The Kyiv Court of Appeal has upheld the seizure of property, cash, and office seals confiscated as part of an investigation into the operations of the unauthorized electronics network Monolit. Owners and defendants in the case failed to overturn restrictions on assets that investigators consider material evidence in large-scale financial abuses.
According to case file No. 72025001110000049—opened under articles concerning smuggling, legalization of proceeds, and tax evasion (Parts 3 of Articles 201-3, 209, and 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)—organizers of the ring, led by Kyrylo Pakhomov, established a shadow mechanism for importing Apple devices, drones, and chargers into Ukraine outside customs control. Unauthorized retail locations, online platforms, an official website, and a Telegram channel were used to distribute the illegal goods.
Financial transactions featured a high degree of diversification: alongside traditional cash, individual and sole proprietorship (FOP) bank accounts, a Tether USDT TRC-20 cryptocurrency wallet was actively utilized. According to official prosecutor data, a colossal sum of 1.067 billion hryvnias passed through this crypto wallet over several years. Specifically, turnover reached 106 million UAH in 2022, 169 million UAH in 2023, 128 million UAH in 2024, 599 million UAH in 2025, and another 1.5 million UAH at the start of 2026. Preliminary investigative estimates suggest state budget losses from tax evasion total approximately 78.5 million UAH, consisting of 72.5 million UAH in personal income tax and 6 million UAH in military levy.
During searches conducted by law enforcement officers in Lviv at 6 Poliska Street, a significant volume of material assets was discovered. Seizures included five iPhone smartphones, Oppo devices, laptops, disks, solid-state drives (SSDs), a Hikvision video recorder, and a large wholesale batch of Apple power adapters—9,600 units packed in 40 boxes. Additionally, authorities found seals belonging to Flymultitech LLC, Airspark LLC, a sole proprietor seal, four facsimile signatures, and over 2,000 pages of documentation related to the activities of Flymultitech, Eltekhopt, Apiks Logist, Kembel, and the Monolit network itself. Cash discovered on-site included approximately 76,500 UAH, nearly 29,000 US dollars, and 4,000 euros.
Simultaneously, investigative actions unfolded in the capital, where Economic Security Bureau (ESB) detectives visited an office featuring a «Cashier» sign. On the ground floor, several devices without SIM trays, Asus computers, and MacBooks were blocked, with staff refusing to grant access. A safe on the second floor also remained locked without accessible keys. Inside the premises, paper packages labeled with names of well-known Kyiv retail outlets contained cash:
«Okean F» — 254,000 UAH;
«INK FOP Kosmo» — 174,000 UAH;
«River Mall FOP» — 122,000 UAH and $900;
«INK LLC Kosmo» — 116,000 UAH;
«Khreshchatyk LLC» — 96,000 UAH;
«Pyramida FOP» — 81,000 UAH;
«TG VV 14» — 80,000 UAH;
«River Outlet FOP» — 70,000 UAH;
«River Mall LLC» — 52,000 UAH;
«Okean T» — 44,000 UAH, alongside smaller envelopes for FOP Aladdin and FOP Khreshchatyk.
The total volume of cash seized in the Kyiv office amounted to approximately 1.11 million UAH and $13,580. Nearby, law enforcement found eleven cash transfer receipts processed through the same individual from the cash desk, along with seals for Retailcompany LLC and Importmax LLC.
The Lviv office served as a corporate shell equipped with necessary requisites, documentation, and wholesale equipment stock, while the Kyiv branch accumulated daily revenue from retail sales across specific capital stores. Despite defense attempts to appeal the seizures, the appellate court acknowledged the legitimacy of investigators’ actions in blocking financial flows and assets. At the same time, the law provides the right to repeatedly petition the court to lift the seizure if the defense can prove during further investigation that the necessity for retaining these exhibits has ceased.