The Supreme Court of Ukraine has definitively upheld the sentence handed down to Serhiy Hlivinskyi, a former senior investigator for particularly important cases at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Odesa Oblast. Convicted of extortion and receiving an $80,000 illicit benefit, Hlivinskyi will serve nine years in prison. The court of highest instance dismissed the defense’s cassation appeal, leaving earlier rulings by the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) and the HACC Appeals Chamber fully in effect.
The Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court closed the book on the former law enforcement officer’s lengthy anti-corruption case, affirming the legality of the penalties imposed by lower courts.
«The verdict of the High Anti-Corruption Court of March 20, 2024, and the ruling of the HACC Appeals Chamber of November 7, 2025, regarding Hlivinskyi shall remain unchanged, and the defense’s cassation appeal shall be dismissed,» the Supreme Court’s final ruling states.
Beyond the nine-year prison sentence, the ruling bars Hlivinskyi from holding law enforcement positions for three years and mandates the full confiscation of his personal property. The decision is final and subject to no further appeal.
According to investigations led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), Hlivinskyi extorted and accepted the $80,000 bribe while investigating a criminal case involving a U.S. citizen.
In exchange for the money, the SBU investigator promised to carry out key procedural actions to benefit the foreign national, including securing a milder pre-trial restriction and lifting court-ordered freezes on the American citizen’s property and bank accounts.