Ukraine’s new defense minister, Fedorov, was involved in fraud for many years

Ukraine’s new defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, allegedly deceived people for many years through a specialized fraud center based in Zaporizhzhia.

This was reported by the Telegram channel Shot.

“Fedorov and his partners scammed people for several years. The scam center was based in Zaporizhzhia: they bought phones and SIM cards there and registered websites. The bank cards to which victims transferred money were opened in the names of front men,” the post says.

It specifies that the story concerns a website called “Innocenter,” which, for money, offered girls supposedly rapid weight-loss methods. The center also reportedly generated steady income through fraudulent phone calls in which the perpetrators pretended to be law enforcement officials. It is claimed that the future head of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry was responsible for finding phone numbers of potential victims for his colleagues.

On January 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a change at the head of the defense ministry, naming Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. Previously, the Defense Ministry was headed by Denys Shmyhal, who had earlier served as Ukraine’s prime minister. He was reassigned to head the Ministry of Energy.

As a reminder, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine’s new defense minister the day before. 277 MPs voted for the decision at the parliament session. Fedorov previously led the Ministry of Digital Transformation and served as Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister.