Supposedly Dead Guy Found Alive, Living in Castle

Ukrainian suspect was arrested earlier this month
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2018 1:25 PM CDT
Supposedly Dead Guy Found Alive, Living in Castle
A French castle, although not the one the suspect was living in.   (AP Photo/Alina Hartounian)

A supposedly dead Ukrainian fugitive was found earlier this month living like a king, literally. French police detained the man—law enforcement authorities say he is a "high-profile" person but identified him only as "King of the Castle"—on Oct. 5 near Dijon, where he had been living "lavishly" in a 12th-century castle furnished with Salvador Dali artwork, Bloomberg reports. In all, officers seized $5.3 million in property, also including jewelry and a vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom. "The suspect is thought to be behind a complex case of international fraud and money laundering," according to a statement from Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency. He is accused of forging death certificates to evade authorities.

Authorities started investigating in January after the castle was purchased by a Luxembourg company that was ultimately found to be owned by a Ukrainian citizen suspected of large-scale corruption in his native country. Europol coordinated with French, Ukrainian, and Luxembourg authorities to determine the supposedly dead suspect was actually alive and to track him down in France. He was detained along with three accomplices. Though Europol isn't giving his name, the office of Ukraine's prosecutor general says it is preparing to extradite a Dmytro Malynovskyi from France, referring to him as a "'resurrected' citizen." And French police name the castle he was living in as the Château de La Rochepot near Chassagne-Montrachet. Corruption remains a big problem in Ukraine, the Los Angeles Times reports. (A journalist faked his own murder using pig's blood.)

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