Ihor Kolomoisky-tied Cleveland property company defaulted on a $18.5 million loan, according to a report by Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer on Dec. 4.
Optima 55 Public Square LLC manages one of the city’s most prominent office buildings. It is part of a web of companies where Kolomoisky allegedly parked a big chunk of the $5.5 billion that he and his business partners allegedly stole from PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank, which he owned before the state nationalized it four years ago.
Optima got the loan from 55 Bridge Lending in 2018, The Plain Dealer reported, citing records in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Court records were not immediately available because of an error in the court clerk’s website.
The loans were made to Mordechai Korf, Kolomoisky’s Miami-based associate, who is allegedly involved in the oligarch’s money laundering schemes.
Optima has failed to pay its property taxes, with over $380,000 outstanding, according to county tax records. Optima has also missed a $500,000 principal payment due in August and monthly interest payments since September.
The report quoted a lawyer for 55 Bridge Lending, writing that the property is non-sellable, non-financeable and urgently needs renovation.
Reached by phone, Brent Silverman, a lawyer for 55 Bridge, asked to be emailed the questions which his client may decide to answer in the future.
55 Public Square declined to comment.
Optima 55 Public Square was once among the city’s top landlords, with investments of over $100 million and 2 million square feet of office space.
According to an August civil forfeiture complaint against Kolomoisky’s properties, the oligarch’s businesses in the U.S. often failed to turn a profit.
According to state-owned PrivatBank, $746 million in stolen money ended up in the U.S. and was used to buy real estate and metallurgical plants, mainly through a group of companies that all share the word Optima in their names. Korf and another associate, Uriel Laber, were integral in the alleged scheme.
Kolomoisky’s lawyers had emphatically denied charges. Kolomoisky himself had said that he made the purchases using money he legitimately acquired from selling off the Evraz metallurgical business in his hometown of Dnipro.
While the majority of shady money entering the U.S. ends up in large centers like New York City and Miami, Kolomoisky’s associates invested in smaller cities in the American heartland.
Kolomoisky and his partners have been under investigation by the FBI, which raided his Cleveland offices in August. The investigation is ongoing, with the oligarch and his associates likely to face money laundering charges in the U.S.
Shortly after the raid, the U.S. moved to seize his properties in Louisville and Dallas.
The investigation and raids may have led to the Optima companies’ deteriorating finances, leading to lawsuits from their creditors.
For example, the Cleveland International Fund had filed a lawsuit against Optima 777, alleging that it owes $35 million in unpaid principal, plus $2 million in late fees and interest.
