Tymur Mindich fled Ukraine for Israel as authorities closed in on him.
KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Tymur Mindich, his former business partner, according to a decree published Thursday.
Mindich was implicated in a $100 million corruption scandal in Ukraine’s battered energy sector, where prosecutors alleged this week he masterminded a scheme manipulating contracts at Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company to extract kickbacks worth 10-15 percent of contract values.
Mindich — co-owner of production company Kvartal 95 Studio, which Zelenskyy co-founded — fled Ukraine to Israel the day before the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) launched raids.
He was later charged with managing a criminal organization that laundered millions of dollars of state funds through a secret office in Kyiv. Mindich could not be immediately reached for comment.
This article is being updated.