Ihor Kolomoisky, who is known for bankrolling Zelensky’s career in entertainment and has been dubbed one of Ukraine’s richest men, was arrested over the weekend for fraud. His detention comes off the heels of a country-wide crackdown on corruption, with Ukraine feeling pressure from the United States to account for the funds it has been receiving from allies during the war with Russia.
The oligarch has been wanted for fraud in the U.S. since 2021 and was placed under sanctions after it was discovered he was engaging in “ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes and institutions.”
In 2017, Kolomoisky fled Ukraine for Switzerland and Israel after the government, led by Metro O. Poroshenko at the time, seized his bank. He was subsequently accused of large-scale fraud. He returned to the country once his friend, Zelensky, took the presidency.
In 2020, Ukraine passed an anti-corruption bill, preventing insiders from transferring international aid through their banks. Kolomoisky, who was a potential target of this bill, publicly opposed it, but Zelensky noted that it was needed to “protect Ukraine’s economy.”
Kolomoisky’s house was reportedly raided by back in February. Jack Posobiec reported on this, contemplating, "Why is it that the current government of the United States, and I don't mean the Biden administration, I mean the Globalist American Empire (GAE)... What is the GAE up to? It seems in this case that Kolomoisky has fallen out of favor with the GAE, and the question is: What is the relationship between the GAE and Volodymyr Zelensky, because [Kolomoisky] was the big backer."
Posobiec highlighted the Ukrainian anti-corruption action center’s discovery that Kolomoisky had ties to Burisma, and was “the money behind” it. Burisma is the infamous company in which Hunter Biden sat on the board for half a decade, and which the House Oversight Committee bribed Biden while he was Obama's VP.
In regards to the arrest, a statement from Ukraine’s state security service declared that the oligarch laundered about $14 million abroad via his banks between 2013 and 2020.
On Saturday, Zelensky thanked Ukrainian police “for their determination to bring every case stalled for decades to a just conclusion,” seemingly pointing to Kolomoisky in his address.
It may appear to some that Zelensky is biting the hand that fed him, but growing concerns over funds from the U.S. being mishandled are forcing the Ukrainian president to keep up appearances. Kolomoisky’s arrest came right before Zelensky announced he was replacing his defense minister amid investigations of mishandling military contracts.
