NABU charges Yermak with money laundering
Andriy Yermak (Photo: NABU / YouTube)
The National Anti‑Corruption Bureau of Ukraine
(NABU) and the Specialized Anti‑Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have charged former Presidential Office head Andriy
Yermak with money laundering, the agencies announced on May 11.
Yermak and other co-conspirators, the investigators said, are suspected of laundering UAH460 million ($10.5 million) through a Kyiv Oblast property development scheme.
NABU stated the criminal group legalized the illicit income through construction of the Dynasty luxury residential property in Kozyn. The agency said Yermak is considered one of the participants.
The bureau did not name the suspect in its statement, but the case details clearly point to Yermak.
According to NABU, between 2021 and 2025 members of the group laundered UAH460 million, which they used to build housing at the Dynasty site. Investigators say the funds came from a criminal organization led by a figure codenamed “Karlson,” including proceeds channeled through a laundering operation that accumulated money from various sources, among them alleged corruption schemes at state nuclear operator Energoatom.
NABU’s video about the investigation says the Dynasty project concept emerged after Oleksiy Chernyshov — nicknamed “Che Guevara” — became minister for community and territory development in 2020. The development was planned on land partly owned or leased by Bloom Development LLC, whose founder is Chernyshov’s wife.
The bureau says Chernyshov recruited “Karlson” (likely Timur Mindich) to the project in June 2020 and that another participant identified as “R2” — whom investigators say is likely Yermak — joined around the same time.
NABU says construction financing used two main channels. In the first, people controlled by Chernyshov created a housing cooperative, Sunny Shore, to act as the formal client. Founders deposited money into the cooperative’s accounts, and those funds were partly used for construction. Investigators say controlled persons received payments for alleged services from companies showing signs of being fictitious and from entities in the pharmaceutical sector. NABU estimates roughly 10 percent of the project’s funding came through these quasi‑legitimate channels.
The second channel, NABU said, involved illegally obtained cash. Some cash was handed to construction workers through Chernyshov’s personal assistant at another Kyiv office, with work coordinated and controlled by Chernyshov. Other cash was received by a person in Karlson’s circle from an associate of “Karlson,” the bureau said.
NABU said disputes arose among project participants over finances and construction progress. Despite Russia’s full‑scale invasion, construction continued and Chernyshov reportedly demanded multi‑shift workdays from early morning into late evening. NABU said “R2” also controlled construction processes and corresponded with the project’s designer, who sent room visualizations.
Detectives said the project was frozen in July 2025 after “Karlson”
decided to halt work after Chernyshov was charged with corruption. In recorded
conversations published by NABU, a project representative said the first and
fourth houses were nearly finished while “Andriy only has facades and the
interiors are plain,” according to the bureau.
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