Former prime minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has sold 30% of shares in Espreso.TV to U.S. Atmosphere Entertainment, Inc. (New York) under control of Ivan Zhevaho, son of MP Kostiantyn Zhevaho, for $1.465 million, Yatsenyuk's spokesperson Olha Lappo has said.

"As a result of a transparent and public sale of the stake in the TV channel, he will pay about UAH 7 million in taxes to the national budget," she wrote on her Facebook page.

In the middle of August 2017, Lappo said that Yatsenyuk had exercised the option from 2013 and acquired 30% of shares for UAH 3.8 million from a co-founder of the channel Larisa Kniazhytska.

According to the press secretary, now Yatsenyuk got the opportunity to sell his stake in the TV channel and implemented it in order to avoid speculation about the politicization of the channel's activities.

Lappo said that the deal was concluded without tax optimization schemes and the use of offshore companies, and all financial transactions were tested in the relevant banks of the United States and Ukraine.

Espreso.TV channel was created in the autumn of 2013. Its founders are Mykola Kniazhytsky and former editor-in-chief of the weekly 'Comments' Vadym Denysenko.