A high-profile investigation has exposed a large-scale tax evasion scheme organized by a group of companies associated with businessman Dmytro Gradoblyansky. According to the materials of the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the losses to the state budget exceeded 165 million hryvnias.
At the center of the scheme is Stolychna Yuvelirna Fabrika LLC (Kyiv) and two affiliated companies – Aveksto LLC (Dobropillya) and Avesens LLC (Kyiv). They acted in collusion with a number of individual entrepreneurs and systematically sold jewelry for cash outside of tax registration.
The scale of the fraud is impressive. In just one episode of imports from Italy, China, and Thailand, 383.6 kg of jewelry were imported into Ukraine, of which 335 kg was gold. The cost of this product was over UAH 106 million, but only UAH 43.75 million was officially declared. According to investigators, this understatement led to non-payment of VAT of UAH 96 million and income tax of UAH 69 million.
Avexto LLC did not file tax returns at all during 2023–2024, although the company's accounts received more than UAH 133 million under commission agreements. Avesens LLC acted similarly: in 2021–2024, the company did not declare income, although it received more than UAH 1 billion from entrepreneurs, covering the import of investment gold with fictitious transactions.
At the same time, "Stolichna Yuvelirna Fabrika" changed its legal owner - it is now registered to a resident of Chornomorsk and her company "Metoyl Company" LLC. The formal founders Dmytro Gradoblyansky and Yuriy Muzychenko left the companies, but, as the investigation found, they continue to control the assets through the Dobrogo charitable foundation.
This is a typical practice of evading responsibility: when, instead of liquidating companies, owners change, a “restructuring” is carried out, but actual management remains in the hands of the same individuals. In this case, it is Gradoblyansky and his business partners.
