At least four Republican congressmen held private meetings on Capitol Hill this September with an embattled Ukrainian politician and businessman mired in allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and supporting Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

The meetings were arranged by Great America PAC board member and NYGOP Finance Co-Chair Yuri Vanetik and former Trump Transition Team member Mark Cowan — both well known to GOP lawmakers for their fundraising and lobbying work. The two men registered as foreign agents for these recent activities.

Congressmen Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Robert Pittenger (R-NC), and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) each met with Deputy MP Serhiy Rybalka, a member of the Radical Party in Ukraine who claims the criminal allegations against him are politically motivated. Rybalka is known as the “Snack King” for his ownership of snack conglomerate S Group. None of the four congressmen responded to requests for comment.

Serhiy Rybalka meeting with Congressman Pittenger, at Senator Daines’ office, and with Congressman Royce; via Rybalka’s Facebook

Raids and Arrests Targeting Rybalka’s Business

The General Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine has been investigating Rybalka for financial crimes since at least February. In 2016, an investigative report into Rybalka’s business dealings was published by a team of journalists from Radio Liberty, a US-funded broadcasting organization, and Ukraine’s National TV Channel “UA: First”. The reporters found over three dozen trademarks for S Group products were registered to an offshore company in Cyprus. This arrangement, the report alleged, allowed S Group to claim the offshore royalties as costs rather than profits, thus skirting the amount of taxes they owed to the Ukrainian treasury. Following a raid of Rybalka’s offices in February, the Attorney General’s spokesperson confirmed they were carried out “within the framework of criminal proceedings”.

The Secret Service in Ukraine (SBU) has also opened an intelligence investigation into Rybalka for alleged violations of the country’s trade blockade against Russia and Russian-occupied territories. Investigative reports published by The Ukrainian National News Agency (UNN) in late 2016 and early 2017 revealed that S Group products were being sold in Russian-occupied territories, and that “clone companies” using a factory in Russia were manufacturing these products under trademarks owned by a Cyprus company. The reports alleged that Rybalka made millions from this business inside Russia and with Russian Separatists. This revelation led the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to call Rybalka a “Kremlin fool.”

Former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko

In October, one month after Rybalka’s visit to D.C., the SBU raided S Group offices once again and arrested of one of Rybalka’s top executives. According to a statement from SBU, the raid was conducted in relation to “a criminal proceeding investigating the circumstances of financing terrorist organizations” in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

Rybalka did not respond to requests for comment. On his website he denies all allegations, claiming he is under “political persecution”.

Rybalka’s American Agents

Rybalka’s trip to America surprised Ukrainians, as it came amidst calls to boycott his products and a vote by Ukrainian Parliament to strip him of his Chairman position on the country’s committee for financial policy and banking activity. Rybalka documented much of the trip on his personal Facebook page, posting images of himself inside the Capitol Building and posing with McCarthy, Royce, and Pittenger. In one Facebook post, Rybalka wrote that he and Senator Daines “discussed the situation in [Russian-occupied territories] and possible paths to it’s peaceful settlement”.

In FARA filings submitted by GOP donor Yuri Vanetik and former Trump Transition team member Mark Cowan, the foreign agents described their lobbying activities as arranging “meetings with U.S. government officials to discuss U.S. foreign policy relating to Ukraine, international commerce and related matters.”

Rybalka’s US fixer, Yuri Vanetik, is a USSR emigre and U.S. citizen who now resides in Orange County, California. A self-proclaimed financier and philanthropist, Vanetik bundled for John McCain in 2008 and served as the California co-chair and All American Vice Chair for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign before becoming heavily involved in fundraising for the 2016 election.

Vanetik joined the board of scandal-plagued Great America PAC in early 2016, and helped raise $30 million for Trump’s campaign. During the campaign, investigative journalists caught PAC leadership attempting to accept a $2 million foreign donation by routing it through an affiliated non-profit. Contributions from foreign entities are illegal under FEC guidelines. Two months before the election, Eric Trump spoke at a Great America PAC fundraiser hosted at Trump World Tower in Manhattan.

Vanetik was appointed National Finance Co-Chair to the NYGOP earlier this year, despite despite being a California resident. In June, Lara Trump appeared as a special guest during an NYGOP fundraising event