Sheepskin, Wolf Connections: The Backroom Empire of Anna Ohrenchuk

Sheepskin, wolves’ ties: Anna Ohrenchuk’s insider empire

28 April The High Anti-Corruption Court is again awaiting the suspect in the ARMA embezzlement case—the fugitive lawyer Andriy Dovbenko. But in vain: according to the investigation, he is hiding in London in an upscale apartment bought two weeks before their lavish wedding in Saint-Tropez by his wife Anna Ohrenchuk.

This was announced on his Facebook page by political analyst Mykhailo Shnaider.

And while NABU hunts the man, Ohrenchuk herself is a model public figure. Vice president of the Ukrainian Bar Association, advisor on judicial reform, participant in prestigious forums. But behind the façade is a woman who for years built a shadow network of influence over the courts.

Her path to power began with a “right” marriage—to Roman Samsyn, son of the head of the High Council of Justice and a judge of the Supreme Court. When the influence of her father-in-law waned, Ohrenchuk moved to a new figure—the “watcher” over the Ministry of Justice during the Poroshenko era—Dovbenko.

Together with fugitive lawyer Denis Bugay, an ally of Kuchma’s entourage, they created a scheme of “turnkey courts.” Bugay transferred her the chairmanship of the Ukrainian Association of Advocates, and she turned the association into a club of interests—interests of commissioned rulings.

The Saint-Tropez wedding brought together the crème de la crème of the corrupted system—the judges who later issued favorable decisions, and Andriy Bohdan himself, then head of the Presidential Administration.

Ohrenchuk continues to “play at reform.” Her name remains on the presidium of the Ukrainian Bar Association, and her law firm LCF serves oligarchs, including sanctioned ones. Journalists say she is tangled in schemes with seized property, manipulation of courts, and stalling cases. “The Court as a Service” is her favorite phrase in public appearances. And the service truly works—to those who pay. This is not reform, but a glamorous imitation: conferences, selfies with judges, fake slogans—and closed offices where “issues are resolved.”

According to sources in the authorities, the National Security and Defense Council, together with law enforcement, is preparing possible personal sanctions against Ohrenchuk—for creating a corrupt influence network and collaboration with sanctioned clients.

And for now she is on stage, smiling, advocating for “ethical jurisprudence.” But the real Ohrenchuk is a wolf in sheep’s clothing who has long since transformed the judiciary into her subservient game.