GUARDIAN OF MOSCOW’S STATE MONEY WAS THE MAIN COG IN ŠOLAK’S MURKY DEALINGS: Swears by the West, while stuffing Russian cash into his own pocket

The founder of United Group, Dragan Šolak, built his business empire by pushing pro-Western values and media freedom into the spotlight. However, just as the exposure of Šolak’s true motives (read: money, and always only money) completely destroyed the false image of caring for free speech, so too have his Russian connections shattered the myth of a pro-European, pro-Western and anti-Russian narrative on which both the editorial policy of his media and his publicly communicated business philosophy rested.

Numerous reports reveal how capital linked to the Russian state was intertwined with the media landscape of United Group while Šolak controlled it. Unfair business practices, breaches of the law, bribing people within competing firms and regulatory bodies, wiretapping rivals but also his own associates… And, of course, the use of offshore zones to make financial transactions invisible. These were all tools Šolak and his “specialists” made lavish use of, with one of the key ones being Wolfram Kuoni. He was in charge of Šolak’s most mysterious dealings – from hiding wealth, managing assets, tax avoidance and cash flow all the way to secret acquisitions. All the while, Šolak waved the flag of independent journalism and pushed an anti-Russian narrative through his media, among which N1 was his main pillar as a television station franchised from America’s CNN. This was a strategy for Šolak to gain credibility, but also a shield against detailed scrutiny.

Kuoni headed the Swiss branch of United Group from 2015, at the same time as he was the number two man at Gazprombank Switzerland (from 2012 to mid-2022 holding the post of Vice-President of Gazprombank AG, the Swiss subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank, which was an open secret to serve as a hiding place for billions of dollars owned by Russian tycoons and politicians). It is astonishing that Kremlin banker Kuoni, even while representing Moscow’s financial sector, simultaneously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Media until May 2022, just a few months after the start of the war in Ukraine. In other words, for years Kuoni sat at the top of Šolak’s media company while at the same time acting as an investment manager for state-linked Russian funds.

Central figure

This Swiss national was also a central figure in the purchase of Direct Media, the marketing company that Dragan Đilas sold to United Group. Yet this transaction exemplifies Šolak’s unfair business practices. Direct Media was acquired through a complicated chain of offshore entities. Based on documents, Kurir uncovered that the ownership changes of Direct Media in the 2014–2015 period were channelled through at least eight companies registered in offshore zones, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Samoa, Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Nevis. Bulgarian businessman Krasimir Gergov was put forward as the buyer through a Dutch foundation, but evidence later showed that he acted as an intermediary. According to the findings of La Verita, a group of Serbian tycoons led by Wolfram Kuoni orchestrated the change of ownership of Direct Media through these offshore structures. In fact, the funds for the takeover appeared to have been secretly channelled through Šolak’s networked system: the money was allegedly sent from a BVI offshore company under Šolak’s control to Gergov to execute the purchase, while additional funds were transferred from Switzerland by Kuoni, who acted as Šolak’s fiduciary. Such an arrangement concealed the true source of the €17.7 million paid for Direct Media. Dutch authorities, suspecting international money laundering, opened an investigation into the transaction. However, the complex scheme successfully obscured the funds and ultimate beneficiaries of Direct Media, illustrating how offshore channels were used to inject capital of murky origin into Šolak’s media business. Kuoni engaged in similar wheeling and dealing when United Group bought an office building from Đilas, which Kurir also reported on in detail.

Slovenian investigative reports note that Kuoni “played one of the biggest roles in the expansion of Šolak’s media empire since 2010”, acting as a behind-the-scenes intermediary. He was Šolak’s trusted representative in corporate manoeuvres abroad, including the purchase and sale of media assets in Bulgaria on Šolak’s behalf. Kuoni’s name, like Šolak’s, appears in multiple leaked documents such as the Pandora Papers and the Malta Files, pointing to his role in offshore entities tied to United Group. In addition to United Media, Kuoni’s own business empire, the Aspermont Group, and his personal transactions further highlight his connections with the Kremlin. This Swiss national created offshore havens for the wealth of sanctioned Russian elites.

Pro-Russian orientation

Šolak’s ties to Russian money are deepened further through Kuoni’s wife, Maria (née Marić), an investment banker of Serbian descent. She is co-founder of the Aspermont Group and is connected with Šolak through numerous offshore financial channels. Wolfram and Maria Kuoni, known in Switzerland as people openly pro-Russian in orientation and linked to oligarchs close to the Kremlin, are co-owners with Šolak of several companies (DanSav Investments AG, TechHill Plaza, Click for Serbia NGO, Four Palms LLC…). These companies were used to hold properties and luxury assets of United Group. One example of such manoeuvring dates from 2011, when Maria Kuoni co-founded a Cypriot company that, within 17 months, mysteriously amassed €10 million, which was then deposited in Šolak’s Maltese company Prestige Media. Investigators later flagged this as a probable channel for Russian funds entering Šolak’s business.

Maria Kuoni also launched a humanitarian organisation in Belgrade under the name “Click for Serbia”, ostensibly to promote culture and education. In reality, this NGO was sponsored by Rossotrudnichestvo (the Russian state agency for foreign affairs, via the local Russian Cultural Centre Ruski Dom) and promoted Serbian-Russian ties. Available data show that the Kuoni couple acted as a bridge linking United Media’s corporate structure and the Russian soft-power network. According to investigative reports, this couple not only managed Šolak’s offshore companies but also took part in pro-Russian networks. This is evidenced by Maria Kuoni’s projects such as “Serbian-Russian Medallions” and the NGO “Click for Serbia”, which connected Šolak’s SBB fund with Russian cultural institutions.

 Kurir team