Former deputy PM among six new suspects in Ukraine's Operation Midas money laundering case

Investigators identified six new suspects, including:

• A former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine;
• A businessman identified as one of the leaders of the organization exposed in November 2025 during the special operation codenamed "Midas";
• Four additional suspects.

According to investigators, between 2021 and 2025 the suspects laundered more than 460 million hryvnias ($10.5 million) by financing the construction of a cottage village in Kozyn, Kyiv Oblast. The funds were partially sourced from corruption schemes carried out at state-owned energy company Energoatom.

The suspects were charged under Part 3 of Article 209 of Ukraine's Criminal Code — money laundering committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale.

Former head of the Ukrainian President's Office Andriy Yermak had previously been charged in the same case.

What is known about the case

The scheme traces back to 2018, when a figure referred to in case documents by the alias "Che Guevara" — identified by SAPO prosecutors as Oleksiy Chernyshov — joined the founding group of BLOOM Development LLC. In the summer of 2019, the company purchased more than 4 hectares of land from the Kozyn village council in Kyiv Oblast, which became the foundation for the future construction project.

In November 2019, Che Guevara was appointed head of the Kyiv Oblast State Administration. Because of his civil servant status, he transferred his share in the company's charter capital to his wife. In March 2020, he was appointed Minister of Community and Territorial Development. By May 2020, NABU says, "concepts for the construction of private residences at Dynastiya were taking shape" on land owned — and partly leased — by BLOOM Development, whose co-founder is his wife. Chernyshov assembled a project team from people under his control to carry out the development.

In June 2020, Chernyshov brought Tymur Mindich — known by the alias "Karlson" — into the project. Around the same time, Yermak, referred to in the case as "R2," was also brought in.

The development, a private compound called "Dynastiya," is located in the Kozyn village council area of Kyiv Oblast. NABU said the participants in the project themselves estimated the value of the Kozyn plots at between $4,000 and $20,000 per hundred square meters of land.

The residences were to be built on plots totaling more than 8 hectares, with a combined value potentially exceeding $6 million.

The plan called for four private residences — designated R1, R2, R3, and R4 — each approximately 1,000 square meters in size and valued at roughly $2 million apiece, as well as a shared estate called R0, featuring a spa, swimming pool, and gym.

Active construction began in June 2021. NABU said that at the outset, participants buried a commemorative capsule and had the site blessed by a priest — whose wife later became, in 2022, the nominal owner of an apartment provided as an illegal benefit to Chernyshov in his capacity as minister.

How the scheme was financed

According to NABU, construction was funded through two channels. The first — described as the "conditionally clean, cashless route" — involved a housing cooperative called "Soniachnyi Bereh" (Sunny Shore), controlled by Chernyshov's associates, which formally served as the project's client. Funds transferred to its accounts were used in part to finance construction. This legitimate-appearing channel accounted for roughly 10% of total construction funding.

The bulk of the financing came from criminally obtained funds. Investigators say cash for the project was delivered to workers through Chernyshov's personal assistant at a separate Kyiv office, while another portion was received by a member of Mindich's inner circle.

NABU also noted that construction did not stop even after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and fighting reached Kyiv Oblast. According to investigators, Chernyshov demanded that work continue as early as March 2022.

In July 2025, after Chernyshov was charged, Mindich decided to temporarily halt and mothball construction to avoid exposure, NABU said.

Following media coverage of the "Dynastiya" compound, the owners attempted to shield the land plots and unfinished structures from potential seizure — but the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACCU) granted NABU and SAPO's request and placed the land and five unfinished structures in Kozyn under arrest. Investigators and prosecutors also conducted an on-site inspection of the compound.

In November 2025, NABU and SAPO carried out searches at the residence of one of the "Dynastiya" project participants.