The Bureau of Economic Security has opened criminal proceedings regarding alleged money laundering by oligarch Konstantin Zhevago during the purchase of a hotel complex in Kyiv at 11 Mazepa Street. The transaction amount is 292 million hryvnias.
The case was opened under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - legalization (laundering) of funds obtained by criminal means, in an especially large amount.
The investigation began with a request from the State Financial Monitoring Service after PrivatBank reported a suspicious transaction — UAH 292 million from Tikvel Company LLC to the account of a private contractor with the note: "funds for the purchase of SETAM.".
The bank suspected that the operation could be an attempt to circumvent the sanctions that the National Security and Defense Council imposed on Konstantin Zhevago on February 12, 2025. It was about suspicion of maintaining control over the object, which was purchased back in 2017 by a company related to him - LLC "3V Realty" - at the auction of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
After 3V Realty went bankrupt in 2021, SETAM put the hotel building up for auction again. Fintakt Financial Company, which is also linked to Zhevago, lost the auction but appealed the result until it won due to the withdrawal of another bidder.
Despite this, in 2023, Fintakt never bought the building, and in the meantime, in the case of embezzlement of the property of the Finance and Credit bank, assets related to Zhevago were seized, including the building itself and the authorized capital of Fintakt.
In February 2025, after sanctions, SETAM recognized the new winner of the auction as LLC "Tikvel Company", registered in 2021 - just a week before the auction. Until March 26, 2025, the company was owned by Leonid Hlynyany, a deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council from the "EU", who is linked to Zhevago through the Bila Tserkva CHPP.
After the change of ownership, Yaroslav Verbovsky became the beneficiary. According to the Pivdenny Bank, the transaction was financed by:
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UAH 111 million from ZNKIF "Kaskad-Invest";
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UAH 184 million in the form of repayable financial assistance from Verbovsky.
However, an analysis of Verbovsky's cash transactions revealed a sharp excess of cash transactions over his declared income. In 2020–2025 alone, he withdrew over UAH 130 million, the sources of which have not been confirmed.
The court has already seized UAH 292 million intended for the deal. Investigators believe that Zhevago could have used controlled structures to formally keep the asset in his sphere of influence, despite the NSDC sanctions.
The purpose of the operation was to legalize assets of unknown origin through the artificial participation of related companies in the bidding, according to BEB. Thus, under the guise of an open auction, there was an attempt to leave elite Kyiv real estate under the control of the oligarch.
