The "Continuium" business empire: What drives the fierce battles over Yermeyev's inheritance?

Following the sudden death of influential businessman Igor Yeremeyev in 2015, the business empire "Continuum", which includes one of the largest players in Ukraine's fuel market — the WOG gas station network, found itself at the center of a significant legal and judicial saga. More details can be found in the article by RBC-Ukraine.

The businessman’s family faced a complicated process of regaining control over part of the assets of the financial and industrial group that belonged to Yeremeyev.

The children, direct heirs, were excluded from the list of WOG shareholders through the businessman’s partners, including Stepan Ivakhiv and Sergey Lagura, and effectively received nothing from their father's millions in assets. More experienced "sharks of business" outmaneuvered the descendants of their former partner, appropriating a 25% share of the WOG Holding group in their favor.

The long-standing court battles, which have spanned half the globe — from Ukraine to Cyprus and the Virgin Islands — vividly illustrate the problems of corporate governance in Ukraine, especially when it involves hundreds of millions of dollars. At what stage is the most high-profile case regarding the division of inheritance?

In the fall of 2024, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that could change the course of the long-standing battle for Igor Yeremeyev's inheritance. The panel of judges declared the property division agreement between MP Stepan Ivakhiv and his ex-wife, dated September 30, 2021, invalid, thereby supporting the businessman’s widow.

She argued that Stepan Ivakhiv transferred corporate rights to the assets of the "Continuum" group, 25% of which belonged to Yeremeyev, to his ex-wife without compensation under the property division agreement at divorce, to avoid a possible inheritance division with Yeremeyev’s widow and children.

The Supreme Court overturned the decisions of previous instances, which had refused to recognize this agreement as invalid, and sent the case for reconsideration. It is evident that the case concerning corporate assets and control over the WOG group of companies has taken a new turn. But let’s take it step by step.

Who is Igor Yeremeyev?

Today, nearly a decade after Igor Yeremeyev's death and the subsequent period of significant upheaval, not everyone can immediately recall who this businessman was and what role he played in Ukrainian business and politics.

Born in a small village of Ostrozhets and a graduate of Rivne National University of Water Management with a degree in "Industrial and Civil Engineering," Igor Yeremeyev, at the age of 24, in 1992, along with his student friend Stepan Ivakhiv, founded the private enterprise "Continuum" in their native village and became its director. The business direction chosen by the young entrepreneurs was promising — the fuel and energy sector.

In the following years, the enterprise, which started with small semi-underground gas stations, rapidly developed, annually absorbing other companies of a similar profile. In 2000, Yeremeyev and Ivakhiv entered into a joint business agreement with the shareholders of the Drohobych Oil Refinery, Sergey Lagura and Peter Dyminsky. Thus, the "Continuum" company acquired its own oil refinery.

The financially-industrial group quickly became one of the leaders in the fuel market, not only in Ukraine but also in Eastern Europe. According to the State Tax Service of Ukraine, in the last years of Yeremeyev's life, the "Continuum" financial-industrial group comprised 224 companies, including those in the fuel, dairy, and real estate sectors.

Apart from business, Yeremeyev was actively involved in politics: he served as a people's deputy three times and had a reputation as an influential player in regional and national politics. He first became a deputy in the Rada in 2002, winning elections in a single-mandate district in Volyn, and was part of the "Agrarian" faction (later — "People's") of Vladimir Litvyn's party. He was re-elected in 2012 in the same district as an independent candidate. For the third time, he entered parliament in the same district during the extraordinary parliamentary elections of 2014, heading the "People's Will" deputy group.

Photo: Igor Yeremeyev

Thus, from the early 2000s until his death, Yeremeyev was one of the richest and most influential figures of his time. His unexpected death (the businessman died in August 2015 from a fall while horseback riding and a head injury) came as a shock to many and marked the beginning of a protracted legal battle for control over his estate, as the deceased left no will.

Yeremeyev left behind a wife, Tatyana, and two children. His 25% share in the "Continuum" group was valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. Although his share in the group remained legally unchanged, the businessman’s partners — Stepan Ivakhiv and Sergey Lagura — effectively took over management.

How it all began

How it all began Shortly after Yeremeyev's death, his partners Ivakhiv and Lagura began managing the offshore trust R&S Trust in the British Virgin Islands, which will be discussed below. Corporate rights to part of the companies in the "Continuum" group, which belonged to the late businessman, were transferred to this trust. Yeremeyev's widow claims that the trust was created without her family's knowledge and, moreover, its activities deprived the heirs of the ability to control the assets.

In the case of the "Continuum" group, R&S Trust served as the formal owner of the assets, while the Yeremeyev family was merely a beneficiary, which in practice meant a lack of real management authority.

It was from that moment that Yeremeyev's widow initiated legal proceedings both in Ukraine and abroad, claiming that the trust's creation was illegal and that notaries in Ukraine facilitated the documentation in favor of Ivakhiv and Lagura.

Photo: Stepan Ivakhiv

The shares of WOG Holding Ltd are the most valuable asset of the trust. It was supposed that in case of Yeremeyev's death or loss of capacity, Sergey Lagura would become the trustee. Within six months thereafter, Lagura was to appoint a qualified and reputable trustee in his place, while Stepan Ivakhiv was to serve as the protector (defender of rights and interests).

However, the businessman’s widow is convinced that this is merely a "legend," and her husband never created any trust during his lifetime. Moreover, the family only learned of its existence in 2016.

Breach of Trust

To understand the situation surrounding the businessman’s inheritance, it is essential to return to 2013, when, following a restructuring in the British Virgin Islands, the Netherlands, and Cyprus, the ownership of WOG Group was divided equally among four shareholders, each owning 25% of the shares.

After that, according to Ivakhiv and Lagura, in 2014, he himself created R&S Trust for his children, Roman and Sofia, which included shares of Yudelle Asset Holdings, WOG Holding Ltd, and other assets of the "Continuum" group.

Be that as it may, immediately after Yeremeyev's death in August 2015, his partners began to act preemptively: Lagura was appointed the trustee of R&S Trust, while Ivakhiv became the protector of the trust. However, by 2016, instead of Lagura, management rights over the trust were transferred to Estera Corporate Services Ltd, which strengthened Ivakhiv's control over the assets, while the heirs of Yeremeyev were left with a nominal role.

Photo: Sergey Lagura

Estera Corporate Services Ltd deserves a separate mention. It is an international provider of corporate and trust services that has been involved in offshore dealings. Moreover, the company participated in dubious financial schemes, including cases of fraud and money laundering. Lawyers assert that Estera may serve as a "front" company for certain clients, providing them with confidentiality and control over their assets.

It is noteworthy that Estera is also mentioned in the Paradise Papers — a massive international leak of documents from 2017, consisting of over 13 million files. This leak revealed information about hidden financial operations, tax evasion, and the use of offshore zones by influential people worldwide — from British Queen Elizabeth to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

As a result, in 2017, the first legal proceedings began in the British Virgin Islands, where the trust was registered. The Yeremeyev family, as beneficiaries of R&S Trust, began to doubt the actions of the managers and complained about inadequate information regarding their actions concerning the trust's assets. Another trigger for the conflict was the sale of