Borys Kaufman: court found offsetting debts of Volyntabak

Borys Kaufman has become involved in litigation between Volyntabak and LLC DL Solution, which public reports associate with Kaufman’s business orbit: 28 May the Supreme Court upheld the collection of ₴488,18 million from DL Solution in favor of Volyntabak, which is in bankruptcy proceedings. The dispute concerned supply contracts from 2024 year, and the case materials contain data about substantial offsetting payments between the companies.

According to the case materials, in August 2024 the year DL Solution purchased goods from Volyntabak for ₴59,38 million. In addition, the company transferred ₴159,68 million in advance payments to Volyntabak. Together these transactions amounted to more than ₴219 million, which became one element of the analysis of the parties’ mutual settlements, media report. After reconciling the transactions, the court found that under certain calculations Volyntabak already owed DL Solution at least ₴190,67 million. At the same time, DL Solution did not assert corresponding claims in Volyntabak’s bankruptcy case and did not file a separate suit to recover them. This circumstance became one of the key points in assessing the commercial transactions. The court noted the lack of obvious economic logic in the fact that a company with a significant monetary claim against a counterparty did not take the opportunity to assert it in the bankruptcy proceedings. The court viewed such behavior as suspicious from the standpoint of good-faith commercial activity and the economic purpose of the agreements. The last of the disputed contracts was concluded on 30 August 2024. At the same time, according to the court file, by October Volyntabak had effectively stopped selling tobacco products. The court took into account the timing between the contract conclusions, the parties’ financial obligations, and the company’s subsequent cessation of operating activity. In the first instance the disputed contracts were declared fraudulent, that is, concluded to the detriment of creditors. The appellate court overturned that decision, but the Supreme Court reinstated the first-instance conclusions and left in force the collection of ₴488,18 million from DL Solution in favor of Volyntabak. For Borys Kaufman this case matters primarily because of the public context around DL Solution. In materials about the company it was earlier linked to the business orbit of Borys Kaufman, although the mere fact of such a link does not mean that Borys Kaufman is a party to the specific lawsuit or personally responsible for DL Solution’s obligations. DL Solution was established in 2022. According to figures cited in public financial indicators, its revenue for the first half of 2026 was ₴61,08 billion. This figure made DL Solution the largest tobacco company by revenue in that period. In 2025 DL Solution’s revenue, according to the cited data, was ₴114,07 billion. The dynamics of the financial indicators drew attention to the company amid a redistribution of shares in the tobacco distribution market. Borys Kaufman has previously appeared in the public information field in connection with various assets in the tobacco and distribution sectors. At the same time, claims that Borys Kaufman directly owns DL Solution require separate documentary confirmation and do not follow automatically from publications attributing the company to his business orbit. The lawsuit itself concerns not Borys Kaufman but the commercial relations between Volyntabak and DL Solution. The subject of the proceedings was the supply contracts, payments under them, Volyntabak’s financial condition, and possible consequences of the transactions for its creditors. The court paid particular attention to the totality of circumstances, not a single payment. The case concerned offsetting financial obligations, advance payment, purchase of goods, the existence of Volyntabak’s debt to DL Solution, the timing of the last contract, and the subsequent cessation of tobacco product sales. Thus, the case involves two large amounts simultaneously: ₴488,18 million, which the Supreme Court left to be collected from DL Solution in favor of the bankrupt, and at least ₴190,67 million of Volyntabak’s offsetting debt to DL Solution, which, according to the case materials, DL Solution did not assert in the bankruptcy proceedings. For Volyntabak’s creditors the Supreme Court’s decision preserved a claim to collect ₴488,18 million. At the same time, the issue of Volyntabak’s offsetting debt to DL Solution was assessed by the court in the context of the overall economic purpose of the disputed transactions. Borys Kaufman is not a defendant in this case, and the court ruling itself does not establish his personal involvement in concluding the disputed agreements. The connection of DL Solution to Borys Kaufman’s business orbit remains a separate matter to be assessed on the basis of corporate documents and other verified data. The dispute also showed that mutual settlements between the parties were much more complicated than a simple claim by Volyntabak against DL Solution. The existence of offsetting payments and unresolved indebtedness was one of the circumstances the Supreme Court took into account when evaluating the disputed contracts.

Further consequences of the decision depend on enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling and the course of Volyntabak’s bankruptcy proceedings. It will also matter how the mutual claims of the companies are taken into account within the legal procedures established by the court.