Shadowy Ukrainian mogul Timur Mindich flees to Israel as investigators expose a $100M embezzlement scheme tied to Zelensky’s inner circle.
Before this week’s bombshell corruption scandal made him a global headline, Timur Mindich lived in the shadows — a behind-the-scenes operator whose name rarely appeared in public, yet whose influence quietly stretched across some of Ukraine’s wealthiest industries.
Now, Mindich has reportedly fled to Israel, just as Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities unveiled a devastating 15-month investigation accusing him of masterminding a $100 million embezzlement and kickbacks scheme inside Ukraine’s state nuclear power company. Two senior ministers have already resigned, and prosecutors are preparing to pursue charges in absentia.
Officials and activists say Mindich’s meteoric rise is inseparable from his personal and business connection to President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he once partnered with inside the Kvartal 95 entertainment empire. Since Zelensky’s 2019 election, rumors of Mindich’s influence — once dismissed as insider gossip — have now been backed by major evidence.
“He became the shadow controller of the energy sector,” said Tetiana Shevchuk of the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
Those whispers, she said, “now have proof.”
From entertainment mogul to political kingmaker
Mindich, 46, was born in Dnipro. His family has longstanding Jewish community ties — his mother Stella was identified as a Dnipro community trustee, and his father died in Israel in 2006. In 2010, Mindich hosted a lavish four-day wedding near the Western Wall in Jerusalem with 500 guests.
For years, he was known primarily as a wealthy entertainment entrepreneur and co-owner of Kvartal 95, the company that launched Zelensky’s career. Even after gaining political influence, Mindich continued producing online entertainment, including the YouTube show Stadium Family — shut down this week as the scandal exploded.
Mindich is also related to Leonid Mindich, arrested in June while trying to flee Ukraine on charges of stealing $16 million from an electric power firm.
Zelensky connection opened political doors
The Zelensky–Mindich relationship is well documented. Zelensky used Mindich’s armored vehicle during his 2019 campaign. The president celebrated his 2021 birthday in Mindich’s apartment during COVID restrictions. The two even own apartments in the same building.
Mindich also moved in the orbit of oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky — Zelensky’s early backer — visiting his office in Herzliya, Israel, ahead of the 2019 election. After Kolomoysky’s fall and subsequent arrest in 2023, companies once linked to him began naming Mindich as their new beneficiary.
Over three years, Mindich transformed from a show-business figure into a major business operator with stakes in agriculture, banking and, crucially, state energy companies.
Activists say this ascent would have been impossible without the cover of Zelensky’s inner circle — especially during wartime, when control of energy infrastructure is a strategic lifeline.
The alleged mastermind of a nuclear-sector criminal network
The NABU-SAPO investigation centers on 1,000 hours of wiretaps showing Mindich’s alleged control over a network of loyalists inside Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator. The tapes reportedly reveal pressure on contractors to pay up to 15% in kickbacks to bypass bureaucratic roadblocks — money later laundered through shell companies.
Ukraine’s former energy minister Herman Haluschenko — later justice minister — resigned immediately after the probe became public.
Mindich, Politico reported, fled to Israel one day before authorities launched raids across Ukraine.
Ukrainian outlets say he traveled repeatedly between Israel and Ukraine over the past month, celebrating his birthday in Israel in September before quietly returning.
A deeper layer: drones and wartime tech
Mindich is also being investigated for potential ties to Fire Point, Ukraine’s top long-range strike drone manufacturer — a company that has become central to Kyiv’s battlefield innovation. Fire Point denies any connection to Mindich, but NABU has not closed its probe.
Ukraine’s drone sector has rapidly evolved into a powerful wartime industry, and investigators are examining whether Mindich used shell companies or proxies to benefit from a sector critical to Ukraine’s defense.
Israel: the unexpected refuge
Mindich’s abrupt appearance in Israel — which he has longstanding personal ties to — now raises deeper questions about where he intends to settle, how Kyiv will pursue his prosecution, and whether Ukrainian authorities will seek extradition.
For Israel, a country known for its strict legal frameworks and intolerance for corruption that threatens national infrastructure, the case of Timur Mindich is a stark reminder of how deeply corruption abroad can intersect with regional politics, business networks and international security.
