200 USD in earnings, a 3-year suspended sentence: court issues verdict following ESBU investigation

 A 33-year-old native of the Lviv region agreed to become the straw man founder and director of an agricultural enterprise for 200 USD. For this, the court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended with a one-year probation period. The man was also barred from holding managerial, administrative, or economic positions for three years.

Detectives from the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Odesa region established that in October 2023, the man agreed to register a company in his name for a monetary reward, with no intention of conducting actual business operations. Other individuals were to manage the enterprise and control its financial and economic activities.

For the state registration, the suspect provided his personal identification documents and signed pre-prepared forms containing knowingly false information. Based on these documents, an enterprise was registered in Odesa, with its primary activity listed as the cultivation of grain, leguminous, and oilseed crops.

In reality, the man did not manage the company, sign contracts with counterparties, oversee bank accounts, maintain accounting records, or submit tax reports. For his role, he received the promised 200 USD.

ESBU detectives established that registering the enterprise under a proxy allowed other individuals to use the company for illegal activities aimed at tax evasion. Specifically, the agricultural enterprise was used to convert non-cash funds into cash for real-sector companies.

The court found the man guilty under Part 2 of Article 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — entering knowingly false data into state registration documents for a legal entity and intentionally submitting them by prior conspiracy by a group of persons.

Materials regarding other individuals involved in the illegal scheme are being investigated under separate criminal proceedings.

Procedural guidance was provided by prosecutors of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.