The Curious Case of Ihor Kolomoisky

Volodomyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian government have labeled the former comedian's longtime patron as enemy number one.

Ihor Kolomoisky should be a household name for observers of the current conflict between NATO powers and Russia.

He is one of the most consequential figures in Ukraine. Yet somehow, there is very little corporate media interest in covering his story, and especially, the seeming gross miscarriage of justice in the Kyiv government’s relentless pursuit against his individual rights.

Once the most powerful man in Ukraine, Mr Kolomoisky, who is now indefinitely relegated to a jail cell, knows where all of the bodies are buried, both figuratively and literally, and powerful forces seem to have conspired to silence him indefinitely.

So who is Ihor Kolomoisky, anyway?

Born in Dnipro, Ukraine (while it was part of the Soviet Union), Mr Kolomoisky capitalized on the opportunities in the “import-export business” that surfaced with the collapse of the USSR to later become both arguably the wealthiest and the most influential man in Ukraine. He once owned Ukraine’s largest private bank, prior to its state nationalization. He also owned Ukraine’s most influential media company. He even owned Burisma when it employed Hunter Biden (more on this in a moment).

Undoubtedly a controversial figure, he once funded Ukrainian hardline militias. For some time, Kolomoisky effectively ran his own foreign policy in eastern Ukraine. When his posture was antagonistic to Russia, NATO powers took a hands-off approach to any potential malfeasance in the region.

Most notably, the billionaire oligarch was the sole patron for Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky, having financed his entire television, business, and political career. In 2019, Kolomoisky threw all of his political and financial power behind Zelensky, facilitating his rise to the presidency. Simply put, without the economic, political, and societal capital provided by Ihor Kolomoisky, you would have never heard of Volodomyr Zelensky.

Better days…

President Zelensky and his old benefactor are no longer aligned, to put it mildly. Zelensky has spent the last year continually siccing his internal security services (Ukraine’s SBU) on Mr Kolomoisky, charging his former boss with a series of “corruption” actions.

Corruption is not exactly something that is out of the ordinary in Ukraine, which is widely considered the most corrupt state in Europe. But the timing of it all leads to many journalistic avenues of inquiry that have simply not been pursued.

Kolomoisky’s attorneys have not been pleased by this fiasco, arguing that the government in Ukraine is grossly violating the basic principles of the laws of detention.

2023, Ukraine’s security services raid Kolomoisky’s home and imprison him

Over the past year, Kolomoisky has spent most of his time rotting in prison, as Ukrainian prosecutors levy unspecific charge after unspecific charge against the one-time Ukrainian business titan, and he has been unable to make his defense publicly while detained and awaiting trial.

It’s not entirely clear what happened that resulted in a massive shift in the way he’s been perceived by both Zelensky and his new entourage (which once considered Kolomoisky an aligned power broker), but there are some hints along the way that give some insight into what happened.

As mentioned above, Kolomoisky once funded militias that served as the tip of the spear against the Kremlin, but later argued that Kyiv should instead engage in a detente with Russia. Kolomoisky’s good standing with the West seemed to have shifted dramatically after this decision.

In 2019, coinciding with the end of Hunter Biden’s term at Burisma, reports surfaced that the FBI was investigating Mr Kolomoisky.

In 2020, he was indicted in the United States on charges of bank fraud. In 2021, the U.S. government banned Kolomoyskyi from entering the country, accusing him of engaging in corrupt practices.

In 2022, Zelensky said he stripped Kolomoisky of his Ukrainian citizenship, despite not having the constitutional power to do so, and Kolomisky having been born in Ukraine and having lived his entire life in Ukraine.

The assault on his properties and overall wellbeing has continued while in prison awaiting due process. In October 2023, Kolomisky was stripped of his media company. Notably, the Ukrainian government has banned all adversarial media outlets from the airwaves indefinitely, citing the war against Russia as a reason to silence opposition outfits.

And just last week, the Ukrainian government accused him of engaging in criminal activity that occurred in 2003.

No, that’s not a typo. Two thousand and three, some 21 years ago. Ukrainian authorities now claim that Mr Kolomoisky ordered a contract killing of a man who survived the supposed hit.

Volodomyr Zelensky has labeled his longtime patron as enemy number one. The man responsible for his rise to fame, fortune and the presidency remains in a state of indefinite detention. The question remains: why?