In June 2023, Roman Kravets commissioned paintings depicting the Joker, played by actor Heath Ledger in the film “The Dark Knight”. Initially, Roman ordered the delivery under his name.
0He then placed another order for the same painting for his friend Maxim Radutsky, a 35-year-old director of development at FC “Dynamo”. Maxim is the son of Mikhail Radutsky, a people's deputy from the “Servant of the People” party and a former advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Radutsky Jr. and Kravets traveled abroad together twice — in October 2023 and August 2024.
1Roman Kravets himself claims that he has never given paintings as gifts to anyone and did not immediately recall Maxim Radutsky. When he did remember, he wrote that he had “ordered escort services” through him.
Maxim Radutsky had a better memory: he immediately acknowledged that he knew Kravets and that they indeed traveled abroad together. Furthermore, Radutsky also recalled the painting.
“I paid for everything myself; I don’t need gifts from such people because they might come back asking for something in return,” he stated.
Not stopping at two paintings, Kravets ordered several more. Tracking their fate is not difficult. One was photographed with Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. The other was with David Arakhamia, head of the “Servant of the People” faction in the Verkhovna Rada, and Rustem Umerov, the Minister of Defense.
2It is unlikely anyone would agree to receive such strange gifts from a stranger, let alone publicly post photos. It seems the Joker is not boasting about his connections in political circles for nothing and is increasing his own influence.
Kravets has been mingling with politicians since 2015. Back then, during the elections in Chernihiv, the 20-year-old Roman got acquainted with the entourage of Hennadiy Korban, who was running in the midterm elections for the Verkhovna Rada. At that time, Korban was supported by the current mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov. He agreed to tell us how Kravets entered their orbit. “This kid — I mean Roman Kravets — somehow, I don’t know how, ended up in our election headquarters. Back then, all these SMM technologies were new. He spoke very well about all this and was practically the guy responsible for social media in the headquarters,” Filatov said.
3According to tax records, from 2018 to 2023, Roman Kravets officially worked at LLC “SSL Consulting”, which was engaged in real estate rental. He was listed as the deputy director for information technology and security.
“SSL Consulting” belongs to a relative of Hennadiy Korban — Ihor Birmann. Korban is a former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, a Dnipro businessman who, in 2022, was stripped of his citizenship allegedly due to having a foreign passport, but even after that, the Joker continued to receive money from this LLC.
4The company linked to Korban officially paid Roman Kravets a salary of 180,000 hryvnias in 2022, and 179,000 hryvnias in 2023. Not per month, but per year. The amounts are small, but the experience counts.
Kravets does not recall his work at this LLC. Instead, he claims he was freelancing online.
“I used to do side jobs: for $200 once a month, I was asked to sign documents, and I got $200 for that — I found a job online,” he asserts.
Meanwhile, Kravets’ actual income comes from the Telegram channel “Joker”. Previously, the channel's description included pricing. He charged $47,500 for advertising on the channel. Suspending publications on a specific topic cost from $389,000. Removing information cost from $236,000. According to our information, Kravets keeps his finances in a bank in Kazakhstan.
On July 18, 2024, people’s deputy from “Servant of the People” Dmytro Huryn supported a law allowing those suspected of corruption to "buy their way" out of punishment through fines in the first reading. He later explained that he did this by mistake because he “mixed up the bill numbers.” A scandal ensued — and the Joker called Huryn.
“He wanted to talk, telling me something about the people and how he feels about deputies. I said: listen, you asked me how it was — I told you. If you want to smear me, go ahead; that’s your specialty. And he quite transparently said that 'there is a practice', meaning whoever paid — that’s who sets the news,” the deputy recounted.
Similar behavior by the Joker was described by Dnipro's mayor Borys Filatov. At some point, posts in the eponymous Telegram channel began to directly concern him.
“He first writes: it’s not me. Then he writes: I’ve always respected you. Then he writes: you are losing the war against the authorities. And he wants to pit me against the central authority. And he names names: if you want to win — you must go out and name the names of so-and-so. Then he practically accuses other people, and in the end says: if you need anything — I will help you if you want,” the official recounted.
Filatov added that anonymous accounts on Signal offered him $100,000 USDT for information about those behind the campaign to discredit him. Although not long ago, Filatov had quite working relations with the Joker.
“When I was elected mayor, I communicated [with Roman Kravets] several times. In particular, he created my Telegram channel. He was the admin there. Officially, I mean,” the mayor of Dnipro told us.
At the start of the invasion and occupation, Kravets met in his native Kherson region and then moved to Dnipro.
“He was in Dnipro, running around the perimeter... I know that when he arrived from the occupation, he stayed at Korban's hotel,” added Borys Filatov.
In early 2023, Roman Kravets purchased a 70-square-meter apartment in Dnipro. The seller of the property was the investment fund “ROCHESTER”. The company’s office is located in Kyiv on Velyka Vasylkivska Street, 28, in apartment number 1. The Kyiv city organization of the political party “Proposal”, founded by the mayors of six Ukrainian cities, including Borys Filatov, is also registered here. He now claims that he knows nothing about the Joker’s apartment.
5Kravets bought it for 880,000 hryvnias, which is about $20,000. At that time, the market value was around $100,000. This means it cost Kravets five times less. By April 2023, he sold the property for over 1,800,000 hryvnias.
6Roman Kravets himself claims he never bought any apartments in Dnipro. He suggests that it might have been done by his former employer without his knowledge, though he did not name them.
Kravets settled in Kyiv. It is evident that things have been going well. In early summer 2024, the Joker had two cars: a Mercedes-Benz worth about $50,000 and a Lexus LX 600 worth $150,000. After our investigation was published in June, Roman Kravets got rid of the Lexus and switched to a Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 worth $200,000.
7The car is officially registered to Yekaterina Onofriychuk — who has no connection to the Joker but has ties to the football club “Dynamo”, where, as a reminder, Kravets’ friend Maxim Radutsky works.
Until June 2024, Roman traveled abroad five times, and then three more times. According to him, first on the basis of “Shlyakh” (probably as a volunteer), then on a “white” ticket. The last trip, from September 22 to October 3, piqued our interest the most.
On September 29, Kravets and his girlfriend — 23-year-old blogger Ulyana Melnyk — arrived at Paris airport. In Paris, they checked into the 5-star Shangri-La Paris hotel. The cheapest room here costs from $2,000 per night, while a suite starts