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Where is Kolomoisky? Ukrainian Oligarch Seen at US Basketball Games

© REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko/FilesIgor Kolomoisky, billionaire and former governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, speaks during an interview in Dnipropetrovsk May 24, 2014 file photo
Igor Kolomoisky, billionaire and former governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, speaks during an interview in Dnipropetrovsk May 24, 2014 file photo - Sputnik International
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Following his resignation as governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, the billionaire has been seen taking in proceedings at basketball games in the US.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) listens to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky during their meeting in Kiev - Sputnik International
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A member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has reported that billionaire tycoon and former governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region Ihor Kolomoisky has been spotted attending basketball games in the US this week. 

According to a Facebook post from Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of Petro Poroshenko's parliamentary bloc, Kolomoisky received a single-entry visa from the US authorities for the trip, with the help of a meeting with the US ambassador, and the intervention of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky of Dnepropetrovsk, a US citizen. 

"In exactly what passport Kolomoisky put the visa – Ukrainian, Israeli, or Cypriot – is unknown," wrote Leshchenko, who added that those traveling with Kolomoisky received ten-year visas for the trip.

Новости на любимую тему. Коломойский воспользовался недавним разговором с послом США для того, чтобы избавиться от стату…

Posted by Сергій Лещенко on Saturday, 4 April 2015

Above is the Facebook post made by Serhiy Leshchenko on Saturday announcing the whereabouts of Kolomoisky.

In early 2009 it was reported that Kolomoisky had been refused entry to the US, after a file compiled by US Attorney General Michael Mukasey mentioned Kolomoisky in connection with international organized crime, a claim Kolomoisky denied. 

The sighting of Kolomoisky abroad is not the first to reach the media since he left Ukraine shortly after resigning his post as governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region in eastern central Ukraine. Earlier this week, Kolomoisky was reportedly seen arriving at Ben-Gurion airport in Israel, where he owns a villa, and which granted him citizenship in the 1990's. 

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According to sources close to the tycoon, who Forbes last year estimated to be worth $1.8 billion, his villa on the banks of Lake Geneva is a likely final destination, to which he fled Ukraine immediately after leaving the government last month.

On March 25, following a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Poroshenko stated he had accepted the resignation of Kolomoisky from his post as governor of the Dnepopetrovsk region. The announcement came after a standoff that lasted several days, following Kolomoisky's attempt to reassert his control over the state-owned energy companies Urknafta and UkrTransNafta with the help of a group of armed men; he sought to take control of the companies' offices by force. This happened after a March 19 amendment Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada made to the law concerning Joint Stock Companies, which deprived the oligarch of his control over the firms.

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