Gennadiy (Zvi Hirsch) Bogolyubov (, ; b. 20 January 1962) is a Ukrainian oligarch based in the United Kingdom. He controlled

Privat Group The Privat Group, or PrivatBank Group (, romanized: ''Hrupa "Pryvat"'') is a global business group, based in Ukraine. Privat Group controls thousands of companies of virtually every industry in Ukraine, the European Union, Georgia, Ghana, Russia, t ...

, along with

Ihor Kolomoyskyi Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi (; ; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli billionaire businessman, once considered the leading oligarch in Ukraine. Already an entrepreneur in the last years of Soviet Ukraine, in 2010 Kolomoyskyi w ...

and .

Early life

Gennadiy Bogolyubov is a native of

Dniprodzerzhynsk Kamianske (, ; ), previously known as Dniprodzerzhynsk from 1936 to 2016, is an industrial city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, and a port on the Dnieper River. It serves as the administrative center of Kamianske Raion and Kamianske urban ...

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...

Career

In 2010, Bogolyubov was reported as being the third richest Ukrainian, having a net worth of $5.429 billion. He has interests in ferroalloys, petrochemicals, and finance, and owns the largest manganese miner in Australia, Consolidated Minerals. In April 2015, it was reported that he had settled out of court with his rabbi, Yonah Pruss, who had sought over £20 million, over "two major London property deals". Bogolyubov and fellow Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky were being sued by another Ukrainian billionaire

Viktor Pinchuk Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk (; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes magazine'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list of wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of US$1.44 billion. ...

in the largest damages claim before London's High Court, for about US$2 billion, settling the case a few days before the trial was due to start. In 2025, President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

imposed sanctions on multiple oligarchs and individuals including Boholyubov on suspicion of "high treason" and assisting a terrorist organization, particularly their role in compromising national security through unfavorable business agreements with Russia. The next day, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office announced the opening of criminal investigations against him and other sanctioned individuals.

Philanthropy

Bogolyubov has established the Bogolyubov Foundation, "a charitable organisation rooted in authentic

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

values". In 2014, his foundation funded an educational center for Jewish history in a hall excavated under Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter, among mainly

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

remains connected by underground spaces to the

Western Wall tunnel The Western Wall Tunnel (, translit.: ''Minharat Hakotel'') is a tunnel exposing the Western Wall slightly north from where the traditional, open-air prayer site ends and up to the Wall's northern end. Most of the tunnel is in continuation of th ...

. Bogolyubov financed the excavation and refurbishing of the underground area with ca. $20 million out of his own wealth. Bogolyubov funded the Menorah Centre, a 56,000 square meter Jewish community center with attached synagogue in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Personal life

Bogolyubov was married and has six children. He separated from his wife in 2023. He resided on

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for ...

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

, London, England, until 2023, paying his ex-wife £7m to move out of the country in an attempt to avoid legal action over alleged fraud at Privatbank by severing his ties to the United Kingdom, threatening to cut off child support to their children if she did not comply. He led a secular life until his mid-40s when he rediscovered

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

and is a practicing Jew today. It was reported in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' that Bogolyubov had acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2016 through a " Golden visa" scheme, "as a result of him having made substantial investments in the country (via certain companies) and being fully compliant with the legal requirements at the time". In November 2017 Bogolyubov officially declared that he was a citizen of

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He also noted that he lived in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogolyubov, Gennadiy 1962 births Living people Ukrainian oligarchs People from Kamianske Ukrainian billionaires Ukrainian philanthropists Ukrainian Jews Cypriot billionaires Ukrainian emigrants to Cyprus Naturalized citizens of Cyprus Ukrainian businesspeople in the United Kingdom