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Igor Kolomoisky was detained for two months on charges of fraud, with bail set at $13.5 million
Kolomoisky was brought to Kiev’s Shevchenko district court on Saturday, after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accused the billionaire of legalizing and transferring abroad more than 500 million Ukrainian hryvnia ($13.5 million) through the “infrastructure of banking institutions controlled by him.”
- The pretrial detention hearing was held behind closed doors, as requested by Kolomoisky, who reportedly did not want the media to share photos of him in the courtroom. Several Ukrainian media outlets still captured photos and videos from the proceeding.
- Kolomoisky burst onto the political scene in 2014, when he was appointed governor of the southeastern Dnepropetrovsk Region following a Western-backed coup in Kiev.
- He was dismissed a year later over a conflict with then-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.
Ihor Kolomoyskyi | |
|---|---|
Ігор Коломойський | |
 Kolomoyskyi in 2013 | |
| Born | 13 February 1963 |
| Nationality | Israel, Cyprus |
| Other names | Igor Kolomoisky |
| Alma mater | Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Academy[2] |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, politician |
| Known for | Co-owner of PrivatBank Owner of FC Dnipro[3] |
| Spouse | Irina Kolomoyskaya |
| Children | 2 |
| Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast | |
| In office 2 March 2014[2] – 24 March 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Dmytro Kolesnikov[4][5] |
| Succeeded by | Valentyn Reznichenko (acting)[6] |
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi (Ukrainian: Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, romanized: Ihor Valeriiovych Kolomoiskyi; Hebrew: איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli–Cypriot billionaire businessman, once considered the leading oligarch in Ukraine.
Already an entrepreneur in the last years of Soviet Ukraine, in 2010 Kolomoyskyi was rated as the second richest person in Ukraine, and as one of the country’s most influential oligarchs. In 1992, he had co-founded PrivatBank and its informal extension of companies, Privat Group, and he subsequently acquired extensive media holdings. Between 2014 and 2016, Kolomoyskyi served as Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast until his dismissal by President Petro Poroshenko. That year, his undercapitalised bank was declared a threat to Ukraine’s financial security and taken into state ownership. In 2019, Kolomoyskyi's media power and funding supported Volodymyr Zelenskyy's successful presidential campaign to unseat Poroshenko.
In 2020, he was indicted in the United States, on charges related to large-scale bank fraud. In 2021, the US banned Kolomoyskyi and his family from entering the country, accusing him of corruption and being a threat to the Ukrainian public's faith in democratic institutions. In July 2022, Zelenskyy stripped Kolomoyskyi of his Ukrainian citizenship. The reasons behind the move have been unclear, although Zelenskyy cited the ongoing US criminal investigation. In November 2022, some of Kolomoyski's assets, such as those of strategic value to the state in light of the Russian invasion, were nationalised. This included his ownership of Ukraine's largest gasoline companies.
Early life and education[edit]
Kolomoyskyi was born into a Jewish family in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Both parents had graduated in engineering. His mother worked at the university and father in a metallurgical plant. Already in his childhood he was considered to be very determined, diligent and serious, was enthusiastic about sports, and liked to play chess. Professionally, he followed the example of his parents. After graduating from the Gymnasium 21 in Dnipro with the Komsomol badge "For outstanding school performance", in 1980 he took up graduate studies in engineering at the Leonid Brezhnev Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute (now the National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine), graduating in 1985.[7]
As a Komsomol activist, Kolomoyskyi was involved in the so-called "disco movement"—an attempt by the authorities to promote an ideological safe alternative to the growing, underground, rebroadcast and performance of "Anglo-American" rock music including, in the 80s, heavy metal and punk.[7][8] Kolomoyskyi used his role in organising approved dance venues and concerts to begin his trading career, as did others in his position, several of whom would go on to play prominent roles in post-Soviet national politics, among them Yulia Tymoshenko, Victor Pinchuk, Serhiy Tihipko, and Oleksandr Turchynov.[9]
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