Ferrexpo’s charity donations flowed to firms tied to its then-CEO

The record

Between 2013 and May 2018, Ferrexpo, an iron ore pellet producer listed in London with its mines in Ukraine’s Poltava region, donated about $110 million to a Ukrainian charity called Blooming Land. The total is set out in the company’s own 2018 annual results.

According to an investigation by OCCRP and the Ukrainian outlet Slidstvo.info, published on 16 September 2026, a large share of that money never reached charitable causes. Instead, the reporters say, it moved through commercial companies, at least eight of which were controlled or partly owned by Kostyantyn Zhevago, Ferrexpo’s chief executive and majority shareholder at the time.

What the Crowe review found

The central document is a forensic review carried out by the Ukrainian arm of the audit firm Crowe. It was commissioned by Blooming Land’s new management after it took over in 2023 and has not been published. According to OCCRP, it concluded that roughly $74 million was “not used for its intended purpose”.

The review traced the money from the charity’s three sub-funds to two companies, Khimreaktyv and Gas Turbine Technologies. From there it was passed on to 41 to 43 other Ukrainian firms, often within hours or days. In one December 2016 example cited by OCCRP, about $986,000 left Khimreaktyv within 45 minutes of arriving. The Crowe report did not say who directed the payments and did not name Zhevago, who held no role at the charity.

The links to Zhevago

OCCRP and Slidstvo.info matched the recipients against corporate records. At least eight were companies Zhevago controlled or held shares in. About two dozen appear on a list of some 80 companies that Ukraine’s Deposit Guarantee Fund considers under his control. In 2018, Ferrexpo itself listed Khimreaktyv as a related party “controlled” by Zhevago; his lawyers say he never owned shares in it.

Banking data cited by the reporters show that about $22 million was used by mid-February 2015 to buy shares in Finance and Credit Bank, a lender owned by Zhevago. The bank was classified as troubled in January 2015 and declared insolvent that September. OCCRP says it found no evidence that Zhevago personally directed payments involving the charity.

Ferrexpo’s own review in 2019

The donations first drew scrutiny in 2018, when Ferrexpo’s auditor, Deloitte, reported inconsistencies in bank statements supplied by the charity. Ferrexpo suspended donations in May 2018 and set up an Independent Review Committee in February 2019. Deloitte resigned as auditor in April 2019.

In its conclusions, published on 30 August 2019, the committee said it could not determine how all the funds had been used and that “some of the funds could have been misappropriated”. It found no involvement by Ferrexpo directors, managers or staff, re-affirmed that the charity was not a related party, and ended the relationship with Blooming Land.

The responses

Zhevago’s lawyers told OCCRP that he “has no relation” to Blooming Land, that the findings put to him were “not true or correct”, that the money was spent on charitable purposes, and that criminal proceedings against him are politically motivated. Ferrexpo referred the reporters to the committee’s 2019 statement and said the charity had “repeatedly delayed or failed” to provide information. It did not answer questions about Zhevago’s links to the recipient firms.

Questions that remain unanswered

Who inside or around Blooming Land decided where the money went? Why did the 2019 review conclude that the charity was not a related party, when Ferrexpo had itself listed one of the main recipient firms as controlled by its chief executive? And will Ferrexpo seek to recover any of the funds?

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation has a pretrial criminal investigation into possible misappropriation at Blooming Land; it gave no further details. Zhevago is separately wanted as a suspect in an embezzlement case concerning Finance and Credit Bank, which he denies. No court has ruled on the charity payments, and no one has been charged over them.

Based on reporting from: OCCRP · 16 September 2026; Slidstvo.info · 16 September 2026; Ferrexpo plc · 2018 Full Year Results (amended), RNS · 23 April 2019; Ferrexpo plc · Conclusions of the Independent Review Committee, RNS · 30 August 2019.