Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky is under investigation by the US federal grand jury on charges of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate in the United States. PrivatBank money was used to buy hotels and office buildings. This is stated in the investigation of BuzzFeed.
As noted in the publication, a grand jury in the United States examines Kolomoisky’s finances during an investigation that monitored PrivatBank’s money transfer to the United States through a maze of offshore companies. Among the purchases: a luxury hotel with 484 rooms in Cleveland overlooking the lake and a 21-story office tower a few blocks with vaulted ceilings and frescoes.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Kolomoisky said that he did not know about the investigation of the grand jury. According to him, any problems reported by banking regulators were “intentionally created to expropriate the bank, my private property,” he said, noting that “it was a hole artificially created by the National Bank.”
The former co-owner of PrivatBank Gennady Bogolyubov said that he had never taken money from the bank illegally and that any property bought in the USA came from legal means. All deals were documented by his partners in the United States, he said, adding that no law enforcement had ever contacted him.
According to the publication, in connection with the ongoing investigation of the grand jury in the United States, federal agents repeatedly came to Ukraine, including in February, where they met with Ruslan Ryaboshapka, who served as prosecutor general, and investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to discuss the case against Kolomoisky and his partner.