The High Court of England and Wales has ordered former PrivatBank owners Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov to pay more than $3 billion in damages, interest, and legal costs to Ukraine’s state-owned PrivatBank.
The judgment follows the court’s July 2025 ruling finding the oligarchs guilty of fraud against the bank, concluding an eight-year legal battle over one of the biggest frauds in Ukraine’s banking history.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
The ruling confirms that Ukraine lawfully nationalized PrivatBank in 2016 after investigators uncovered a $5.5 billion embezzlement that left the bank’s capital deeply negative.
The total award includes $1.76 billion in losses, $1.19 billion in interest, and a £76.4 million ($100.8 million) advance payment toward PrivatBank’s legal expenses, according to PrivatBank’s press release received from the bank’s press service.
The court dismissed both defendants’ requests to appeal and to suspend enforcement of the ruling, meaning all payments must be made by Nov. 24, 2025.
If the defendants fail to pay by that date, interest will continue to accrue, and PrivatBank said it will immediately begin recovery proceedings against their assets, which remain frozen worldwide under an order issued in December 2017.
Russia’s Small Businesses Pay the Price of Spiraling Ukraine War
Judge William Trauer ruled that the two former owners must cover PrivatBank’s legal costs on a “full indemnity basis” – a higher compensation level applied in cases where the losing party’s conduct warrants it.
In his written decision, the judge said: “The defendants’ positions were inherently implausible and built on deliberate lies,” adding that Boholiubov’s attempt to distance himself from the fraudulent actions “was deeply misleading and dishonest.”
The court concluded that both Kolomoisky and Boholiubov presented “a case designed to mislead the court.”
PrivatBank welcomed the ruling, calling it a confirmation of its years-long legal battle to hold its former owners accountable.
“This judgment validates our decision to pursue justice despite the challenges,” the bank said in a statement.
The case stems from PrivatBank’s 2016 nationalization when the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) had launched a sweeping sector cleanup known as the “bankopad,” closing dozens of insolvent lenders, no matter the size of influence.
PrivatBank is and was at that time Ukraine’s largest lender by clients and assets. Shutting down PrivatBank – the country’s largest retail lender with 19 million clients – risked sparking financial panic and the collapse of Ukraine’s banking system.
Instead, the state injected Hr. 155 billion ($5.9 billion at 2016 rates) to stabilize the system, preserve deposits, and make the bank state-owned.
The bank serves over 18 million active clients and operates 1,186 branches, 6,850 ATMs, and more than 308,000 POS terminals across the country. It employs over 19,000 staff, according to the bank’s data.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
