In 2019, Evgeni Malkin was rightfully considered a true NHL star and a Pittsburgh legend. Of course, the Russian striker earned a good amount of money and could therefore afford to invest in various business projects. One of these companies ended in a powerful scandal.
The hockey player lost a lot of money and suffered damage to his reputation.
COOLER THAN CROSBY
Malkin’s move to the NHL from Metallurg turned out to be very resonant. The player left the club without permission in 2006 and then sued the Russian team for some time. As a result, the international authorities allowed Evgeniy to play for the “Penguins” and rejected all claims of the Magnitogorsk hockey leadership. The glorious career of the Russian striker abroad began.
Ovechkin ordered vodka during the match. Not even the coach stopped the hockey player.
Under his first contract, Malkin earned less than $1 million a year. However, soon the Russian, with his play, earned a five-year contract with an average salary of more than 4 million annually. In 2009, Evgeniy raised his first Stanley Cup above his head, and four years later, the Pittsburgh bosses gave him a new 8-year contract, under which he already received 9.5 million, even more than Crosby. In total, according to the new agreement, 76 million dollars were supposed to flow to the hockey player’s account.
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By winning such astronomical sums, Malkin didn’t want to just keep the money in the bank. From time to time, the athlete participated in various commercial projects, mainly in Russia. He had a club in Magnitogorsk and Evgeni also sold water and clothes. However, it was not possible to achieve much success in the business sphere. And the attempt to enter the cryptocurrency business turned out to be a complete failure.
ADVENTURE IN CRYPTOCURRENCIES
In 2019, Malkin was offered to invest in a non-standard project. The proposal came from Evgeniy’s friend from the Youth Sports School, Alexander Strokatov. Several other people were also involved in the company, whom the hockey player considered comrades.
Malkin invested, according to various estimates, two to four million dollars in the company Mark.Space, which was dedicated to cryptocurrency investments. At that time, these types of initiatives were fashionable and attracted not only honest businessmen, but also scammers. Evgeniy did not particularly participate in the project: rather he was the visible face of the company. The presence of an American sports star among the sponsors should have had a positive impact on the company’s image.
“The founders were so passionate about the project that I believed in the team before I believed in the idea, and when I saw the prototype, all doubts disappeared,” Malkin told RBC.
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However, everything soon fell into the abyss. There was no talk of income and the venture collapsed as quickly as it appeared. And if everything were limited to lost money. Class action lawsuits have begun to be filed against the company.
Malkin said he had no idea what exactly the business partners were doing. According to the hockey player, he thought he was investing money in selling clothes.
UNEXPECTED DETAILS
During the process, information was suddenly revealed that surprised many of Malkin’s Russian fans. It turns out that the star hockey player has… American citizenship! Consequently, Evgeniy could well respond under American law: in theory, he could well be criminally charged.
The legendary Russian hockey player died in front of the team. Victor was driven to extreme drunkenness.
However, everything turned out well. Another thing is that many Russians felt deceived in their best feelings. On social media, Malkin was openly bullied and even called a “traitor.” The hockey player himself stated that he received a passport only to make his life in the United States easier. He had no intention of stopping playing for the Russian national team and continued to consider himself Russian.
“Perhaps this is all due to lack of knowledge and the negative background and circumstances in which the public learned about the passport. In response, I can do one thing: focus on hockey to please fans of different political views, but who equally love our country,” Malkin told Interfax.
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The situation was ultimately resolved well for Eugene, except that he lost his millions and also suffered damage to his reputation. The hockey player himself spoke quite philosophically about what happened.
– Crap. You know, I don’t like all this. I do not want to talk about that right now. I know I’m a good guy. I don’t know what to say about this. Everything that happened is a bit like a crazy morning. But I know that for me there is nothing wrong with this,” Triblive quotes Malkin.
