Ukrainian film producer Artem Kolyubayev, widely recognized for his collaborations with Andriy Yermak, the current head of the Presidential Office, has transitioned from the entertainment industry to ventures in finance, drone production, and securities investments following Yermak’s political rise.
In an investigation by Slidstvo.Info, it was revealed that the Kolyubayev family, who fled Ukraine due to war, recently purchased a luxurious house in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., using funds borrowed from Russian sources.
This is described in the publication by Slidstvo.Info. The video has English subtitles.
A FILM FESTIVAL WITHOUT THE FILM PRODUCER
In July 2024, Kyiv hosted the Odesa International Film Festival, one of the largest Ukrainian festivals that showcases Ukrainian films among others. Artem Kolyubayev’s film Kruty 1918 was also screened during the festival. However, the producer’s most popular work is Shchedryk. The box office of this movie amounted to about 10 million hryvnias ($248,000).
Slidstvo.Info journalists talked to Ukrainian film producers and learned that this is not much, as the producer receives a small percentage of this amount.
“Half of the income is taken by cinemas and another half by distributors. 35% of the box office [receipts] is what goes to the producer’s account. He is obliged to return the share to the Ukrainian State Film Agency and must cover the money spent on promotions,” explains film producer Dmytro Sukhanov.
Film producer Dmytro Sukhanov
According to Liudmyla Gorgeladze, a member of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, the film business is hardly a profitable activity.
“So far, this is a creative process, and secondly, it is not financially regulated. That is, in Ukraine, enthusiasts are doing it, and some people are actually making money on it, but it’s not a lot of money,” explains Liudmyla Gorgeladze.
Liudmyla Gorgeladze
Artem Kolyubayev was expected to attend the Odesa International Film Festival as a film producer who currently has three state-funded projects. Until recently, he headed the Council for State Support of Cinematography, which decided who would receive money for film production and who would not.
However, the film producer ignored such an important event for the film industry.
HOUSE OF “REFUGEES” IN THE US WORTH OVER $600,000
Slidstvo.Info journalists found information in open sources that Kateryna, the wife of Artem Kolyubayev, left for the United States with her two children at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The American radio station NPR made a podcast about them. The report describes how a family of refugees from Ukraine found refuge in the United States. The Kolyubayevs were taken in by a couple of comedians and actors, the Thompson-Gaines family.
There, Kateryna made jewelry from beads brought to her by neighbors, and Artem Kolyubayev visited the family for his daughter’s birthday. It was during these family visits that he was captured for the website of the American outlet.
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However, the Kolyubayev family did not have to live in other people’s homes for long. In the fall of 2023, Kateryna Kolyubayeva bought her own house in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in a very nice neighborhood, about 20 minutes away from the White House.
Last year, Kateryna Kolyubayeva paid more than $600,000 for it.
The house worth over $600,000
This is a two-story house with an area of almost 500 meters. It has a large living room, three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a separate dining room, and a new kitchen. There is also a fenced yard with a patio and a basement that can also be used as a living space.
WHERE DID THE MONEY COME FROM?
Kateryna Kolyubayeva has a jewelry business. The average cost of her jewelry is $50-100.
Screenshot of Kateryna Kolyubayeva’s store Instagram page
Slidstvo.Info journalists tried to order earrings from Kateryna’s shop, but no one responded to their messages within a week.
Where did the Kolyubayevs get the money to buy such a house?
Bihus.Info journalists released a series of investigations about Artem Kolyubayev’s diverse business, which he acquired after 2019, when Andriy Yermak joined Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s team. At that time, the journalists concluded that the producer’s sudden successes in various fields were enabled by Artem Kolyubayev’s connections with Andriy Yermak.
Slidstvo.Info initially assumed that the Kolyubayev family received $600,000 for the house from diverse businesses unrelated to film production.
Artem Kolyubayev with Andriy Yermak
However, later Artem Kolyubayev agreed to answer journalists’ questions about the origin of these funds.
“The house was paid for in full by my wife, from her own savings, borrowings, and from the money for which she sold her property. Between 2022 and 2024, my wife sold two of her cars: A 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS and a 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE. I also sold two of my real estate properties in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast,” Kolyubayev said.
Journalists checked this information. Kateryna Kolyubayeva did indeed sell two cars and apartments: one in Kyiv and the other in the suburbs of the capital. It seems that the woman could have gotten $350,000 from the sale of all this property, which she then paid for the house in Washington.
According to the US registers, part of the amount — $250,000 — was borrowed by Kateryna Kolyubayeva from A&D Mortgage.
Slidstvo.info found that this Florida-based company has Russian management and ties to Russia.
A&D Mortgage is owned by Max Slyusarchuk, who is also the director of the Russian-speaking American Chamber of South Florida.
The organization’s YouTube channel has many Russian-language videos. One of them is a recording of the event “From Russia with Business,” which took place in June 2017, when the war with Ukraine was already ongoing. “Russian Americans” were trying to find out how to live in the United States now that sanctions have been imposed on Russia.
Max Slyusarchuk, one of the key speakers at the conference, asserts that there are no difficulties.
“The effect is more theoretical than real. We actually don’t experience too many difficulties in monetary transactions between the two countries (Russia and Ukraine — ed.) and especially in working with banks that are under sanctions. I would say that when Russian citizens try to transfer funds to the United States, there are no difficulties with this,” says Slyusarchuk.
Svetlana Izgasheva, Max Slyusarchuk’s wife and one of A&D Mortgage’s managers, hails from Volgograd.
Svetlana Izgasheva and Max Slyusarchuk
It seems that the couple is quite influential in Russian-speaking circles in Florida. Both are in the leadership of the Russian American Chamber of South Florida. In old videos of the organization, the speakers are presented as members of the Russian American Chamber.
Свєтлана Ізгашева
This is a community that unites Russian-speaking people in the United States. They, in particular, finance “Festivals of Russian Culture” – the same “Russian World” that has been destroying Ukraine for three years now.
AN AMERICAN COMPANY WITH A RUSSIAN TRACE
While searching for information about the company from which Kolyubayev’s wife took out a loan to buy a house in the United States, Slidstvo.info journalists found an ad for recruiting people for A&D Mortgage in Russia, in the local office in St. Petersburg. And some employees’ LinkedIn profiles explicitly state “work in an office, St. Petersburg, A&D Mortgage”.
The Kolyubayevs fled Ukraine, which was being destroyed by the Russians, to borrow money from the same Russians in the United States and buy a house with it.
The well-known film producer positions himself as a volunteer and constantly supplies cars to Ukrainian soldiers. He also allocates funds for patriotic films.
Kolyubayev explains that the company is formally from the United States: “My wife, without my physical presence, with the help of a Ukrainian broker who has been living in the United States for a long time, took out a 30-year loan from an American credit institution in the United States in American dollars at the American branch of the company’s office in Washington, signing a contract with a company representative, an American and a translator in accordance with current American law in accordance with all the conditions of the American real estate market.”
Artem Kolyubayev also noted that he himself, as a sole proprietor, earned 33 million hryvnias ($1.17 million) in 2019-2022. This was for film production and other various services. However, the film producer refused to specify what kind of services these were.
“I have been doing business as a sole proprietor since 2006. According to the official information from the State Register of Individuals (taxpayers on sources/amounts of income paid and taxes withheld), my total income from 2019 to the end of 2022 amounted to more than 33 million hryvnias. All taxes have been paid to the state duly. As for the other companies in which I have a stake according to the official register, no decision was made to distribute dividends and I did not receive any income,” Kolyubayev said.
It turns out that Kolyubayev, as he himself claims, had about $1 million in official earnings, and his wife in the United States had to borrow $250,000 from Russians.
“The decision to move was my personal one, and we have separate financial budgets with my husband,” Kolyubayeva told Slidstvo.info, commenting on her reluctance to borrow money from her husband.
She also claims that a broker advised her to borrow the money. Kolyubayeva noted that Slidstvo.info’s information about Russian ties “will be checked and legally confirmed or denied.”
However, neither of the spouses told journalists what their next steps would be when they saw the obvious – Russian origin and close ties between their lenders and the aggressor state.
