Wife of former business partner of Ukrainian President’s Office head borrowed Russian money to buy house in US

The wife of Artem Koliubaiev, a Ukrainian film producer and business partner of Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, borrowed money from a Russian firm to purchase a US$600,000 house in a Washington suburb, Ukrainian journalists have discovered.

Source: an investigation by Slidsvto.Info

Details: The investigative journalists discovered that in September 2023, Koliubaiev’s wife Kateryna bought a house on the outskirts of Washington for US$600,000.

Koliubaiev himself claimed that Kateryna paid for the house out of her own savings, loans, and money she received from the sale of other assets.

He says that between 2022 and 2024 his wife sold two cars, a Mercedes-Benz CLS 2015 and a Mercedes-Benz GLE 2016. She also sold two properties in the city of Kyiv and in Kyiv Oblast.

The journalists found that Kateryna had indeed sold two vehicles and apartments, but she only received US$350,000, which she paid towards the house in Washington.

Koliubaieva borrowed the remaining US$250,000 from a firm called A&D Mortgage. Slidstvo.Info has discovered that this Florida-based company has Russian management and ties to Russia.

Quote from Slidstvo-Info: "A&D Mortgage belongs to Max Slyusarchuk, who is also the head of the Russian American Chamber of South Florida.

There are lots of videos in Russian on this organisation’s YouTube channel. One of them was filmed at an event, From Russia with Business, which was held in June 2017 when the war with Ukraine was already ongoing. ‘Russian Americans’ are trying to figure out how to live in the US after the imposition of sanctions against Russia."

Details: Kateryna commented that the firm had been recommended to her by a broker, and the journalists’ findings about Russian ties "will be checked out and legally confirmed or denied".

Background:

• In October 2023 Bihus.Info found out that over the previous six months, Koliubaiev had expanded his construction business, become a co-owner of a drone manufacturing firm, and had UAH 20 million (approximately US$547,500) invested in his film production company.
• In November 2023 the journalists discovered that Koliubaiev’s company was granted permission to send UAH 37.5 million (about US$907,000) to Dubai on the pretext of meat procurement amid the full-scale war. The meat was never delivered to Ukraine.

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