U.S. Department of Justice accuses Kolomoisky of laundering funds from PrivatBank

The U.S. Department of Justice seeks the forfeiture of two commercial properties purchased with funds misappropriated from PrivatBank in Ukraine, according to a press release posted on the agency's website.

It notes that the United States filed two civil forfeiture complaints on August 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging that commercial real estate in Louisville, Kentucky, and Dallas, Texas, both acquired using funds misappropriated from PrivatBank in Ukraine, are subject to forfeiture based on violations of federal money laundering statutes.

"The complaints allege that Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Boholiubov, who owned PrivatBank, one of the largest banks in Ukraine, embezzled and defrauded the bank of billions of dollars.  The two obtained fraudulent loans and lines of credit from approximately 2008 through 2016, when the scheme was uncovered, and the bank was nationalized by the National Bank of Ukraine," the statement reads.

In addition, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the complaints allege that Kolomoisky and Boholiubov laundered a portion of the criminal proceeds using an array of shell companies' bank accounts, primarily at PrivatBank's Cyprus branch, before they transferred the funds to the United States.

"A complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," the statement reads.

On August 4, the FBI raided the Cleveland offices of a company with ties to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky that owns several downtown buildings.