In the Federal Court of Brooklyn in the United States charged a former Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach in violation of US sanctions, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering in the purchase of real estate. This is reported on US Department of Justice website. The agency calls him a “Kremlin agent”.
According to investigators, Derkach, together with an accomplice, organized a scheme to buy two “luxury condominiums” in Beverly Hills and hid his involvement in these transactions. The Wall Street Journal clarifiesthat the accomplice is Derkach’s wife. They were also assisted by an intermediary from the United States.
According to the indictment, in 2013 Derkach and his wife transferred almost $4 million from shell companies’ overseas accounts to an intermediary account. Thus, the suspects believed that the connection between the deputy and the real estate would not be found. It was assumed that Derchak and his wife would occupy one of the houses in Beverly Hills, and their children would live in the other.
After the introduction of US sanctions in 2020, Derchak continued to conduct financial transactions in the United States to service his real estate, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
“Ukrainska Pravda”, 07.12.2022, “Ex-deputy Derkach in the United States was accused of financial crimes, he faces up to 30 years behind bars”: Starting in 2013, Derkach and an accomplice developed a scheme to acquire and maintain two luxury condominiums in the Beverly Hills area, while hiding his involvement in transactions from American financial institutions, according to the indictment.
Derkach took advantage of the services of a corporate nominee, a multi-level shell company structure in California, and numerous US bank and brokerage accounts. Through them, he transferred approximately $3.92 million from foreign accounts in Latvia and Switzerland owned by companies registered in the British Virgin Islands to the nominal owner of the condominiums.
The money was then used to pay $3.2 million in cash to a legal entity set up by the nominal owner, with the rest deposited in a brokerage account opened in favor of Derkach and used to pay for the condominium’s expenses, such as taxes and utilities. In parallel with the investigation into Derkach’s actions, a civil forfeiture procedure was launched to seize condominiums and balances in U.S. brokerage and bank accounts that he controls. — Inset K.ru
Derkach faces up to 30 years in prison in the United States. He is at large, the US Department does not specify his place of residence.
“The behavior of this Kremlin agent, who was sanctioned for trying to harm our democracy, showed that he is ready and able to use our banking system to achieve his illegal goals,” prosecutor Breon Peace said. Michael Driscoll, assistant director of the FBI in New York, noted that Derkach, while “participating in a Russian-engineered disinformation campaign,” simultaneously “colluded to fraudulently benefit from the Western way of life for himself and his family in the United States.”
Sanctions
Andriy Derkach is a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of several convocations, a former member of the Party of Regions, which was headed by the ex-president of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich.
In September 2020 USA imposed sanctions against Derkach. The US Treasury noted that Derkach and “other Russian agents” use “manipulation and deception to influence elections in the US and other countries of the world.” The agency claimed that Derkach had been an “active Russian agent” for many years and maintained close ties with Russian intelligence services. According to the American authorities, he was involved in attempts to interfere in the US presidential election.
Derkach himself claimed that the United States was interfering in Ukrainian politics and was engaged in “external control” of Ukraine under the presidency of Peter Poroshenko.
In May 2020 Derkach published audio recordings , which he claims were made in 2015 and 2016. They hear three voices. Derkach said that these are the voices of Poroshenko, Joe Biden (then Vice President of the United States) and John Kerry (then US Secretary of State). According to him, Poroshenko himself allegedly made the recordings, and then they ended up at the disposal of some investigative journalists.
On one of the recordings, Kerry and Biden demand that Poroshenko replace the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokina, which “blocked the reform of the cleansing of the Prosecutor General’s Office.” “Biden” in another conversation connects the need for the resignation of the Prosecutor General with the provision of loans to Ukraine. On another recording, “Poroshenko” asks the opinion of “Biden” about whether he is suitable for the post of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.
Petro Poroshenko called the published records a fake and a special operation of the Kremlin.
Later, Derkach published a recording of the conversations of people whose voices are similar to the voices of Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He claimed that the recording was made on April 30, 2015, two months after the end of the battles for Debaltseve and the signing of the second Minsk agreements. “Poroshenko” tells “Putin” that the project of bringing peacekeepers into the Donbass “does not arouse enthusiasm” among Ukraine’s Western partners. During the negotiations, the “presidents” joke and laugh. “Thank you, Happy New Year. It used to be called the International Workers’ Day, I don’t know, did they change that name in Russia?” “Hell knows,” replies the man who is presented as Putin. At the end of the conversation, he says: “Hug”.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov spokethat does not know which publication it is. He noted that the presidents’ conversations are held behind closed doors, so “I don’t know how they could make a record there.”
Prosecution in Ukraine
In October 2022, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine arrested Derkach in absentia on suspicion of treason and illegal enrichment. He has been put on the international wanted list.
According to investigators, in the period from 2019 to 2022, Derkach received at least 567 thousand dollars from law enforcement and intelligence agencies of Russia for subversive activities against Ukraine. He allegedly had to discredit Ukraine in the international arena, worsen its diplomatic relations with the United States and interfere with Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and NATO. On these charges, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
The court argued that the people’s deputy was hiding from the investigation.