Hogan Lovells scores $2bn fraud win for Ukraine's largest bank against ex-owners

Hogan Lovells has secured a major High Court victory for Ukraine’s largest lender, PrivatBank, in its long-running civil fraud claim against former owners Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov over the misappropriation of nearly $2 billion.

In a judgment handed down on 30 July, the judge ruled the two men were jointly and severally liable for around $1.9 billion, less any sums the bank may already have recovered, after finding they used sham loans and supply agreements in 2013 and 2014 to siphon money out of the bank for their own benefit.

PrivatBank has pursued the pair through the English courts since 2017, after it was nationalised by the Ukrainian government. The exact amount payable, including more than a decade’s worth of interest and costs, will be set later this year and is expected to exceed $2 billion.

Advising

The Hogan Lovells team advising PrivatBank included London litigation partners Richard Lewis, Rebecca Wales, Oli Humphrey and Jenna Ralfe.

What they said

Lewis, who led the case, said: "We are delighted that the court saw through the defendants’ attempts to justify their conduct and granted the Bank’s claims in full over the course of an extremely thorough and detailed judgment, which found that they put forward dishonest evidence, deliberately destroyed and suppressed documents and sought unsuccessfully to shift the blame onto others."

Wales added: "The judgment reinforces the ability of English courts to hold powerful individuals to account, even in cases involving complex international structures… We hope it will serve as a clear deterrent to those who believe such fraud can go unchecked."

The win adds to Hogan Lovells’ Ukraine-related mandates this year, which include advising the government on its landmark minerals agreement with the US aimed at unlocking billions in post-war investment.