Tsukerman Oleksandr Davydovych

"Sugarman"

Oleksandr Davydovych Tsukerman was born on May 5, 1964, in Kyiv. He is a citizen of Israel. In the public domain, before the NABU operation, he was hardly known: Tsukerman somehow managed to cleanse the internet of mentions about himself. In 1999, he was a member of the supervisory board of the "Starokyivskyi" bank, where he worked until the institution’s bankruptcy, after which for years he was involved in court lawsuits regarding its liquidation.

Financial architect of a $100 million scheme

Tsukerman organized the work of the "back office," through which kickbacks were legalized and black accounting of corruption schemes at Energoatom was maintained. He personally invented pseudonyms for all participants: he called himself "Sugarman," Mindich became "Carlson," Galushchenko — "Professor," Chernyshov — "Che Guevara," Basov — "Tenor," Myroniuk — "Rocket." About $100 million passed through the back office located in the center of Kyiv, in premises owned by the FSB agent Andriy Derkach’s family. Cash was converted into foreign currency and cryptocurrency using foreign funds and relatives’ companies — some operations were conducted in Moscow, Africa, and North America.

Escape, search, and sanctions

The 61-year-old Tsukerman officially left Ukraine several weeks before the start of the "Midas" operation, using his Israeli passport. On November 13, 2025, Zelensky signed an NSDC decree imposing sanctions against Tsukerman and Mindich — prohibiting asset ownership, trade transactions, government procurement, and financial transactions. However, Tsukerman officially owned nothing in Ukraine — neither real estate nor business — so the sanctions had no practical consequences for him. He is wanted. He denies guilt: "Everything is untrue, everything is a lie."