Bankruptcy of "Imperiya-Agro": criminal collusion of Reveruk and Lytvynenko against bona fide creditors

Bankruptcy of "Imperiya-Agro": criminal collusion of Reveruk and Lytvynenko against bona fide creditors

In March 2019, news broke widely about the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against LLC "Imperiya-Agro".

As is known, "Imperiya-Agro" was one of the largest official distributors of leading global companies, producers of high-quality seeds and plant protection products. Its owner, Yuriy Otsabryk, also once owned another well-known distributor, "Tridenta Agro", which is now considered liquidated. According to market sources, it was deliberately driven to bankruptcy through a scheme similar to the one now affecting "Imperiya-Agro".

As a result of the bankruptcy of "Imperiya-Agro", hundreds of farmers and large international companies suffered losses.

However, Yuriy Otsabryk, the former owner of the debtor, continues to maintain a public lifestyle and states that he is still communicating with the creditors of "Imperiya-Agro" and aims to continue addressing the issue of debt repayment.

However, there are no results of his efforts in the public sphere.

It can only be noted that the creditor debt exceeds 550,000,000.00 UAH. Nevertheless, after Otsabryk’s new public statements, it also became known what is currently happening in the bankruptcy procedure of one of the once most powerful agricultural distributors.

Journalists have found out that the liquidation procedure of the debtor is still ongoing, lasting over 5 years now, and the bankruptcy procedure is incomplete, with creditors’ debts unpaid. So, what causes such a prolonged consideration of the case, especially since the creditors recognized by the court are large international firms?

As seen from official registries, this year the debtor’s liquidator was changed, - arbitration manager Petro Reveruk, and immediately after his change, at least 5 lawsuits regarding the appeal of public auctions conducted in September 2024 were filed to the Kyiv City Economic Court.

Petro Reveruk

As a result of the public auctions, the debtor receives funds to repay its creditors’ debts. One would assume everything is fine, but it’s not the case.

As law enforcement agencies have determined, arbitration manager Petro Reveruk sold the debtor’s assets at prices tens, or even hundreds, of times lower than the established lot price. These auctions were conducted against the interests of the creditors, so there is no basis to claim the arbitration manager’s independence and impartiality.

Serhiy Lytvynenko

According to sources in law enforcement, the State Bureau of Investigation has currently initiated a criminal case on the conspiracy of the bankrupt’s liquidator, - Petro Reveruk, and one of the creditors’ representatives - lawyer Serhiy Lytvynenko, concerning the sale of bankrupt’s assets at undervalued prices.

As reported, this criminal case concerns the auctions that are currently being contested in court. The auctions specifically involved the sale of a claim that LLC "Imperiya-Agro" had. Thus, LLC "Imperiya-Agro" had a debtor, with whom legal processes lasted many years, who was supposed to return more than 20 million UAH, which could have been distributed among creditors. However, due to the criminal actions of the Reveruk-Lytvynenko duo, the debtor bought back its debt for only 0.6% of its real value, causing losses to both LLC "Imperiya-Agro" and its creditors. This is the episode being investigated by the SBI.

Therefore, the story of "Imperiya-Agro" will likely remain in the public eye for a long time and might even gain new momentum.