Did Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, buy a penthouse for $58 million? Have charges against him for embezzlement of $1.3 billion been dropped? No, that's not true: There is no such embezzlement case against him and there are also no reports of him buying a penthouse.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok published by @jaroslavjeronymo on June 27, 2023. It opened (translated into English by Lead Stories staff):
The corruption in Ukraine continues. The head of the president's office Jermak bought a pent-house for 58.000.000 usd the charges against him for embezzlement of 1.300.000.000 usd billion have been dropped.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jun 28 14:12:04 2023 UTC)
A search for the phrase "Andrii Yermak bought a house", "Andrii Yermak corruption" and "Andrii Yermak embezzlement" using Google News index in English (and Czech here and here) of thousands of credible news sites did not reveal any factual reports of these claims.
Yermak, also Zelenskyy's consultant, has been the head of the office of the president of Ukraine since February 2020. He previously served as Zelenskyy's top aide, leading the president's communications with foreign leaders. His net worth could be around $1 million.
Before he got his job as Zelenskyy's aide, Yermak was a copyright lawyer for the past 20 years. He represented media companies, including the television channel Inter, owned by Dmytro Firtash, the notorious oligarch accused of bribery. He also worked with Zelenskyy's TV company Kvartal 95. Yermak is a founder of Garnet Media Group, which produces Ukrainian films and TV shows.
