Tymur Mindich built Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s entertainment career. Then Ukraine accused him of running a $100 million kickback scheme inside the state nuclear operator—and he fled to Israel.
The request is the first formal legal step toward returning the alleged architects of Operation Midas.
On 31 March, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General formally requested his extradition, and that of his business partner, Oleksandr Tsukerman. Both hold Israeli citizenship. Israel almost never extradites its own.
The request is the first formal legal step toward returning the alleged architects of Operation Midas—the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (NABU) investigation into the Energoatom corruption scheme. A Ukrainian court ordered Mindich detained in absentia in December. No such measure has been taken against Tsukerman.
The law Israel uses to keep its own
Under Israeli law, citizens can be extradited—but with conditions. Israeli residents who are extradited must return to Israel to serve any sentence rather than doing so in Ukraine. Non-residents may serve it in either country.
The European Convention on Extradition, to which both Ukraine and Israel are party, gives Israel the right to refuse extradition of its own nationals.
The fight begins
Israel’s Ministry of Justice must review the submission and pass it to a district court. That court must find enough evidence for a plausible case. The Justice Minister then decides whether to approve extradition. Each stage can be appealed.
If the process stalls, Ukraine could pursue an Interpol red notice.
NABU detective Oleksandr Abakumov told LIGA that Israel is “a very difficult country for extradition”—investigators had to supply “effectively all materials of the criminal proceedings” to meet Israel’s evidence threshold. If the process stalls, Ukraine could pursue an Interpol red notice, flagging both men for arrest at any border crossing.
The protection racket
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NABU launched Operation Midas on 10 November 2025, executing over 70 searches. Nine people have been charged with running a protection racket inside Energoatom—contractors paid 10–15% kickbacks to keep payments flowing.
NABU surveillance recordings identified Mindich by the codename “Karlsson” and Tsukerman as “Sugarman.”
Investigators say the money was laundered via offices linked to Andriy Derkach, a former Ukrainian MP now serving as a Russian senator. NABU surveillance recordings identified Mindich by the codename “Karlsson” and Tsukerman as “Sugarman.”
Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on his former business partner. Chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned. Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk were dismissed. Halushchenko was later charged after being detained at the border in February 2026.
The paperwork problem
Ukrainska Pravda reported that detective Abakumov said documents had been with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko for two weeks, unsigned. The office’s spokesperson, Mariana Haiovska-Kovbasuk, disputed this, saying the office had found “procedural and technical deficiencies” in NABU’s submission.
The two agencies then compiled and translated 24 volumes of materials before the request was ready. The documents are now in Jerusalem.
