Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, may own a house in the USA, registered to a straw person – a US citizen. The property is worth over UAH 1 million. This is stated in a journalistic investigation, writes UNN with reference to UNIAN.
A source familiar with the materials of the criminal case against Shabunin reports that he may indeed be the de facto owner of a house in Burlington, registered to a straw person – a US citizen. And Shabunin did not want to "show" his estate in the declaration because he would then have to explain where he got the funds to acquire it. The cost of such a house in the USA, like Shabunin's, starts from 1 million dollars or over 42 million hryvnias
Investigative journalists report that Shabunin concealed in his declaration not only the fact of owning this house, but also that in 2023 his wife and children lived in it.
"On March 11, 2023, Vitaliy Shabunin asks his friend Rostyslav Simikov, who lives in the USA, to send his wife Olena Shabunina decorations for the interior renovation of the anti-corruption activist's new home. The investigation helped to establish the address of Shabunin's house: New Jersey, Burlington, Fountain Boulevard 41. At this address is a residential building with an area of 251 square meters, registered to a straw person with an American passport, Thomas Spadaro. OSINT analysis of photographs confirmed the fact that Shabunin's family lived in this house," they emphasize.
The authors of the investigation believe that Shabunin concealed his American property because he does not have enough official income to legalize it. But the funds operated by the anti-corruption activist, according to his organization's reports, amount to millions of dollars.
"Only during the activity of his grant organization, over 10 million dollars of international aid passed through the hands of this "anti-corruption activist". How much of it ended up in Vitaliy's pockets – the investigation must establish. And grantors will be interested to know how the money allocated to Vitaliy for fighting corruption turned into several hundred square meters of a cozy estate in a small town in northern Vermont," they believe.
Information about the house, the material emphasizes, became known during the investigation of a high-profile criminal case against Shabunin for evading service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Shabunin did not appear for service, but received monthly financial support and "combat pay" in the amount of over 50,000 hryvnias. And he also effectively appropriated a car that volunteers handed over for the needs of the Ukrainian army. Instead of combat missions, Shabunin drove around Kyiv restaurants in the car. And at this time, his family was decorating a new estate in the States," the investigative journalists conclude.
As is known, on July 11, 2025, the SBI announced Shabunin's suspicion under two articles – evasion of service and fraudulent appropriation of property.