By AP and ToI Staff
Nov 15, 2025
Legal proceedings expected to take place in absentia against entertainment tycoon Timur Mindich, who is accused of masterminding $100-million embezzlement plot at state companies
KYIV, Ukraine — Before the revelation of a multi-million dollar embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company brought his name to the forefront, Timur Mindich was a shadowy presence — navigating deals and moving behind the scenes with unseen influence, known to many, yet rarely spoken of.
Mindich has reportedly fled to Israel amid a probe of his growing influence within the country’s lucrative industries, and fears that his access was facilitated by his ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two were once business partners, and Mindich’s influence had expanded since Zelensky was elected in 2019.
The full extent of Mindich’s influence was exposed this week when Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs released the findings of a 15-month investigation, accusing him of being the mastermind behind a $100 million embezzlement scheme involving top officials and Ukraine’s state nuclear power company.
Two top Ukrainian government ministers have resigned as a result of the probe, and criminal proceedings against Mindich are likely to be carried out in absentia.
Ukrainian officials, experts and activists contend Mindich’s rise to power is closely tied to his privileged relationship with the president and Zelensky’s inner circle.
“What we were hearing only as rumors now has some evidence,” said activist Tetiana Shevchuk, of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center. “For a long time, we have heard that Timur Mindich is a shadow controller of the energy sector.”
The entertainment tycoon
Mindich, 46, was born in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. A 2013 Dnipro Jewish Community birthday message to his mother Stella identified her as a member of the community’s board of trustees and an activist in its women’s movement. According to BBC Ukrainian, his father Mykhailo died in Israel in 2006.
The outlet also reported Mindich got married in Israel in 2010, in a four-day event near the Western Wall in Jerusalem with some 500 guests. His wife, Ekateryna Verber, is the daughter of Russian retail executive Alla Verber — one of the most powerful women in Russian fashion, who died in 2019.
Until Zelensky’s presidency, Mindich was just one among many wealthy Ukrainian entertainment industry entrepreneurs.
Mindich was a co-owner of Zelensky’s production company Kvartal 95, named for the comedy troupe that helped catapult the Ukrainian president to fame as a comedian before he entered politics. Zelensky transferred his stake in the company to his partners after he was elected.
Despite expanding his business portfolio since Zelensky’s election, Mindich maintained ties to the entertainment world. Until the corruption probe was exposed this week, he was a producer of the comedy show “Stadium Family” on YouTube. In light of the scandal and his tarnished reputation, the show’s owners shut it down this week.
He is also a relative of Leonid Mindich, who was arrested by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs in June when he was trying to flee the country, according to local reports; he was charged with embezzling $16 million from an electric power company.
Rise under Zelensky
Zelensky and Mindich’s close friendship is documented. The president used Mindich’s armored car during the final stretch of his presidential campaign in 2019. In January 2021, Zelensky celebrated his birthday in Mindich’s apartment during COVID. The two own apartments in the same building.
After Zelensky’s 2019 presidential win, Mindich’s political ties grew. He was a close business associate of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, who backed Zelensky’s presidential campaign. BBC Ukrainian said Mindlich repeatedly visited Kolomoysky’s office in Herzliya, in central Israel, in the lead-up to the 2019 Ukrainian election.
Continue reading at: timesofisrael.com/zelensky-associate-at-crux-of-ukrainian-corruption-case-said-to-have-fled-to-israel/
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