Law enforcement officials did not disclose the name of the individual involved, however, according to sources from "Ukrainian Truth", it concerns businessman, writer, and former ATO fighter Vladislav Granetsky-Stafiychuk (Vlad Sorda), who was previously accused on social media of misappropriating funds raised for military needs.
Police noted that in July 2022, the man stated on his page that he had the opportunity to purchase five foreign-made mortars with a total cost of about 3.5 million UAH. According to the investigation, the individual emphasized the urgency of collecting funds, claiming that the weapons were intended to assist the military in battles near Izium in the Kharkiv region.
"As investigators from the National Police discovered, a certain portion of the funds was kept by the man himself. This concerns at least 350,000 UAH that were misappropriated from the collections. Evidence of this is reflected in the movement of funds through his personal bank accounts, to which law enforcement obtained sanctioned access during the investigation," the authorities noted.
The Office of the Prosecutor General informed that the detained individual was notified of the suspicion of unlawfully acquiring someone else's property through deception (fraud), committed on a large scale (Part 3 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to UП, the veteran and co-founder of the publishing house "House of Chimeras," Stafiychuk announced a fundraising campaign for the "Seneca" unit of the 93rd brigade, but social media users reported that he did not provide an accounting for it. Later, the military admitted to spending the money "on other needs of 'Seneca'." Subsequently, various social media platforms began to feature testimonies from different individuals who complained about Sorda and suspected him of fraud.