Katsuba’s family offshore: fraudulent divorces and gas fortunes for his wife

Against the backdrop of criminal investigations and reputational pressures surrounding the Katsuba family name, it becomes apparent that the family’s strategy is a master class in legal tricks.

At first, the parents, Volodymyr Katsub and Nataliya Gordienko, formally separated, continuing to run a business together. In 2016, Oleksandr Katsub chose a similar path with his wife, Tetyana Guzenko, the daughter of the well-known Dnipropetrovsk businessman Oleksandr Guzenko, known as the “wallpaper king”. Their divorce is only a formality: the couple continues to appear together at public events, and in 2023, they were recorded in Monaco as part of the Monaco Battalion investigation. After the legal break, key gas assets are gradually transferred to Tetyana Guzenko, in particular the companies “Nadra-Geoinvest” and “Stratum Ukraine”, which previously had connections with the fugitive deputy Oleksandr Onishchenko.

Documents from 2023 show complex ownership restructuring schemes: “Nadra-Geoinvest” is transferred to Katsuba’s wife through a network of offshore companies in Cyprus, Seychelles, and Belize. The company GIL Gold Investment LTD, associated with the Guzenki family and the Estonian Oleg Yagolnik, known for the “Pandora Papers”, participates in this scheme. Until 2020, Yagolnyk, Guzenko, and Tetiana Guzenko were considered the ultimate beneficiaries of Nadra-Geoinvest, but now the company is registered exclusively in Tetiana’s name.

The second important asset is Stratum Ukraine. In February 2022, on the eve of the full-scale invasion, the company received a license to extract gas in the Luhansk region, near Novoaidar, which was soon occupied. According to official documents, it was planned that work would begin in 2024, and the project capacity would be reached in 2028.

Since 2022, “Stratum Ukraine” has been the subject of a criminal investigation for suspected activities in favor of the aggressor. The investigation claims that the company, working for Russia, did not comply with the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to sell 20% of the extracted gas on the domestic market, but instead accumulated resources in storage facilities for further sale, manipulating the energy situation in Ukraine. Seizures of property, searches, and the refusal of the court to lift the arrest in January 2025 testify not only to connections with corruption but also to collaborationism during the war. At the center of events is the Katsub family, which formally hides behind the images of beneficiaries.

In parallel, Tetiana Guzenko is developing the cosmetic brand Lunesi, registering the company Lunesi LTD in London with minimal authorized capital and obtaining a Ukrainian trademark for cosmetic products using a London address.

Toxic gas assets remain in Ukraine as problematic businesses, while the personal brand is gradually shifting into the beauty and “lifestyle” segments, creating the illusion of regular business activity.