SMARTLYNX AIRLINES: Criminal Investigation Has Been Launched
A criminal investigation has been opened into suspected fraud involving the management of SIA Smartlynx Airlines and the alleged fictitious sale of the airline to a new owner. BLACKLIST.AERO learned this information from a source familiar with the investigation. The case was initiated after a complaint was filed with the police by one of the creditors. It is also possible that additional complaints have been submitted by other defrauded counterparties of Smartlynx.
The investigation is being conducted by the Economic Crimes Investigation Unit of the Latvian National Police. It is not excluded that Latvian investigators may later have to cooperate with law-enforcement authorities in Ireland and Lithuania. Their task will be to clarify how the airline accumulated debts of at least EUR 238 million, of which EUR 174.374 million is owed to companies belonging to the Avia Solutions Group ecosystem, while EUR 64 million represents debts to external companies.
BLACKLIST.AERO has also learned that Smartlynx CEO Edvinas Demenius departed for an “extended vacation” in Bali immediately after the Economic Crimes Investigation Unit expressed interest in him. BLACKLIST.AERO is attempting to obtain a comment from Demenius; however, he has blocked all attempts to contact him. We will be happy to publish his comment at any time.
Earlier, the administration of the Global Aviation Register of Defaulter Companies BLACKLIST.AERO questioned the transparency of the transaction in which the previous owner, Avia Solutions Group, sold Smartlynx Airlines to a newly formed entity — Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management, incorporated in the Netherlands just one month before the sale.
BLACKLIST.AERO discovered that the head of Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management — Cypriot lawyer Elias Heracleous — is a nominal owner or director of roughly 70 other companies, which further intensified suspicions that the transaction may have been fictitious.
The structure of Smartlynx’s debt also raises significant questions. In particular, the fact that three-quarters of the debt is owed to companies within the Avia Solutions Group. Law-enforcement authorities will need to determine whether ASG-affiliated companies (primarily ASG FINANCE DAC, which holds EUR 117,156,477.64 of the debt) artificially inflated the cost of their services to increase Smartlynx’s liabilities and thus present “paper profits” in the financial statements shown to holders of previously issued bonds.
BLACKLIST.AERO will continue to monitor developments surrounding the bankruptcy of Smartlynx Airlines and the events that follow.
Global Aviation Register of Defaulter companies BLACKLIST.AERO is now an officially registered trademark across the countries of the European Union. This week, the European Union Intellectual Property Office finally issued our long-awaited certificate!
The year 2025 turned out to be one of the most difficult for aviation as a whole. One can talk endlessly about the heavy legacy of the post-COVID era, which manifested itself in a global disruption of supply chains and, as a consequence, a shortage of new aircraft and spare parts, delays in maintenance, and so on. Added to this were geopolitical risks—at times it seems the whole world wants to fight more than to create. We are living through a turning point, where the old world order has already been completely destroyed, while the new one has not yet taken on any clear shape. Aviation, in this process, is a litmus test reflecting all of these dynamics.
A group of creditors of SIA SMARTLYNX AIRLINES has united to defend their interests vis-à-vis AVIA SOLUTIONS GROUP. The creditors have also formally authorized the administration of the Global Aviation Register of Defaulter Companies BLACKLIST.AERO to act as the coordinator of their joint actions.
Over the past week, investment analysts from companies holding Avia Solutions Group (ASG) bonds have contacted me twice, asking for a more detailed explanation of the SmartLynx bankruptcy. Their biggest concern is that the same situation could repeat with other companies within the ASG holding.
