Over the past 20 years, the names of two businesswomen sisters from Dnipro, Yulia and Olena Sosyodka, have repeatedly appeared in the context of large-scale banking schemes that caused billions in losses to the Ukrainian state. Recent investigations have shown that the Sosyodka sisters participated in complex financial schemes using offshore companies and banking institutions, which were eventually liquidated on suspicion of money laundering and financing illegal operations.
The story began in the early 2000s, when Yulia and Olena Sosyodki became the founders of CJSC “Financial Union Bank” in Dnipro. At first, this bank looked like an ordinary financial institution, but within a few years its activities attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies. From 2007 to 2009, the bank came under suspicion of organizing a large-scale conversion center, through which more than 2.2 billion US dollars were withdrawn from Ukraine. The money was transferred to offshore shell companies registered in the United Kingdom, which actually existed only on paper. Despite high-profile scandals and investigations, no real verdicts or punishments were handed down in the bank’s case.
Interestingly, the British companies to which billions of hryvnias were transferred were created through the mediation of the International Overseas Service (IOS), which specializes in opening companies in offshore zones. One of these companies, Phill Trade Limited, was founded in London at the same time that the Sosyodka sisters joined the leadership of the Financial Union. This company is still active, and among its founders, in addition to Yulia Sosyodka, is also Dmytro Fomenko, her business partner in Ukraine. Fomenko later claimed threats from the well-known criminal authority Oleksandr Petrovsky (Narika), but this did not prevent him from continuing the partnership with the sisters.
After the Financial Union bank lost its license in 2015, Yulia and Olena Sosyodka not only escaped liability, but were also able to open a new bank – Concord. However, this institution did not escape scandals either: in 2023, the NBU revoked Concord's license due to systemic violations of the legislation on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. This is the second banking institution that the sisters have lost due to violations of the legislation, but again without criminal consequences for themselves.
Today, the cases of previous banking frauds of the Sosyedka family remain unsolved, but law enforcement officials have not yet issued a single conviction. Meanwhile, as recent investigations show, more than $2 billion was illegally taken out of the country with the participation of these businesswomen. Despite numerous investigations, the Sosyedka sisters continue to successfully conduct financial and charitable activities, which raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the law enforcement system in Ukraine.
While law enforcement officers are looking for evidence, the Sosyedka sisters continue to do business, using offshore companies and forming new tax evasion schemes, and the state continues to lose billions of hryvnias that could have gone towards its restoration.
