The Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld the decision of the High Court to recover more than $3 billion for PrivatBank from its former owners — Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov. Hearings took place from May 12-14, 2026 — one day less than planned. The appellate panel heard arguments from both sides and announced that the decision would be sent to the parties under embargo — and has now been made public.
Background: the scheme and the court
The case has been ongoing since December 2017, when the already-nationalized PrivatBank filed a lawsuit in London court. The bank argued that between 2010-2014, Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov withdrew more than $1.9 billion from it through a network of shell companies. Judge William Trower, in his ruling of July 30, 2025, described the mechanism as "fraud of Byzantine complexity" — hundreds of loans to over fifty offshore structures that actually had no offices, no staff, and no real operations.
"The scheme operated through artificial and fictitious transactions that had no commercial purpose whatsoever — their real purpose was to withdraw funds abroad in the interests of the former owners of the bank."
— From the High Court of London ruling, July 30, 2025
The money passed through six offshore companies — three British and three from the British Virgin Islands. All six are also defendants in the case. New loans were issued to repay old ones — so the recycling scheme sustained itself for years.
What the court established personally about the defendants
Neither Kolomoisky nor Bogolyubov appeared to testify during the fourteen-week trial. The judge linked this directly: both "understood that personal testimony would have exposed them to questions about their role in the misappropriation of funds, to which they had no convincing answer."
- Kolomoisky, according to the court's conclusion, "considered himself above the law" and deliberately destroyed documents that could have been relevant to the proceedings.
- Bogolyubov used "misleading documents" to distance himself from the fraud and systematically destroyed relevant documentation.
- The denials of both were rejected by the court as "built on a dishonest foundation."
On November 10, 2025, the High Court calculated the amount: $1.762 billion in principal damages + $1.19 billion in interest + £76.4 million in court costs. According to an assessment by the law firm Essex Court, this is one of the largest rulings in the history of English courts. Applications for appeal and suspension of execution were rejected the same day. The deadline for voluntary payment was November 24, 2025. The money never arrived.
What is happening with the assets now
A worldwide asset freeze on Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov has been in effect since December 2017. PrivatBank has initiated enforcement proceedings and is conducting parallel proceedings in other jurisdictions — including Cyprus and Ukraine, where the defendants still have assets. According to PrivatBank, the ruling will be enforced "taking into account the national legislation of each country."
Kolomoisky has been in custody in Ukraine since 2023 — as part of separate criminal proceedings by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, where he is accused of embezzling over 9.2 billion hryvnias. Bogolyubov is abroad. According to Forbes Ukraine estimates, by the end of 2024, Kolomoisky's wealth had shrunk to $660 million, Bogolyubov's to $670 million — significantly less than the $3 billion debt.
The appellate decision leaves no procedural illusions: to appeal further, permission from the UK Supreme Court is needed — an institution that considers only a handful of cases. If such permission is not obtained, the only remaining open question is where and how quickly the bank will be able to actually seize the assets — in countries where they have not yet been hidden behind additional offshore structures.
