United States Files Civil Forfeiture Complaint for Proceeds of Alleged Fraud and Theft from PrivatBank in Ukraine
The United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint today
in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging that
more than $6 million in proceeds from the sale of commercial real estate in
Dallas, Texas, which property was maintained and improved using the proceeds of
embezzlement and fraud from PrivatBank in Ukraine, are subject to forfeiture
based on violations of federal money laundering statutes.
This civil forfeiture action is the fourth such action filed
in connection with the same alleged criminal activity. In August 2020, the
United States filed two actions in the Southern District of Florida alleging
that commercial real estate in Dallas and Louisville, Kentucky, was acquired
using funds illegally obtained from PrivatBank in Ukraine as part of a
multibillion-dollar fraudulent loan scheme. It filed a third suit in the same
district in December 2020 alleging a property in Cleveland, Ohio, was similarly
involved.
The four 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 allegedly
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 complaints allege that they 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.
As alleged in the complaints, Mordechai Korf and Uriel
Laber, who were associates of Kolomoisky and Boholiubov operating out of
offices in Miami, created a web of entities, usually under some variation of
the name “Optima,” to further launder the misappropriated funds. They purchased
hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate and businesses across the
country, including commercial towers located at 8787 North Stemmons Freeway in
Dallas (Stemmons Towers), which are the subject of this action, as well as the
office tower known as 55 Public Square in Cleveland, a Louisville office tower
known as PNC Plaza, and a Dallas office park known as the former CompuCom
Headquarters.
The newest action alleges that several of the Optima
entities, including Optima Ventures LLC, Optima 7171 LLC and Optima Stemmons
LLC, used profits from the CompuCom Campus, which had originally been purchased
using embezzled funds from PrivatBank, to pay for the improvement and
maintenance of Stemmons Towers. Optima Stemmons then sold Stemmons Towers in
2019 using a seller financing agreement, under which more than $6 million in
principal and interest is still owed to a specially-created entity owned by
Optima Ventures named 87STE LLC. The United States seeks to forfeit the
promissory note and deed of trust related to that financing agreement, which
includes the right to receive payments due pursuant to the deed and its
associated sales contract.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Eric B.
Smith of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office made the announcement.
FBI’s Cleveland Field Office is investigating the case with
support from FBI’s International Corruption Unit and IRS Criminal
Investigation.
Trial Attorneys Shai D. Bronshtein and Rachel Goldstein of
the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative in the Criminal Division’s Money
Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are handling these cases. The Justice
Department’s Office of International Affairs has provided substantial
assistance in the investigation.
The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team
of dedicated prosecutors in the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, in
partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, and often with U.S.
Attorneys’ Offices, who work to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official
corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered assets to benefit the
people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office. In 2015, the FBI
formed International Corruption Squads across the country to address national
and international implications of foreign corruption. Individuals with information
about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through
the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to
kleptocracy@usdoj.gov or https://tips.fbi.gov/.
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