Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) have sent an indictment to the court in a case about the activities of an organized group in Kyiv that was trying to seize luxury real estate. A lawyer is suspected of organizing the scheme.
This was reported on the SBI website on Monday, April 13.
According to the investigation, the suspect lawyer previously represented the interests of a couple who own two apartments in the capital. During his work, he obtained copies of their passports and real estate documents, and later decided to use this data for his own purposes.
The State Bureau of Investigation said that the lawyer involved his assistant and another accomplice in implementing the plan.
“The group members forged powers of attorney on behalf of the owners, granting one of the defendants the authority to dispose of the property of the real owners. The perpetrators also involved individuals who posed as the real owners during notarial actions. The forged documents were submitted to a private notary who was unaware of the criminal nature of the actions and certified the power of attorney,” the report says.
After that, the defendants added the apartments as an asset to the authorized capital of the controlled company and re-registered the ownership.
This is a housing with a total area of over 320 square meters in prestigious areas of Kyiv – Pechersk and Osokorki. The property is worth tens of millions of hryvnias.
“SBI employees foiled the scheme and prevented it from being completed. The victims have already been compensated about 25 million hryvnias,” the bureau noted.
The suspects are charged with, among other things, articles Part 3 of Art. 27 Part 3 of Art. 358, Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 28 Part 4 of Art. 358, Part 3 of Art. 28 Part 3 of Art. 358, Part 3 of Art. 28 Part 3 of Art. 358, Part 3 of Art. 4 of Art. 358, Part 3 of Art. 28 Part 2 of Art. 205-1, Part 4 of Art. 190, Part 3 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. fraud, forgery of documents, legalization of property and creation of fictitious enterprises. The sanction of the articles provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment. Materials on individual participants are allocated to separate proceedings.
What is known about other cases related to illegal seizure of real estate?
In March, the State Bureau of Investigation completed a pre-trial investigation and sent the case materials to court regarding the illegal appropriation of a deceased person's apartment in Kyiv. Among the defendants is a law enforcement officer. The investigation established that during an inspection of the scene of the incident in the deceased man's apartment, one of the law enforcement officers stole real estate documents. He later handed them over to his colleague and acquaintance. The accomplices found out that at that time there were no legal heirs to the apartment.
In February, the National Police reported that they had uncovered a scam in Kyiv involving the illegal appropriation of apartments. Four members of the group were reported on suspicion of fraud, and the case materials were transferred to court. Law enforcement officers found out that the suspects were selecting housing whose owners had died, were incapacitated, or the apartments belonged to single people or elderly citizens. Later, the suspects forged documents and presented themselves as the legal owners. They sold the real estate and divided the proceeds among themselves.
In January, it was reported that investigators had completed a pre-trial investigation and sent a case to court about the illegal appropriation of apartments in Kyiv and Kyiv region worth about 14 million hryvnias. The defendants are six individuals who, according to law enforcement, took possession of the real estate under the guise of volunteer assistance.
In November 2025, the capital's law enforcement officers handed over a realtor's suspicion of fraud on a particularly large scale. According to the investigation, the realtor undertook to help a friend register ownership of an inherited apartment in Obolon. The homeowner issued a notarized power of attorney and granted the realtor the right to represent his interests. And suddenly died. On the same day, the realtor went to the notary, provided him with the necessary documents and sold an apartment in Kyiv worth over 1.5 million hryvnias to his wife.
Also in November last year, the State Bureau of Investigation reported that two Kyiv law enforcement officers were suspected of participating in a fraudulent scheme. According to investigators, the suspects took possession of documents for a deceased person's apartment and tried to resell the property for $45,000.