Former Zelensky aide jailed over corruption charges
Andriy Yermak served as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine from 2020 until his resignation in November 2025 amid a widening corruption scandal. During his tenure, Yermak attended high-level meetings with world leaders and played a key role in shaping Ukraine’s wartime policies.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office formally charged Yermak with corruption. On Thursday, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered him held in a pretrial detention center for two months and set bail at $3 million.
“I don’t have such funds,” Yermak told Ukrainian journalists after the ruling. “Now my lawyer will work with my friends for help [to collect the bail funds].”
“I think my attorney, the group of lawyers, will file an appeal,” he said. “I have nothing to hide, I will continue fighting, and I will stay in Ukraine.”
According to the High Anti-Corruption Court, $348,000 had already been transferred to the court’s account.
Under Thursday’s ruling, Yermak must comply with several restrictions if he posts bail, including regularly reporting for questioning from an anti-corruption watchdog, notifying investigators of his whereabouts, remaining in Kyiv unless granted permission to leave, surrendering his passports, and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet
Investigators allege Yermak helped launder $10.4 million connected to a luxury construction project near Kyiv as part of an organized crime group.
A longtime ally of Zelensky, dating back to the Ukrainian president’s career in entertainment, Yermak resigned amid the $100 million corruption scandal last November. Investigators said these new charges are related but have not named Yermak in that investigation.
The investigation, dubbed “Operation Midas,” included more than thousands of hours of wiretaps and led to the seizure of bags of cash. Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, said they uncovered last year an alleged criminal organization involving current and former energy officials, businessmen, government ministers, and a former deputy prime minister.
While investigators have not implicated Zelensky in the alleged scheme, the scandal has damaged his anti-corruption image and renewed concerns about entrenched corruption in Ukraine.
Authorities said five of the seven suspects tied to the operation have been detained. Investigators allege the group manipulated contracts at a Ukrainian nuclear energy company to launder roughly $100 million through a secret office in Kyiv.
The investigation has also reached other Zelensky associates, including entrepreneur Timur Mindich and former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov. Both were charged with corruption last year and denied wrongdoing.
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