An office tower in Dallas is at the heart of a federal lawsuit claiming the building was among several commercial properties used as a money laundering front for funds embezzled through a bank in Ukraine.
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According to the Dallas Morning News, the civil forfeiture complaint filed Jan. 20 in the Southern District of Florida seeks to seize more than $6M in proceeds from the sale of commercial real estate in Dallas, including Eldorado Towers, a building located at 8787 North Stemmons Freeway.
The complaint is linked to three other lawsuits against Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Boholiubov, former owners of PrivatBank in Ukraine. According to the Department of Justice, Kolomoisky and Boholiubov embezzled and defrauded the bank of billions of dollars before partnering with associates in Miami to launder the funds through properties in Dallas, Cleveland and Louisville, Kentucky.
The lawsuit also mentions the former CompuCom headquarters on Forest Lane, which the DOJ claims was purchased by the Miami associates using embezzled funds. Profits from that property were allegedly used to pay for improvements to Eldorado Towers, which was then sold via a seller financing agreement. More than $6M of principal and interest is still owed on that agreement, per the DOJ. The U.S. is attempting to seize the promissory note and deed of trust related to that agreement.
According to the DOJ, the case is being led by the FBI’s Cleveland office and is still under investigation.
The DOJ filed its first two complaints in August 2020 following a raid on the Cleveland offices of Optima Management Group; the DOJ noted in its statement Kolomoisky and Boholiubov created a web of entities, often using the name “Optima,” to "further launder the misappropriated funds." A third suit followed in December 2021.
CORRECTION, JAN. 25, 12:53 P.M. CT: Due to an error in a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Stemmons Towers was incorrectly identified as the Dallas property that is the subject of this lawsuit. The correct building is Eldorado Towers, located at 8787 North Stemmons Freeway. The story and photo have been updated to reflect the change.
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