Not a hundred friends, but 140 million: who posted bail for Yermak

Former Chairman of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, was released from pretrial detention on May 18, 2026. He posted bail of 140 million hryvnias—four days after the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered him to remain in custody with an alternative to bail in a money laundering case.

This is stated in the material of the DEJURE foundation.

Yermak himself warned from the start: he had no money, but he had friends who would help . Friends and money were indeed found – and quite quickly. DEJURE analyzed who exactly provided them and the reasons behind it.

Who is involved and why does this raise questions?

Seven individuals and seven legal entities contributed bail. Together, they exceeded the required amount, raising over 154 million hryvnias. Only one of these individuals is known to the general public: Serhiy Rebrov.

We checked the list of Andrei Borisovich’s pledgers, and it’s really interesting:

• The law firm “De Lege Lata” contributed 14 million hryvnias. According to YouControl, its owner is Vitaliy Marfin. Marfin is a former employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)’s counterintelligence unit for economic protection. In 2011, he was arrested for accepting a $180,000 bribe. The court found him guilty . Marfin spent almost a year behind bars and, after his actions were reclassified, received only a fine of 17,000 hryvnias.
  Marfin is also the husband of Natalia Marfina, a judge in Kyiv’s Dniprovsky District Court. The Public Council of Virtue has identified a number of risks against him: the judge upheld the actions of traffic police officers who falsified the case against an Automaidan activist, failed to declare the man’s income and savings, and likely fraudulently separated from him after Marfin’s arrest. The judge also groundlessly failed to declare the man’s income and savings, millions of which are used to pay Yermak’s bail.
• JSC “A.DVA.KA.T” contributed 4 million hryvnias. Its director, Yaroslav Kuts, is the deputy chairman of the NAAU Committee on Information Policy. This committee was previously headed by lawyer Oleksiy Shevchuk, the NAAU speaker, and is now headed by Shevchuk’s business partner, Yuriy Radzievsky . According to the Anchorage and Corruption Center , Shevchuk wanted to bail Yermak, but ultimately failed to appear before the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) for the pre-trial detention hearing. It should be noted that the NAAU had sent a positive character reference for Yermak to the HACC .
• The forensic research institution contributed 30 million hryvnias. Until September 2025, it participated in government tenders for forensic examinations. In a comment to Skhemy journalists, the director attributed the contribution to a whim—”I just wanted to do it”—and called it “advertising.”

• SU SEM LLC : the largest corporate donor, having contributed 32 million hryvnias . This Dnipro-based construction company, founded in 2000, is headed by Valeriy Reznik. The scale of the contribution from a legal entity in the money laundering case itself requires an investigation into the sources of this money.
• SV-GRUPP , a car dealership, contributed UAH 10.2 million. Miralife LLC contributed another UAH 9.8 million. There has been no public explanation yet as to why these companies chose to finance the bail bond for the former head of the Public Chamber.
• A logistics company with a charter capital of 40,000 UAH and a contribution of 4 million, Arena Marine LLC contributed 100 times its charter capital. Where this small Odessa company got such free funds remains an open question.
• Other bailiffs include Serhiy Rebrov, Roza Tapanova, Serhiy Sviriba, and others. However, the most prominent individual was and remains the suspect’s lawyer, Igor Fomin . He personally contributed 5 million hryvnias for his client, and previously paid for Yermak’s upgraded pretrial detention facility. Also worth mentioning among individuals is lawyer Serhiy Sviriba , a fellow student of Yermak’s. He contributed 6.5 million hryvnias and is a former partner of Asters , a company that political sources have linked to possible bail fundraising.

What does this say about the state of the legal profession?

It’s noteworthy that the legal profession quickly found millions for bail. These were lawyers and legal organizations with questionable pasts, little-known in the legal services market, or close ties to the current leadership of the bar association. The National Association of Bar Associations (NABA) was the only institution to provide a positive reference for Yermak, creating a separate committee for him, and its spokesperson was willing to provide bail. This once again highlights the need for reform of the legal profession. The European Commission has been emphasizing this need for three years now. DEJURE has developed a roadmap for such reform. The bar association must be accountable, virtuous, and capable of defending the honor of the profession, rather than becoming a corporate shield for its “insiders.”

We call for urgent reform of the legal profession. The bodies that should guarantee the independence of lawyers and trust in the profession cannot be used to shield notorious figures in corruption cases or to pressure those who are undesirable.

As a reminder, the full bail amount of 140 million hryvnias was posted for the former head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak .

As a reminder, on Thursday, May 14, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ordered former head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak to remain in custody with the option of posting bail in the amount of UAH 140 million .

As reported, former head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, suspected of involvement in the laundering of 460 million hryvnias during the construction of an elite cottage community , remains in pretrial detention.