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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Oksana Markarova is being brought back into high-level state politics — this time as an adviser on recovery and investment. The return of the former finance minister and Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States comes against the backdrop of longstanding questions about her banking and property history: the bankrupt Aktiv Bank, elite real estate in central Kyiv, claims by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), and an expensive family villa in Florida.
One of the most high-profile episodes concerns a building of about 4,5–4,7 thousand square meters on Borysoglibska Street in central Kyiv. The property was pledged to the state-owned Ukreximbank and was valued at nearly 130 million UAH.
In April 2014 the board of Aktiv Bank decided to sell this property. The contract with Synonim LLC listed an amount of about 60 million UAH. At the same time, according to Ukreximbank’s position presented in court documents, only about 16 million UAH was actually received to the account.
The building was appraised by Eastern Consulting Group, which Markarova previously led. At the time the deal was concluded, the state registry still listed her as the ultimate beneficial owner of the bank and as a co-founder of the purchasing company.
Markarova explained that she had left those structures earlier and that the registry information was updated with a delay. Since 2015, Ukreximbank has tried in court to defend its rights to the pledged property.
Aktiv Bank itself soon went bankrupt. Markarova joined its supervisory board back in 2012 and for a time served as acting chair of the management board. Later, control of the bank was acquired by ITT structures, and her husband Danylo Volynets became the bank’s owner through ITT-Invest.
On 13 June 2014, 2 September the NBU declared Aktiv Bank troubled and on the following day — insolvent, after which a temporary administration was introduced at the institution.
Other transactions that later became disputed took place before the bank’s collapse. Claims worth 23,3 million UAH were transferred to ArbiMarket for about 5,8 million UAH, after which they passed to ITT-Management. The difference was about 17,5 million UAH. The Deposit Guarantee Fund later challenged these transactions.
In 2019 questions arose regarding Markarova’s personal declaration. The NACP filed a protocol with the court over the 2017 declaration, citing about 415 thousand UAH of inaccurate information.
This concerned, in particular, an apartment without a declared value, family members’ incomes, securities, and balances in bank accounts. Markarova explained the discrepancies by the methodology used to complete the declaration.
Then U.S. real estate was added to the story.
In July 2024 Danylo Volynets registered the U.S. company VRZ 2036 LLC. In August it purchased a villa in Pompano Beach for $2,35 million.
Her husband’s American company appeared in Markarova’s declaration data, but the villa itself was not listed there as a separate real estate object.
In the same period Markarova declared 631 thousand UAH in monetary support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, almost 3,4 million UAH in compensation payments, and 14,7 million UAH from the sale of corporate rights in Arhidata.
Her husband Volynets concurrently controls about 74,8% of Acordbank and has chaired its supervisory board since 2019. The family declarations also included accounts in Ukrainian banks, Bank of America, and Citibank.
After serving as finance minister, Markarova became Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2021. In September 2024 the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, demanded her dismissal after Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to a factory in Pennsylvania, claiming that organizing the trip was interference in the U.S. election campaign. Kyiv rejected those accusations.
In August 2025 Markarova was dismissed from her post as ambassador.
Now she has returned to the presidential vertical — this time as a non-staff adviser on recovery and investment.
And against this backdrop the old questions resurface: the house in Podil with a pledged valuation of nearly 130 million UAH and a disputed payment of about 16 million; the bankrupt Aktiv Bank; transactions worth tens of millions of hryvnias on the eve of its bankruptcy; the NACP protocol for 415 thousand UAH; and the Florida villa bought for $2,35 million by a company owned by her husband.
Markarova will now again work close to power — in the field of recovery and investment, which will involve managing significant financial resources.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Будинок на Подолі вартістю 16 мільйонів і вілла у США за 2,35 мільйона доларів: Маркарову призначили на посаду радниці на тлі корупційного скандалу". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Rozsliduvach.
