A victory on paper? Can PrivatBank really collect $3 billion from Kolomoisky and Boholyubov?

After seven years of legal battles PrivatBank won a victory in the High Court of England – the court ruled that Ihor Kolomoiskyi and Gennadyy Boholyubov found them guilty of large-scale fraud and ordered them to pay over $3 billion.The former owners of the bank are now in an unfavorable position, as Kolomoisky is in custody in Ukraine, and Boholyubov, who is a British citizen, has practically disappeared from the public sphere. The deadline for payment is set for November 24th, after which interest will begin to accrue on the amount.Whether PrivatBank can actually recover the awarded funds, from which assets of the former owners they can be collected, and how long it will take – read in the article by Iryna Kolesnyk.PrivatBank believes it will get its billions back."PrivatBank is confident in its ability to enforce the court decision and recover the amounts awarded to it by the court, not least because the Bank has obtained an order for the worldwide seizure of the defendants' assets, which has been in effect since 2017," – said the PrivatBank press service in a comment. LIGA.net.The bank says it plans to recover the full amount awarded and will use all legally available tools to do so. However, PrivatBank is not disclosing the details of its strategy for enforcing the decision."The bank will consider and use all legal measures to fully recover the debt, but cannot comment on its strategy for enforcing the decision," PrivatBank added.It's almost impossible to collect 100%."It is extremely unlikely that the entire amount of over $3 billion will be recovered. A realistic-optimistic scenario is to receive 30% to 50% of the amount over five to ten years. That is, about one to one and a half billion in the best-case scenario," says Yakov Voronin, lawyer, founder and managing partner of "Yakov Voronin Law Firm".To understand the scale of the challenge, he advises recalling the example of BTA Bank from Kazakhstan, which sued its owner Mukhtar Ablyazov in the same High Court of London. The scheme is almost identical – a similar type of fraud, a similar court verdict, and hundreds of offshore companies.In 15 years, BTA has repaid about $1.4 billion out of the awarded $4.9 billion. And this is despite the active support of the Kazakh authorities, dozens of lawsuits in different countries, and world-class lawyers.Kolomoisky has been in custody since September 2023, and the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau) has seized shares in hundreds of legal entities, a thousand properties, and one and a half thousand vehicles. Despite this, there are nuances."The state has already nationalized the largest assets. In November 2022, they took shares in Ukrnafta and Ukrtansnafta. What remains are mostly assets with encumbrances, creditors, and complex objects for realization," Voronin explains.Another circumstance is Boholyubov's British citizenship; his exact whereabouts are unknown. Historically, he managed the financial flows, while Kolomoisky was the public figure.Regarding the timeframe, recognition of the London decision in Ukraine is technically possible, but the procedure will take some time. Voronin believes it's worth expecting a period longer than six months."The first partial repayments, under a positive scenario, are possible at the end of 2027 – beginning of 2028," he believes.PrivatBank can seek enforcement, using the High Court of England's decision as grounds for seizing and selling assets in any country where they are found, explains Dmytro Slobodyanyuk, lawyer and managing partner of the law firm Reliance.Currently, the main focus areas are the USA, Israel, and Cyprus. In Delaware, the bank is suing former owners, accusing them of money laundering and purchasing assets in the USA.A lawsuit has been filed in Israel to recover funds that, according to the bank, were withdrawn and deposited there, and in Cyprus, through which a significant portion of financial flows passed, PrivatBank is seeking to seize assets and collect through local courts."Overall, it is a complex and lengthy process that requires simultaneous work in many international judicial systems, but the success in London provides PrivatBank with a powerful tool for this," adds Slobodyanyuk.Will the assets of the former owners be sufficient?A complete list of the assets of the former owners of PrivatBank does not exist. According to a High Court of England decision of July 30, 2025, during court disclosure, Ihor Kolomoisky declared 36 Ukrainian assets worth approximately $1 billion, while Hennadiy Boholyubov declared 79 assets worth approximately $470 million.In total, there are 115 assets with a total value of about $1.47 billion, which is less than half of what was awarded by the court."These are the only figures so far that have been judicially verified and recorded in an official document," says Voronin.A second source for assessing the assets of the former owners is the lawsuits filed by the US Department of Justice. These involve four civil forfeiture cases concerning real estate: office buildings in Louisville, Dallas, and Cleveland, as well as the proceeds from their sale. The total estimated value of these assets is approximately $70 million, plus an additional $6 million in cash.Therefore, the publicly confirmed pool of assets amounts to approximately $1.54 billion, of which $1.47 billion is in Ukraine and $70 million is in the USA. With the court-awarded amount exceeding $3 billion, this is only half of what is needed.According to Voronin, PrivatBank may have other data regarding the financial status of the former owners, especially concerning Boholyubov."However, if the bank knew for sure about the whereabouts of another one and a half billion somewhere in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, we would have already seen the relevant court proceedings there," he added.Where can the funds be directed?Even if PrivatBank manages to repay these funds, their use will be regulated by the state, as the bank is not private. During nationalization in 2016, the state injected over 155 billion hryvnias into the bank through the issuance of government bonds to cover the losses caused by the former owners."Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the funds will be used to compensate the state for losses incurred from the bank's recapitalization," – believes Slobodyanyuk.Less likely, but theoretically, part of these funds could be left at the disposal of PrivatBank for reserve formation or development, the lawyer believes. However, the main priority is most likely compensation for state expenses.