SBU Detains Son of Former Motor Sich CEO in Monaco for Asset Theft

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in coordination with law enforcement agencies in France and Monaco, has detained the son of the former CEO of Motor Sich.

The arrest was announced on the SBU’s official website.

The detainee and his father are accused of embezzling assets from the Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer in a scheme uncovered in cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Investigators allege that the suspects illegally acquired a controlling stake in the state-owned enterprise and later sold it for $650 million.

According to the case materials, the son assisted his father in acquiring the shares before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after which the shares were transferred to third parties.

“To carry out the deal, the then-head of Motor Sich arranged an inventory of the company’s assets, during which the value of the shares was deliberately undervalued. He then purchased 65% of the securities at a reduced price and transferred most of them to six offshore entities controlled by his son,” the SBU stated.

The assets were then laundered through sales to foreign companies, with the proceeds allegedly used to purchase luxury real estate in the European Union.

According to the Security Service, as part of the international investigation, simultaneous searches were conducted at the suspect’s coastal villa in Monaco and at the residences of affiliated individuals in Zaporizhzhia.

The son of the former Motor Sich CEO has been formally charged under Part 3 of Article 209 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code — laundering property obtained by criminal means, committed by an organized group on a particularly large scale. He faces up to 12 years in prison and asset confiscation.

The former Motor Sich executive, who remains in custody on charges of collaboration with Russia, also received additional charges.

He is now also suspected under Part 5 of Article 191 (embezzlement of property through abuse of official position by an organized group on a particularly large scale) and Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 209 (organizing the laundering of criminal assets on a large scale).

Motor Sich

Motor Sich JSC develops, manufactures, and services aviation gas turbine engines for aircraft and helicopters, as well as industrial gas turbines.

Since the 1990s, it was controlled by Viacheslav Bohuslaiev, who was detained by the SBU in October 2022 in connection with the illegal supply of military goods to Russia.

Ukrainian authorities later published evidence of his cooperation with Russian defense enterprises.