BIG-TIME BILKER?

Ukrainian Billionaire Involved in Trump’s Impeachment Is Accused of Laundering Millions

Ukraine’s president once starred in a show on a TV channel owned by the billionaire.

A Ukrainian billionaire is under investigation by a U.S. grand jury for allegedly laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through U.S. real estate, BuzzFeed News reports. Ukrainian and U.S. regulators have accused Igor Kolomoisky, one of the wealthiest citizens in the country and a minor player in President Donald Trump’s impeachment drama, of using money from Ukraine’s central bank to buy a luxury hotel and a 21-story office tower in Cleveland, among other properties. If Kolomoisky were to face charges, the absence of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Ukraine would present a quandary for President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian who once starred in a show on a TV channel owned by Kolomoisky. The country’s government previously nationalized a bank Kolomoisky owned and found in its accounting ledgers “a large-scale and coordinated fraud.” He has since filed suit to retake control of the bank.