Editor’s Note: The following article is part of the Ukraine Oligarch Watch series of reports supported by Objective Investigative Reporting Program, a MYMEDIA project funded by the Danish government. All articles in this series will be available in English, Russian or Ukrainian can be republished freely with credit to their source. Content is independent of donor.

Ukraine’s enigmatic gas billionaire lost his position at the top and much of his wealth after the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove his ally President Viktor Yanukovych from power. Still in exile in Vienna fighting U.S. criminal bribery charges, he has vowed to return to Ukraine and influence events, but his prospects of a comeback are getting slimmer all the time.