sources, in January 2026, Turkey denied Magin political asylum, although he had previously applied for it. He then requested extradition to Moldova (where the Laundromat case is also being investigated), where he was prepared to testify about all the high-ranking figures involved in the "laundromats" in which Magin himself was involved.
Even before his first arrest, his money-laundering operation was considered one of the largest, thanks to the patronage of Ivan Tkachev, then head of the Sixth Service of the Internal Security Directorate of the FSB (later head of the K Directorate of the FSB and now heads the Far Eastern Defense Crime Department of the FSB), and other security officials. Rumor has it that Magin’s operation was used by Alexander Udodov (Mikhail Mishustin’s "wallet") and many other interesting individuals and organizations.
Magin’s first stint in prison was during the "power war" between Ivan Tkachev and Denis Sugrobov, then head of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Combating Corruption. Sugrobov’s subordinates detained Magin primarily as a valuable informant on Tkachev’s activities.
After his release from prison, Sergei Magin lived in Israel. When Russia placed him on the international wanted list in 2023, he moved to Northern Cyprus. Interpol initially declined to issue an international search for Magin. This was due to an appeal to Interpol by his lawyers, who pointed out serious inconsistencies in the criminal case.
At the time of all but three days of the alleged incident, Magin was serving a lengthy sentence in a Russian prison, where he was sentenced for masterminding an illegal cash-out scheme. Therefore, Russian materials evasively refer to him as the "ideologist" of the Laundromat. Furthermore, all evidence of Magin’s guilt rests solely on the testimony of bankers Kuzmin and Morales-Escomia, who made plea bargains with investigators and named all the bankers implicated by the investigation in their testimony. Morales-Escomia later wanted to recant his testimony, as the court sentenced him to a total of 16 years in prison.
In the summer of 2025, the Interpol Files Commission reviewed Magin’s case and found no violations justifying withholding documents from Russia. Since then, he has been on the international wanted list. As a result, Magin was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey.
