Kolomoisky Igor Valeryevich

Kolomoisky Igor Valeryevich

Aktivs

Assets in Ukraine

The billionaire's fortune at the end of 2021 was estimated at $1.8 billion. But after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in 2022, the Privat group he owns lost hundreds of millions of dollars and several of the most valuable assets.

The largest losses were incurred by oil refining enterprises:

• Ukraine's largest Kremenchug oil refinery, owned by Kolomoisky, has been the target of missile strikes several times. However, it is still operating, albeit in a limited mode due to electricity problems and damage caused.

• The Ukrnafta oil company suffered great damage, 42% of which belonged to the Privat group, losing about 10% of gas stations. Later, in November 2022, under the pretext of martial law in Ukraine, they decided to nationalize some enterprises. Kolomoisky and his partners from the Privat group lost their 42% stake in Ukrnafta and 60% of the Ukrtatnafta fuel company.

Kolomoisky's metallurgical enterprises were also affected.

• The Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant in the first half of 2022 provided a profit of 223 million hryvnia through exports. Even before the strikes on the Ukrainian energy system, the company was on the verge of stopping due to high electricity prices, five furnaces were drowned out at the plant. By the end of October, the situation only worsened: from November 1, the plant completely stopped work.

• Also, from November 1, the Manganese and Pokrovsky mining and processing plants were temporarily closed. The first was constantly under the blows of Russian artillery, since next to it Ukrainian formations place artillery for shelling Energodar.

• The Zaporizhzhya ferroalloy plant owned by the oligarch faced similar problems. Back in 2021, it was reported that a crypto farm was organized there thanks to cheap electricity. Now both production and mining of cryptocurrency will have to be stopped: due to rising electricity prices, the enterprise costs 1 billion hryvnia per year.

• UIA, in which Kolomoisky is a co-owner (25% as of January 2020), suffers huge losses due to the closed sky over Ukraine. It turned out only to organize flights between European countries. At the beginning of September 2022, 300 people were fired at the company.

Even before the strikes on the Ukrainian energy system, the losses of Kolomoisky himself were estimated at $100 million. His partners in the Privat group Gennady Bogolyubov and Igor Palitsa - $100 million and $25 million, respectively.

The shutdown of ferroalloy plants, which generated considerable profits through exports, will cause even more damage to the oligarch.

Kolomoisky remains the owner of the elite resort "Bukovel."

Assets in the United States

Kolomoisky's assets in the USA and its managers in 2019

Biography

2017: Investment in a mining farm in Georgia

Igor Kolomoisky in 2017 invested in a mining farm Georgia in $50 million. cryptocurrencies He invested in mining farms with businessmen Alexei Kuchukhidze and Georgy Kapanadze.

Mining at the Georgian farm was carried out from November 2017 to November 2018, then - from May to September 2019. During this period, 3533 bitcoins were mined. Of these, according to Kolomoisky's lawyers, he owns about 1000 bitcoins. Kolomoisky and his partners earned about $170 million. In 2021, the Ukrainian authorities believe that Kolomoisky is hiding income.

2020

US money laundering probe

Ex-co-owner of Privatbank Igor Kolomoisky is under investigation by a US federal grand jury on charges of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in the United States, BuzzFeed claims.

"The Cleveland grand jury investigation is a rare attempt by the US justice system to target an influential oligarch and track down the millions he and his partners allegedly sent through American correspondent banks," the material says.

Kolomoisky said he was unaware of the investigation.

According to the publication, in connection with the investigation in the United States, federal agents repeatedly traveled to Ukraine, where they met with the prosecutor and investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to discuss the case against the 57-year-old oligarch and his partner Bogolyubov. Federal agents have tracked for more than a year the millions of dollars that were sent to the US from companies owned by Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov to buy properties.

Privatbank, in a May 21, 2019 lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court (USA), accuses the ex-owners of allegedly laundering approximately $622.8 million, which were issued in the form of loans to commercial companies, but then were used by other companies to purchase assets in the United States.

In April 2020, Privatbank filed a new lawsuit in the Cypriot courts, demanding damages in the amount of $5.5 billion due to fraud and money laundering. After this lawsuit, the total amount of claims filed by Privatbank against Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov and related persons and companies in England, Cyprus, the USA and Israel exceeded $10 billion.

The United States demanded the confiscation of real estate from Kolomoisky for $70 million.

The US Department of Justice filed two civil forfeiture lawsuits in the District Court of the Southern District of Florida on August 6, 2020, alleging that commercial real estate in Louisville (Kentucky) and Dallas (Texas) was acquired using funds misappropriated from the Ukrainian PrivatBank.

US Mining Farm Launch

In mid-December 2020, it became known about the launch of a mining farm at the CC Metals & Alloys (CCMA) steel plant in the United States. This project was implemented by Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky together with his business partners. Read more here.

2021

US sanctions for corruption

In March 2021, the United States imposed sanctions against Igor Kolomoisky in connection with allegations of corruption, the corresponding statement was published by the US State Department.

The charges relate to the period of his work as head of the administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region in 2014-2015. Also, restrictions are imposed against his wife, daughter and son, all of them are prohibited from entering the United States.

"Kolomoisky was involved in corrupt actions that undermined the rule of law and the faith of the Ukrainian public in democratic institutions of power. Among other things, he used his political influence and official powers in his own interests, "Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement.

Lawsuit from Privatbank in Cyprus

In November 2021, it became known that Privatbank decided to sue $5.5 billion from its former owner Igor Kolomoisky. The trial will take place in the Limassol court in Cyprus. The subject of the lawsuit is compensation for damage due to fraud and money laundering, which were carried out under the leadership of Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov in Privatbank.

Transportation of mining equipment to Zaporizhzhya Ferroalloy Plant

In 2021, a Zaporizhzhya Ferroalloy Plant large batch of equipment for mining cryptocurrencies from and was brought to, the possession of which is attributed to oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Georgia China Its cost of about $27.6 million is 2600 devices from and 12,500 Bitfury from Bitmain.

If the equipment is used at full capacity, the farm can bring about 80 PTC per month. At the same time, the plant received cheap electricity from Energoatom through United Energy, which is also associated with Kolomoisky, the investigation notes. The legality of this purchase is checked by law enforcement officers.

2023

Searches in a house in Ukraine

In January 2023, the Ukrainian authorities searched the house of businessman Igor Kolomoisky, once an ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky, against the background of "intensifying the authorities' efforts to combat corruption."

The investigation concerns fraud on Ukrtatnafta and Ukrnafta. We are talking about the embezzlement of petroleum products for 40 billion hryvnia and evasion of customs payments.

Arrest in Ukraine in the case of illegal withdrawal of $13.5 million

In early September 2023, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv arrested the founder of PrivatBank Igor Kolomoisky for two months in the case of the illegal withdrawal of $13.5 million. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) suspects him of fraud and legalization of property obtained by criminal means.

A deposit of 509 million hryvnia ($13.7 million) can be made for a businessman, however, as Kolomoisky's lawyer Alexander Lysak said, the businessman will not make a deposit. The defense also said that the oligarch would appeal the court's decision, since, according to lawyers, prosecutors did not provide assessments of Kolomoisky's health and material condition, which would justify the preventive measure.

The founder of PrivatBank Kolomoisky was arrested in the case of the illegal withdrawal of $13.5 million

Igor Kolomoisky was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Article 190 (fraud);
• Art. 209 (legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means).

The SBU did not specify on what points of these articles the suspicion was announced. The maximum punishment for each of them is 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. The trial was held behind closed doors. The entrepreneur himself does not agree with the accusations.

As the adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president Sergei Leshchenko said in his Telegram channel, Igor Kolomoisky is being held in a criminal case as a citizen deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.

This destroys the popular false narrative that Kolomoisky was not deprived of Ukrainian citizenship and allegedly will not be extradited to the United States, Leshchenko said.

The adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine stressed that there were no requests for the extradition of Kolomoisky to the United States, but Kyiv is ready to implement them in accordance with the agreement between Kyiv and Washington on mutual legal assistance in criminal cases. There are no restrictions in the form of businessman citizenship for this, Leshchenko added.^[1]

Notes