Ukrainian who made appearance in Trump impeachment saga accused of stealing, laundering billions
Source: Washington Post
The Justice Department on Thursday accused a Ukrainian oligarch who has been considered an ally of Ukraines president of stealing billions of dollars from a bank he once owned, then using a vast array of companies to launder that money in the United States and all over the world.
In a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to seize commercial properties in Kentucky and Texas, the Justice Department alleged that Ihor Kolomoisky and his business partner, Gennadiy Boholiubov, stole so much from PrivatBank that Ukraines national bank had to give the institution a $5.5 billion bailout to stave off economic crisis for the whole country.
Kolomoisky, one of Ukraines richest men, has ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and he played a role in the events that led to President Trumps impeachment last year. He made a fortune in the rough-and-tumble capitalism that swept Ukraine after the Soviet Unions collapse, amassing assets including airlines and financial institutions, and created a larger-than-life image for himself, going by the nickname Benya, and keeping a shark aquarium in his office.
Kolomoisky and Boholiubov were the two major owners of PrivatBank before it was nationalized in response to the fraud, the Justice Department said, and the men basically used it as a personal account to build a business empire in the United States. They requested money from PrivatBank which they always received because they were owners then moved the funds through a network of companies to thoroughly disguise their nature, source, ownership, and control, the Justice Department alleged.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-department-accuses-ukrainian-oligarch-of-stealing-billions-from-bank-he-once-owned-and-laundering-it-in-the-us/2020/08/06/b88924b8-d7f4-11ea-aff6-220dd3a14741_story.html
Chainfire
(17,308 posts)McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)in order to indict Biden in October, deny him bail as a "flight risk" throw him into jail with a COVID pos cellmate---and Trump will still lose the election.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)I try not to be conspiracy-minded, but the article ...
After the meeting, the two Florida-based business executives accused Kolomoisky of physically threatening them and filed a lawsuit against him in Ukraine. Parnas and Fruman, who assisted Giuliani in his Ukraine project, were charged in the United States with campaign finance violations last year. They have denied any wrongdoing.
Giuliani has said he provided legal advice to Parnas and Fruman in their fight against Kolomoisky. He also tweeted repeatedly about his displeasure with Kolomoisky in May 2019 just as he was pressuring Zelensky to assist Trump with a Biden investigation. At one point, Giuliani complained that Zelensky was being advised by Kolomoiskys representatives and enemies of President Trump.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Kolomoisky has told The Post that during the Tel Aviv meeting, Parnas and Fruman claimed that they could get top U.S. officials, including Vice President Pence and then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to travel to Ukraine around the time of Zelenskys May 2019 inauguration if Kolomoisky paid them several hundred thousand dollars. Kolomoisky did not pay the money, instead throwing the two men out of his office, his lawyer has said.
The attorney, Bruce Marks, told The Post that Kolomoisky had predicted to friends at the time: This is going to end up in a bad scandal.
Paul Sonne and Julie Tate in Washington and David Stern in Kyiv contributed to this report.
machI
(1,285 posts)It would be in the interests of foreign governments to own a little bit of Trump before he took office.