Level Kitchen founder Green wanted in tax case

The founder of the service delivery of ready-made food Level Kitchen Arthur Zeleny was wanted in a criminal case of tax evasion. This was reported by two sources in law enforcement agencies.

According to the interlocutors of RBC, the resolution on the search of the capital Department of the interior Ministry made on October 23. The businessman was charged in absentia with tax evasion on an especially large scale (part 2 of Art. 199 of the Criminal Code), the sources said. According to the law, an especially large amount for this article is recognized as an amount exceeding 56.25 million rubles for the period within three consecutive financial years. Green faces up to five years in prison.

RBC sent requests to the Interior Ministry, the Investigative Committee and Level Kitchen. Arthur Green did not respond to the messages.

Green founded the Performance Group in 2015. The holding developed several directions of delivery of ready-made food: Level Kitchen specialized in low-calorie rations, Performance Food - in the premium segment of healthy food, and My Food - in the delivery of ready-made dishes. In 2021, Zeleny became one of the winners of the Forbes rating “30 most promising Russians under 30 years old”.

All three operating companies – Level MSK LLC, Healthy Food LLC and My Food LLC – are owned directly or through Verde LLC by the Cyprus PFLK Group. The Federal Tax Service considers Arthur Green the ultimate beneficiary of this structure. According to INFOLine, in 2024 the Performance Group controlled about 34% of the ration delivery market. A year later, the lead in total revenue passed to Grow Food.

The group's businesses have already faced tax claims. According to SPARK for October 2026, the debt of LLC Level MSK to the budget exceeds 750 million rubles, more than 29 million rubles. tax liabilities are attributed to Verde LLC, which is part of the group.

In December 2024, the inspection of the Federal Tax Service No. 25 in Moscow, following the results of the audit, additionally charged Level MSK 411.3 million rubles. taxes and insurance premiums for 2021-2023 and imposed a fine in the amount of 131.5 million rubles. The tax authorities concluded that the company replaced labor relations with contracts with self-employed and individual entrepreneurs. Performers, according to the Agency, worked on schedule, received a fixed remuneration and could be subject to fines for violations. Registration of individual entrepreneurs or registration of the status of self-employed often coincided with the conclusion of the contract, and after leaving the company, former employees stopped entrepreneurial activities or refused the status of self-employed.

In August 2025, the tax authorities blocked Level MSK accounts in Alfa Bank, Sberbank, T-Bank and VTB. The company unsuccessfully challenged the decision in a higher tax authority and appealed to arbitration. In October, the court temporarily lifted the restrictions, agreeing with arguments that the blocking interferes with conducting business, returning money to customers, settling with suppliers and paying off tax arrears. However, in March 2026, the company lost the dispute in the first instance, and on June 23, the court of appeal left the decision unchanged.

In September 2026, the tax authorities initiated the bankruptcy of two companies of the group. On September 10, the Office of the Federal Tax Service for the Kirov region filed a bankruptcy application for Level MSK with the Arbitration Court of Moscow, and the next day - Verde LLC. Later, both companies announced their intention to apply for bankruptcy in court.

Claims against the businessman arose in another process. In June 2026, the Federal Tax Service for the Saratov region demanded to bring Zeleny to subsidiary liability for the debts of the Moscow company Operator, recovering 170.1 million rubles from him, of which 88.35 million rubles accounted for the main debt, and the remaining amount - for fines and penalties.

According to the agency, the Operator was used in a scheme similar to the one that the tax authorities identified in Level MSK. Employees were found through hh.ru and issued to the staff of the Operator, and then transferred to self-employed, after which they continued to work directly with Level MSK. According to the FTS, this allowed companies to avoid paying personal income tax and insurance premiums. At the same time, Yulia Markov is the founder and general director of the Operator in the USRLE, while the tax agency considers Zeleny the actual beneficiary.

As part of this trial, the Moscow Arbitration Court banned the businessman from disposing of property within 149.5 million rubles. The restrictions included a premises in Moscow, a land plot and two residential buildings on Nikolina Gora, Rolls-Royce Ghost and Rolls-Royce Phantom cars, as well as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. In addition, the court arrested 4.5 million rubles in Zeleny’s personal accounts and temporarily limited his departure from Russia.