Sanctioned oligarch Pavlo Fuks has launched a large-scale cleanup of the internet, removing references to his Russian background — from development fraud schemes to projects linked to the FSB, which are now resurfacing in the public space. We publish material that Fuks is trying to erase.

Russian scandal-stricken businessman Pavlo Fuks moved to Ukraine, leaving behind unpaid debts in Russia (as his partners claim) and a series of criminal cases. He has been accused of embezzling millions of dollars.

We publish Forbes’ investigation on how Fuks amassed his fortune and the “traces” he left in the places where he worked.

Pavlo Fuks is accused of major embezzlement in Russia and Kazakhstan

In the summer of 2015, the Cypriot company BEM Global Corp. transferred $1 million to the account of former Moscow vice-mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze as a supposed consulting fee. The owner of BEM Global Corp. was Roman Fuks, brother of Pavlo Fuks. In the late 2000s, Pavlo Fuks began constructing two skyscrapers in Moscow City — Eurasia and Imperial. Ordzhonikidze was one of the initiators behind the business district’s development. He resigned in 2007 but continued curating Moscow-City until 2010 as an adviser to mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Barclays Bank staff flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to FinCEN, the financial crimes unit of the U.S. Treasury. Data on the payment, along with thousands of other suspicious transactions, was obtained by BuzzFeed and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) as part of the largest FinCEN leak to date. Journalists published the documents on September 20.

At the end of the 2000s, Pavlo Fuks was considered one of the most influential developers in Moscow. The portfolio of his company MosCity Group totaled about 7 million square meters. But due to debt issues, Fuks was forced to sell his Russian assets and return to Ukraine by the mid-2010s. Today he faces claims from Russian and Kazakh law enforcement. In Russia he is accused of embezzling funds from real-estate investors; in Kazakhstan he is suspected of participating in BTA Bank embezzlement together with fugitive banker Mukhtar Ablyazov — with whom he also worked on the Eurasia Tower project.

Speculator

Fuks, a graduate of Kharkiv National University of Construction and Architecture, earned his first money in the early 1990s through speculation, including a profitable deal with Winston cigarettes. In 1992, at age 20, he became an adviser at the trading company Intrada, which supplied office equipment and computers to Ukraine — a mostly nominal position.

In 1994, he moved to Moscow and founded Soyuz Invest, trading alcohol products and participating in barter deals between Gazprom and Belarusian Beltransgaz. His counterpart was the Russian nuclear-fuel producer TVEL, which often paid with delays. When TVEL failed to repay him, he leveraged Ukraine’s Energoatom debt, even negotiating at high government levels. According to Fuks, he stopped a rail shipment of fuel elements at the border to pressure repayment, eventually meeting Yulia Tymoshenko, then Vice Prime Minister. This episode marked his entry into big-industry negotiations and his acquaintance with businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi.

In the late 2000s, Fuks met Donald Trump and discussed a Trump Tower project in Moscow, though the deal never materialized. At that time, Fuks was busy with Moscow-City developments, with Mikhail Rudyak of Ingeokom helping him enter large-scale real estate. He later partnered with businessman and senator Oleksandr Ter-Avanesov on multiple development projects.

Debtor

Not all of Fuks’ former partners agree that his debts were settled. In 2014, Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank was acquired by Kenes Rakishev. In 2018 the High Court of London ordered MosCity Group to pay $55 million to a BTA Bank structure. Fuks’ company had agreed to purchase BTA’s share in the Eurasia project for $50 million but paid only $20 million before refusing further transfers.

Kazakh authorities also accuse him of helping Ablyazov siphon money out of BTA Bank and filed a request to Ukraine to question him.

In fall 2019, Tagansky Court of Moscow arrested Fuks in absentia in connection with a 14-billion-ruble residential project Sky House, alleging funds were withdrawn to Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. By then Fuks had left Russia for Ukraine. His attorney denied the accusations. Fuks renounced Russian citizenship in 2017.

What Fuks does in Ukraine now

In 2020, Ukrainian Forbes listed Pavlo Fuks among the country’s richest businessmen with assets estimated at $155 million. Media describe him as an aggregator of oil & gas assets previously controlled by associates of former president Viktor Yanukovych.

In 2017 he reportedly obtained control over Golden Derrick (later renamed East Europe Petroleum LLC), holder of dozens of oil and gas licenses. He is also linked to Ukrnaftoburinnia, co-owned by Kolomoiskyi, holding a 21% share allegedly acquired from Yanukovych-associated individuals. Another major asset is Kharkiv CHP-2 (ESKhAR).

Fuks openly states he invests in distressed assets. In 2017 he purchased Ukrrosleasing, creditor to Kyiv Metro for UAH 1.78 billion, then later sold it due to “toxicity.” He also discussed acquiring Prominvestbank, but the deal collapsed, and its shares were later seized as compensation for Russian annexation of Crimea.