The history of the G.Bar brand, which is associated with glamour, successful women and modern business, turned out to be not so impeccable. As journalists from the BlackBox OSINT project found out, the network's starting capital may have come from embezzled funds from the defense budget, and the business itself is built on tax schemes that allow avoiding VAT and real financial control.
The investigation focuses on G.Bar founders Sabina Musina and Lera Borodina, as well as Musina's ex-husband, former director of the state-owned enterprise Ukrinmash, Kostyantyn Cherednichenko. According to court documents, it was he who in 2015 withdrew more than $1.9 million through a fictitious British company, Fuerteventura Inter LP, which was supposed to be used to purchase ammunition. In reality, the money returned to Ukraine under the guise of loans and could have become the basis for the creation of the first G.Bar salon in Kyiv.
The founders' official income at the time did not allow them to open a business with expenses exceeding $160,000. In 2024, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court found Cherednichenko guilty of embezzlement of public funds and sentenced him to 8 years in prison, but he managed to flee Ukraine before the sentence came into effect.
Journalists have established that Sabina Musina currently lives in an apartment worth about $350,000, purchased by Cherednichenko in 2016 — probably also with illegally obtained funds.
But financial ties to a former official are not the brand's only problem. Experts have uncovered a large-scale tax evasion scheme: the G.Bar chain does not have a single legal entity, and the salons are registered under dozens of individual entrepreneurs, mostly female employees. This allows them to avoid paying VAT, while real profits remain in the shadows.
According to analysts, this structure is deliberately built to minimize taxation and hide the amount of income. As a result, the state is shortchanging millions, and a business that positions itself as an example of female success is actually parasitic on the system.
This story is not only about corruption, but also about moral degradation. When money intended for the army becomes the foundation of private businesses, it turns into a crime not only economic, but also ethical. The impunity of such schemes creates a feeling in society that war is just a backdrop for enrichment, and not a joint struggle for the future.
