In August 2023, journalists published an investigation in which they noted that Yuriy Buglak, a member of the Central Election Commission, had left Ukraine 12 days before the full-scale invasion and had not returned since. According to journalists, he is with his family in Florida, USA, near Miami. It turned out that during 2022, Buglak received significant financial payments, including a salary and material assistance from the state budget "for solving social and household issues", in the amount of more than one and a half million hryvnias. According to the investigation, he took maternity leave in the spring of 2023, keeping his position.
The next day after the publication of the investigation, Buglak submitted his resignation, but it was not considered for long in the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada. As a result, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a decision to dismiss Buglak from the position of a member of the Central Committee. 300 deputies supported the vote. Iryna Gerashchenko, Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Vitaly Bezgin confirmed this decision.
At the end of 2023, the president of Ukraine submitted a petition to the parliament with the aim of dismissing Yuriy Buglak from his post. This submission was made on the basis of a statement from Buglak himself. In December of the same year, he was supported by the specialized committee on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning. After that, the head of this committee, Oksana Shulyak, registered a project to dismiss a member of the Central Committee.
Despite two repeated invitations by the head of the Central Election Commission, Oleg Didenko, to the committee's meeting to provide explanations, the meetings with his participation never took place. People's deputy Vitaly Bezgin explained that the reason for this was "the absence of a quorum of deputies."
Immediately after the publication of the investigation in August 2022, the "European Solidarity" faction announced that it would support the Verkhovna Rada's resolution on Buglak's release.
In the mentioned material, it was stated that Yuriy Buglak is a member of the "Miami Flea Market" group in the Telegram messenger, while his wife joined the "We live in Miami, we speak Russian" group. She shared images from the town of Hollywood, located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the suburbs of Miami. 
In his commentary for the "Schemes" project, Buglak noted that he had "personal circumstances" and, in his opinion, did not violate Ukrainian laws, since he left before the invasion, and when the events began, the CEC switched to remote work.
On February 3, two days after Buglak's departure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on all representatives of the state to return to Ukraine within 24 hours. However, according to the CEC member, this did not apply to him.
Yuriy Buglak, who has been a member of the Central Election Commission (CEC) since 2019, has versatile experience in various fields. He is the former chief legal adviser of the confectionery corporation "Roshen" and a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the "Block of Petro Poroshenko" party.
In his declaration, which he submitted at the beginning of 2024, Buglak stated that he has been renting an apartment in the United States of America since February 14, 2022.
As of 2023, Buglak owned a significant property portfolio in Ukraine. Near Kyiv, he had 4 plots of land with a total area of almost 50 acres. He also owns two houses - one in Vyshgorod with an area of 390 square meters, the other in the village of Khotyanivka, Vyshgorod District, with an area of 85 square meters. In addition, he owns two apartments - one located in the center of Kyiv, the other in Podil. His wife also has two apartments in the capital. These data are recorded in the State Register of Real Property Rights.
