On November 12, the HACC imposed an interim measure on Lesia Ustymenko, suspected in the “Mindich tapes” case, in the form of detention with the option of posting UAH 25 million bail.
If bail is posted, the suspect must comply with several obligations, including wearing an electronic bracelet.
The prosecutor requested detention without bail, or alternatively that bail be set at over UAH 30 million.
The defense asked the court to fully reject the prosecutor’s motion.
According to the investigation, Ustymenko, acting as an accomplice and operative within the criminal organization’s “back office,” coordinated the activities of certain members. In particular, financial and cryptocurrency operations — prepared reports on money laundering, and kept electronic records under the cover name “Manhattan.” This file contained the organization’s complete record of financial operations.
To maintain secrecy, participants referred to US dollars as “blue ones” or “beautiful ones” (new-design $100 bills) and “ugly ones” (old-design bills). However, the defense argued that such terms are colloquial, not evidence of conspiracy.
The laundering scheme consisted of two episodes: one related to the transfer of money to Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, and the other to Ihor Myroniuk, who transferred funds through Tsukerman to the organization’s office — directly to Ustymenko and Fursenko, who counted the money and added it to the total sum.
Ustymenko is charged under Article 255(2), Article 27(2), Article 28(4), and Article 209(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The “back office” was responsible for laundering illegally obtained funds from various sectors of Ukraine’s economy, earning 0.2% to 8% of the laundered amounts.
To legalize the proceeds, “back office” members transported cash from collection points to the office, mixed and disguised it, and subsequently transferred the funds to accounts of domestic and foreign companies or individuals and legal entities. The transformation and transfer of funds were carried out through currency exchanges and cryptocurrency transactions.
The criminal origin of these funds is confirmed by the absence of legal sources and their subsequent transfer by Myroniuk for use by other members of the criminal organization.