In October 2021, Zelenskyy's financial dealings did appear in a series of documents leaked as part of the so-called "Pandora Papers."
The papers consist of nearly 12 million files that were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), sourced
from companies that "provide corporate services in offshore jurisdictions," according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP).
The trove of files made public in late 2021 revealed some of the secret financial dealings of world leaders and celebrities, including Zelenskyy.
The Guardian, which analyzed the files as part of a global investigation, reported in an Oct. 3., 2021, article that Zelenskyy had a previously undisclosed stake in an offshore company that he "appears to have secretly transferred to a friend weeks before winning the presidential vote."
According to the Guardian article, his other disclosed assets included cars, property and three of the co-owned offshore companies.
One, Film Heritage, which he held jointly with his wife, Olena, and another, Kvartal 95, registered in Belize.
Zelensky apparently failed to disclose that Film Heritage had a 25% stake in Davegra, a Cyprus holding company.
Davegra in turn owns Maltex Multicapital Corp, a previously unknown entity registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.
Zelenskiy, the Shefir brothers, and Yakovlev each held a 25% stake in Maltex.
Shortly before the Ukraine election in 2019, Zelenskyy quietly gifted his stake to his business partner and soon-to-be top presidential aide
Serhiy Shefir. The revelations were embarrassing for Zelensky as ran for presidency on an anti-corruption campaign.
That said, as of publishing, there is no evidence or indication to suggest that Zelensky owns a multi-million dollar property in Florida.
The Pandora papers show that at least some of the details in the scheme alleged by Poroshenko’s party correspond to reality.
They show that part of the Kvartal 95 network was managed with help from Fidelity Corporate Services, an offshore consultancy and
one of 14 firms whose documents make up the leak. The files show that Zelenskiy and his business partners used companies based in
the BVI, Belize and Cyprus.
The assets held via these offshore companies are wide-ranging. They include real estate in London. Shefir owns two top-end properties
– a three-bedroom apartment in an Edwardian mansion block in Regent’s Park bought in 2016 for £1.575m, and another three-bedroom
flat in nearby Baker Street, opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum, and purchased for £2.2m, according to Land Registry records.
Meanwhile, Yakovlev’s BVI company Candlewood Investments owns a luxury flat in a Victorian mansion block in Artillery Row, Westminster.
The properties were acquired around the time Zelenskiy’s show was turned into a feature film and recommissioned for a second series.
It is unclear if the three flats are let out or used on an occasional basis. A Russian company that bills itself as an “individual service for high
status clients” manages them.
Zelenskiy’s apparent business connections to Russia via Maltex are likely to prove controversial. Poroshenko faced criticism for owning a
chocolate factory in Russia at a time when Ukraine was fighting a war against Russian troops and their proxies following the Kremlin’s
annexation of Crimea in 2014. The conflict, in which 14,000 people have died, continues in the east of the country and in the Moscow-backed
rebel territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia was previously a major market for Kvartal 95, with Russian TV screening its comedy shows.
The papers consist of nearly 12 million files that were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), sourced
from companies that "provide corporate services in offshore jurisdictions," according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP).
The trove of files made public in late 2021 revealed some of the secret financial dealings of world leaders and celebrities, including Zelenskyy.
The Guardian, which analyzed the files as part of a global investigation, reported in an Oct. 3., 2021, article that Zelenskyy had a previously undisclosed stake in an offshore company that he "appears to have secretly transferred to a friend weeks before winning the presidential vote."
According to the Guardian article, his other disclosed assets included cars, property and three of the co-owned offshore companies.
One, Film Heritage, which he held jointly with his wife, Olena, and another, Kvartal 95, registered in Belize.
Zelensky apparently failed to disclose that Film Heritage had a 25% stake in Davegra, a Cyprus holding company.
Davegra in turn owns Maltex Multicapital Corp, a previously unknown entity registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.
Zelenskiy, the Shefir brothers, and Yakovlev each held a 25% stake in Maltex.
Shortly before the Ukraine election in 2019, Zelenskyy quietly gifted his stake to his business partner and soon-to-be top presidential aide
Serhiy Shefir. The revelations were embarrassing for Zelensky as ran for presidency on an anti-corruption campaign.
That said, as of publishing, there is no evidence or indication to suggest that Zelensky owns a multi-million dollar property in Florida.
The Pandora papers show that at least some of the details in the scheme alleged by Poroshenko’s party correspond to reality.
They show that part of the Kvartal 95 network was managed with help from Fidelity Corporate Services, an offshore consultancy and
one of 14 firms whose documents make up the leak. The files show that Zelenskiy and his business partners used companies based in
the BVI, Belize and Cyprus.
The assets held via these offshore companies are wide-ranging. They include real estate in London. Shefir owns two top-end properties
– a three-bedroom apartment in an Edwardian mansion block in Regent’s Park bought in 2016 for £1.575m, and another three-bedroom
flat in nearby Baker Street, opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum, and purchased for £2.2m, according to Land Registry records.
Meanwhile, Yakovlev’s BVI company Candlewood Investments owns a luxury flat in a Victorian mansion block in Artillery Row, Westminster.
The properties were acquired around the time Zelenskiy’s show was turned into a feature film and recommissioned for a second series.
It is unclear if the three flats are let out or used on an occasional basis. A Russian company that bills itself as an “individual service for high
status clients” manages them.
Zelenskiy’s apparent business connections to Russia via Maltex are likely to prove controversial. Poroshenko faced criticism for owning a
chocolate factory in Russia at a time when Ukraine was fighting a war against Russian troops and their proxies following the Kremlin’s
annexation of Crimea in 2014. The conflict, in which 14,000 people have died, continues in the east of the country and in the Moscow-backed
rebel territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia was previously a major market for Kvartal 95, with Russian TV screening its comedy shows.
