Zelenskyy associate accused in $100 million Ukraine embezzlement scheme

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A former aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been accused of being the mastermind behind a $100 million embezzlement scheme.

Timur Mindych, once Zelensky’s business partner, was identified by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs as the mastermind of a scheme involving top officials and Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company. Before the scandal, some feared Mindich’s growing influence over Ukraine’s lucrative industries, to which he had access due to his ties to Zelensky.

Mindich reportedly exerted control over loyalists, who then put pressure on contractors for Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company, and demanded bribes to clear bureaucratic hurdles. The bribe requested was reportedly up to 15%.

Despite his history with Mindich, Zelensky was not included in the investigation. The Ukrainian president also issued sanctions against his former business partner following the anti-corruption findings.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a briefing at the President’s Office after a staff meeting in Kiev, Ukraine on November 7, 2025. (Pavlo Bahamut/Ukrainform/Nurfoto via Getty Images)

On November 11, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said that a group of individuals including Mindich “established a major corruption scheme to take control of key state-owned enterprises,” including the country’s state-owned nuclear agency, the Kyiv Independent reported. The Ukrainian news outlet said sources confirmed that law enforcement had searched properties linked to Mindich on November 10, but he got wind of it and fled.

Mindich is still at large, with Politico reporting that he fled to Israel as the scheme unraveled and law enforcement focused on him.

According to the Kyiv Independent, Zelensky said in an evening address, “There is a great need for any effective action against corruption. The inevitability of punishment is essential.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a coalition meeting in London, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Chris J. Ratcliff/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The Kyiv Independent, citing the agency, reported that NABU’s 15-month investigation reportedly included 1,000 hours of wiretapping and resulted in 70 raids.

“What we were only hearing as rumors now has some evidence,” Tetiana Shevchuk, an activist with Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, told The Associated Press. “For a long time we have been hearing that Timur Mindich is the shadow controller of the energy sector.”

In addition to Mindrich, Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who was energy minister from 2021 to 2025, was also raided, according to the Kyiv Independent, citing sources.

Flamingo missiles seen at Fire Point’s secret factory in Ukraine on August 18, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky, File/AP Photo)

Mindich was a co-owner of Zelensky’s production company Kvartal 95, which Shevchuk believes inspired him towards politics. The activist told the AP that Mindich “would never have been in politics, never been in a position of power or business without ties to Zelensky, and this is orders of magnitude worse because it’s happening during wartime, and it’s related to energy infrastructure at a time when Ukrainians don’t have electricity in their homes.”

This is not the only NABU investigation focused on Mindich. The anti-corruption agency is reportedly working on a probe into a former Zelensky aide’s dealings with Ukraine’s top drone maker, Fire Point. However, NABU has not yet released its findings in that investigation.