by WorldTribune Staff, November 19, 2025 Real World News
Was cash sent to Ukraine by the Biden-Harris regime used to purchase a golden toilet for a businessman closely tied to the nation’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
An investigation into a $100 million pay-to-play scheme raises that possibility.
Ukraine’s anti-graft bureau says it has been investigating the scheme which involved the procurement of contracts at the state nuclear power company, run by the energy ministry. Five suspects have been detained and two are at large, including one of Zelenskyy’s former business associates who fled the country earlier this month likely after being tipped off.
The alleged head of the scheme, businessman Timur Mindich, is a co-owner of the TV studio where Zelenskyy made his career as a sitcom star before winning office in 2019.
On Nov. 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), which are independent of Zelenskyy’s office, announced the investigation, dubbed Operation Midas.
The salacious details saw Ukrainian police raid 70 locations. Stacks of cash, still with barcodes from U.S. banks, were reportedly found in Mindich’s apartment.
Also found was a golden toilet.
The Times of Israel said that Mindich has reportedly “fled to Israel amid a probe of his growing influence within the country’s lucrative industries, and fears that his access was facilitated by his ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two were once business partners, and Mindich’s influence had expanded since Zelenskyy was elected in 2019.”
Mindich maintained ties to the entertainment world until the corruption probe was exposed earlier this month. He was a producer of the comedy show “Stadium Family” on YouTube. In light of the scandal and his tarnished reputation, the show’s owners shut it down.
He is also a relative of Leonid Mindich, who was arrested by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs in June when he was trying to flee the country, according to local reports; he was charged with embezzling $16 million from an electric power company.
Ukrainian media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, have been running articles like “How the president’s friends robbed the country in wartime,” which contain details about just how deep Zelenskyy’s ties go with the corrupt cronies he has long worked with, and who helped fuel his rise to power.
Ukraine’s NABU also released recordings from the apartment of Mindich, known as Zelenskyy’s “treasurer,” which revealed discussions about corrupt practices.
With the evidence, charges were brought against Mindich; Igor Mironyuk, former advisor to the Minister of Energy; Dmitry Basov, security director of Energoatom; as well as businessmen Alexander Zukerman and Igor Fursenko, and Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
The defendants also include former Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Chernyshov, who is considered a member of Zelenskyy’s inner circle.
Mindich reportedly fled the country a few hours before the house searches began, which means he was almost certainly tipped off by someone with close connections to the case.
Fox is hitting Zelensky with a golden toilet. The Narrative has changed. 🚽👇https://t.co/8Bmo5wUCO1 pic.twitter.com/yb7vJs8bJo
— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) November 17, 2025
From golden boy of Western media to golden toilet scandal: “Bags of cash and a gold toilet: the corruption crisis engulfing Zelenskyy’s government. Zelenskyy and his closest aides had tried this summer to neuter independent anti-corruption agencies as they were finalising a… pic.twitter.com/PNc7EYSLQv
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) November 15, 2025
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy caught up in ‘golden toilet’ scandal added by Editor Two on
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