By way of a judgment handed down today by the English High Court, the former owners of PrivatBank, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, are required to pay PrivatBank more than US$3 billion in damages and costs after the court had found in July this year that they had perpetrated a massive fraud against it (see: https://privatbank.ua/en/news/2025/7/30/privatbank-zdobuv-bezzaperechnu-peremogu-v-bagatomilyardnomu-angliyskomu-sudovomu-procesi-proti-kolomoyskogo-ta-bogolyubova).
The principal amount of the damages awarded to PrivatBank was assessed at US$1,761,957,792. The court also ordered Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov to pay interest of US$1,190,083,824 and to make a payment on account of PrivatBank’s costs of £76,400,000 (US$99,575,371).
Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov both asked the court for permission to appeal against the decision and for a stay of execution pending that appeal. Both of those requests were rejected by the court, such that the above sums are all payable by 24 November 2025, with further interest running on them if they remain unpaid beyond that date. To the extent that these sums are not paid voluntarily, PrivatBank will immediately commence the recovery stage of the process and seek to enforce the judgment against the former owners’ assets to obtain compensation for the Bank and, by extension, its shareholder, the Ukrainian Government. The former owners’ assets have been subject to a worldwide freezing order since December 2017.
The court ordered Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov to pay PrivatBank’s costs on the “indemnity” basis, which provides for a greater degree of recovery where the losing party’s conduct justifies such an order. In the course of doing so, Mr Justice Trower held that “..the Defendants’ cases were inherently incredible and built on deliberate lies”, and that Mr Bogoyubov’s attempt to distance himself from the fraud “was seriously misleading and dishonest”. Both Mr Kolomoisky and Mr Bogolyubov were found to have put forward “a case which sought to mislead the court”.
PrivatBank is delighted that the court has awarded it such a large sum, which vindicates its decision to pursue these proceedings against Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov over many years and in the face of significant challenges to ensure that they would be held liable for their fraudulent actions.
PrivatBank is the largest state-owned Bank of Ukraine. The Bank serves over 18 million active customers, while over 70% of Ukrainians use its services. The Bank is the leader in retail banking, introduces new and upgrades existing services for small and medium businesses, has created a strong digital ecosystem and a wide network of over 1,186 branches, 6,850 ATMs, nearly 10,400 self-service terminals and over 308,000 POS-terminals across the country. Over 19,000 employees make up the PrivatBank's team. PrivatBank works to drive Ukraine's economy, support the residents and the businesses despite the war.
