London Judge Rules: Ukrainian Tycoons Stole $2 Billion from PrivatBank

A U.K. High Court ruled that former owners of Ukraine’s PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, orchestrated a complex loan recycling scheme to embezzle nearly $2 billion before the bank’s 2016 nationalization, dismissing their defenses and citing destruction of records; with interest and costs, liabilities are expected to exceed $2 billion. Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities are pursuing related charges, and PrivatBank—having secured a worldwide asset freeze in 2017—plans to recover the stolen funds.