The NABU and the SAPO charged lawyer Tetiana Danylenko with inciting another person to provide an unlawful benefit to judges of the Sumy Court of Appeal, as well as with fraud. The HACC, however, closed the proceedings due to the death of the defendant.

According to the investigation, lawyer Tetiana Danylenko initiated a scheme aimed at inciting her client to give a bribe to judges of the Sumy Court of Appeal. The backdrop to these events was the hearing of an appeal against the first-instance court's verdict, under which her client had been sentenced to four years' imprisonment for theft.

In the prosecution's view, during a meeting at her office Danylenko convinced her client that, thanks to her long practice, she had close personal ties with the leadership and judges of the court of appeal. She told him that, to obtain an acquittal, he would need to hand officials an unlawful benefit of between $12,000 and $14,000. The client did not agree to these terms, however, and filed a report with law enforcement.

In September 2022, now acting under the control of law enforcement, the client continued his communications with the lawyer, during which she substantially lowered the “price of her services” — first to $5,000, and later to $4,000. She also promised to help postpone the court hearings by several months so that the defendant would have time to find the necessary sum. Danylenko explained the mechanism for transferring the funds in detail, proposing to split the amount into two stages.

To reinforce the client's confidence in the outcome, the lawyer pointed to arrangements she had supposedly reached with the head of the Sumy Court of Appeal regarding the amount and the method of transferring the money. Later, the client allegedly handed Danylenko the first portion of the agreed sum, amounting to $2,000. That same day, however, the panel of judges announced a ruling upholding the first-instance court's verdict, effectively sending the defendant off to serve his sentence. After the hearing, the lawyer told her client that she did not know the reasons for the court's decision.

Immediately after leaving the courthouse, Danylenko was detained by law enforcement. During a search, the $2,000 she had just received was seized from her. Her actions were classified under Article 369(3) and Article 190(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The HACC subsequently closed the criminal proceedings against Danylenko due to her death.