Terminal owners in Odesa port suspected of $20 million fraud
23.06.2025 - 17:23
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported the exposure of a scheme to embezzle $20 million from an American investor.
This became known from a publication by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
It is noted that suspicion was placed on two beneficial owners of non-resident companies and the CEO of a Ukrainian company. They are charged with fraud and official forgery.
According to the investigation, the owners of a group of companies engaged in grain transshipment from the terminals of the Odesa port signed a loan agreement with an American investor for $20 million. The collateral was determined to be the products allegedly available on the territory of the port, and the final settlement date was December 2021.
“The accomplices organized the forgery of official documents on the availability of collateral, as well as its quantity, type, class, and harvest year. In this way, they gave the representatives of the American company the impression of proper security for the fulfillment of obligations, thereby misleading them,” the Prosecutor General’s Office noted.
When the loan repayment period expired (in May-August 2022), the suspects “simulated the destruction of the pledged agricultural products due to their spoilage.” The prosecutor’s office noted that for the sake of truthfulness, the suspects transferred the company’s funds “for the alleged utilization of grain, but in fact it was not carried out.”
According to the results of searches and examinations, “the absence of grain products that were transferred by the pledgor as security for the fulfillment of obligations under the loan agreement” was established. One of the organizers of the scheme was given a preventive measure in the form of detention with a set bail of UAH 557 million. Two more, who are citizens of foreign countries, were put on the wanted list.
Earlier, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office tried to sabotage the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk’s yacht Royal Romance.
