More than 150 objects for 17.5 billion dollars: the first finds of the "Tracker of foreign property of the Russian elite" from OCCRP

The Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP), togeth­er with “Important Stories” and the largest media in the world, began to track the for­eign assets of sta­tus Russians who were under sanctions

After the Russian attack on Ukraine, Western coun­tries imposed sanc­tions against key fig­ures in the Putin regime, as well as major Russian busi­ness­men close to pow­er. These peo­ple, with the help of lawyers and finan­cial advis­ers, have learned to hide their wealth behind off­shore com­pa­nies, trusts and funds in such a way that even expe­ri­enced law enforce­ment offi­cers find it dif­fi­cult to prove who the ulti­mate ben­e­fi­cia­ries of this prop­er­ty are.

Journalists from 24 media from around the world, includ­ing Le Monde (France), The Guardian (UK), Miami Herald (USA), togeth­er with the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP), decid­ed to com­pile a list of for­eign assets of Russian states­men and oli­garchs close to them . We have col­lect­ed infor­ma­tion about their real estate, yachts, air­craft and oth­er prop­er­ty in a pub­lic database.

In the first part of the project, we focused on offi­cials, heads of state-owned com­pa­nies and entre­pre­neurs close to pow­er who, despite the long-announced “nation­al­iza­tion of the elites” in Russia, acquired prop­er­ty in the West and at the same time sup­port­ed the Putin regime in Russia.

In the first phase of the project, we col­lect­ed data on more than 150 assets. Their total val­ue exceeds $17.5 bil­lion. We have includ­ed in the list only those cas­es where the own­er­ship of the assets can be proven using offi­cial doc­u­ments and oth­er reli­able sources. 

Corrupt politi­cians and busi­ness­men close to the author­i­ties have tak­en huge cap­i­tals out of Russia and off­shore. To find these funds, jour­nal­ists from OCCRP and oth­er media have stud­ied leaked doc­u­ments about the own­ers of off­shore com­pa­nies (for exam­ple, the ” Panama Papers ” and ” Pandora Archive ”), as well as data from land and cor­po­rate reg­istries of dif­fer­ent coun­tries. With the help of these doc­u­ments, we com­piled a list of for­eign assets of mem­bers of the Russian elite who were under sanc­tions, their rel­a­tives and per­sons close to them.

Some of these assets were already known, some we have only just learned about. We will add new names and update the data­base regularly .

If you know of assets of Russian offi­cials and gov­ern­ment offi­cials that are not on the list, you can report them to us or OCCRP by com­plet­ing this form. includ­ing using a secure com­mu­ni­ca­tion chan­nel , which will reli­ably pre­serve your anonymity.

Yuri Chaika , presidential envoy to the North Caucasian Federal District, former Prosecutor General

Sanctions:

• USA (against his son Artem Chaika) — since December 21, 2017
• Australia — from February 24, 2022,
• Canada — from February 26, 2022

Why on the list

Until 2006, Yuri Chaika was the Minister of Justice, and then until 2020 he served as the Prosecutor General of Russia. As a pros­e­cu­tor, he over­saw many polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed crim­i­nal cases.

The eldest son of Chaika  Artem also fell under the sanc­tions . US author­i­ties believe that he used his father’s posi­tion in the com­pe­ti­tion for gov­ern­ment con­tracts. The Alexei Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation dis­cov­ered the Chaika fam­i­ly’s lux­u­ri­ous real estate abroad.

You can read more about Chaika’s assets here .

Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Vladimir Putin

Sanctions:

• EU — from February 28, 2022
• USA — from March 3, 2022
• Canada — from March 6, 2022
• USA (sanc­tions against the whole fam­i­ly) — from March 11, 2022

Why on the list

Peskov has been work­ing in the press ser­vice of Vladimir Putin in var­i­ous posi­tions since 2000. In 2012, he became Presidential Press Secretary and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. Peskov has repeat­ed­ly pub­licly jus­ti­fied the Russian inva­sion of Ukraine. 

Peskov came under US sanc­tions for facil­i­tat­ing a glob­al dis­in­for­ma­tion cam­paign by Russia. Later, the US also imposed sanc­tions on his fam­i­ly for “a lux­u­ri­ous lifestyle that does not cor­re­late with Peskov’s income as a civ­il ser­vant and is prob­a­bly pro­vid­ed with ille­gal income from his con­nec­tions with Putin.”

You can read more about Peskov’s assets here .

Roman Abramovich, oligarch

Sanctions:

• United Kingdom — from March 10, 2022
• Canada — from March 11, 2022
• Australia — from March 14, 2022
• EU — from March 15, 2022

Why on the list

Since the late 1990s, Abramovich has been a mem­ber of the inner cir­cle of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Abramovich became one of Russia’s rich­est men, buy­ing up Russian oil assets in pri­va­ti­za­tions after the col­lapse of the Soviet Union. From 1999 to 2000 he worked in the State Duma, from 2000 to 2008 Abramovich served as gov­er­nor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. According to the Bloomberg Billionere Index, Abramovich ‘s net worth is esti­mat­ed at $13.9 billion. 

All over the world, Abramovich is known as the own­er of the Chelsea foot­ball club. After the Russian inva­sion of Ukraine, the oli­garch announced that he was sell­ing the club. He cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly denies being close to Putin and the Russian government.

What’s new: Previously unknown assets of Abramovich and his family

In 2020, 400 jour­nal­ists from 90 coun­tries pub­lished clas­si­fied US finan­cial intel­li­gence files — FinCEN. From these files, it became known that, as of 2016, Roman Abramovich is the “sole ben­e­fi­cia­ry” of a trust reg­is­tered in Cyprus (HF Trust). 

In 2015–2016, HF Trust was the own­er of sev­er­al com­pa­nies in the British Virgin Islands through which invest­ments were made in hedge funds. The vol­ume of invest­ments for this peri­od was esti­mat­ed from 892 mil­lion dol­lars to 1.3 bil­lion dollars.

The FinCEN files also revealed that Abramovich was a ben­e­fi­cia­ry of the Sara Trust in 2016. This trust was the own­er of Abramovich’s com­pa­ny Cantley Investments Limited, reg­is­tered in the British Virgin Islands, as well as sev­er­al oth­er Cypriot com­pa­nies that were involved in $304 mil­lion in sus­pi­cious trans­ac­tions in 2015–2016.

Abramovich’s ex-wife Irina, along with their four chil­dren, owns five man­sions in Europe. These are three vil­las in St. Tropez with an area of ​​13 thou­sand square meters, as well as a house in Paris on Avenue Gabriel near the Elysee Palace. It was bought in 2009 for 12.4 mil­lion euros through SCI Gabriel a Paris. In 2021, Irina Abramovich bought a man­sion in London at the Tor Garden res­i­dence for £17.5 mil­lion ($23 million). 

Abramovich’s daugh­ter, at the age of 25, became the own­er of a house on the shores of Lake Fuschl in Austria. The total area of ​​this prop­er­ty is 30 thou­sand square meters. This house was pre­sent­ed to her in 2017 by Gabrielle Claire Pierce, the wife of Eugene Tenebaum, a mem­ber of the board of direc­tors of Chelsea.

You can read more about Abramovich’s assets here .

Gennady Timchenko, oligarch

Sanctions:

• USA — since March 20, 2014
• United Kingdom — from February 22, 2022
• EU — from February 28, 2022

Why on the list

Timchenko is a long­time friend of Putin and is con­sid­ered one of the pres­i­den­t’s con­fi­dants. Timchenko is ranked sixth on the list of the rich­est Russians accord­ing to Forbes . He is a co-founder of one of the largest oil traders Gunvor, which until recent­ly sold most of the Russian oil. US author­i­ties believe that Vladimir Putin had access to Gunvor funds. 

In addi­tion, Timchenko is a share­hold­er in Bank Rossiya, which the US and EU author­i­ties con­sid­er to be the per­son­al bank of Putin and oth­er high-rank­ing Russian offi­cials. Bank Rossiya is also under sanctions. 

You can read more about Timchenko’s assets here .

Igor Shuvalov, head of VEB.RF

Sanctions:

• EU — from February 23, 2022 
• United Kingdom — from March 3, 2022
• United States — from March 3, 2022
• Australia — from March 14, 2022
• United Kingdom (sanc­tions against the whole fam­i­ly) — from March 15, 2022

Why on the list 

Since the late 1990s, Shuvalov has held var­i­ous posi­tions in the Russian gov­ern­ment, includ­ing being an aide to Vladimir Putin. In 2008, Shuvalov was appoint­ed First Deputy Prime Minister. He remained in this post for ten years, and then left the gov­ern­ment and head­ed the state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB.RF).

The media have repeat­ed­ly report­ed on Shuvalov’s per­son­al wealth and off­shore, as well as on the extrav­a­gant lifestyle of his fam­i­ly. According to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Shuvalov “played an impor­tant role in spread­ing sys­temic state cor­rup­tion that engulfed all the coun­try’s institutions.”

What’s New: Villa in Tuscany

Shuvalov’s son Evgeny could own a vil­la and a plot of land in Italian Tuscany. The val­ue of this prop­er­ty is unknown. 

Until 2017, the vil­la was owned by the Weitried com­pa­ny, owned by a com­pa­ny from the British Virgin Islands, which in turn was owned by Shuvalov Jr. At that time he was only 24 years old.

The cur­rent own­er of the vil­la is unknown, but a pri­vate jet owned by a com­pa­ny linked to Shuvalov recent­ly flew to air­ports near Tuscany. This may indi­cate that the Shuvalov fam­i­ly con­tin­ues to use the villa.

You can read more about Shuvalov’s assets here .

Alisher Usmanov, oligarch

Sanctions:

• EU — from February 28, 2022
• United Kingdom — from March 3, 2022
• United States — from March 3, 2022

Why on the list

The US and EU author­i­ties believe that Alisher Usmanov is close­ly con­nect­ed with the Russian author­i­ties. As Alexei Navalny’s FBK report­ed , for­mer Russian President Dmitry Medvedev per­son­al­ly used Usmanov’s lux­u­ri­ous residences.

Several US sen­a­tors have urged the admin­is­tra­tion of for­mer President Donald Trump to include Usmanov in a report on Russian inter­fer­ence in the 2016 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. They said that Usmanov is “one of the most polit­i­cal­ly influ­en­tial oli­garchs in Russia and is close­ly con­nect­ed to the Kremlin.”

Through the USM Group hold­ing, Usmanov man­ages projects in the field of telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, media and mining.

A spokesman for Usmanov told OCCRP that he nev­er ben­e­fit­ed from either the Russian gov­ern­ment or the pri­va­ti­za­tion of state prop­er­ty: he made his for­tune sole­ly through trans­par­ent invest­ment and asset management.

The rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the busi­ness­man added that the own­er­ship of most of the real estate and prop­er­ty has long been trans­ferred to the Usmanov fam­i­ly, and he can only use these assets on a lease basis.

What’s new: Nephews own mil­lions of dol­lars worth of London mansions

The nephew of USM hold­ing own­er Alisher Usmanov Sarvar Ismailov owns a man­sion in London on Danewood Drive for $30.8 mil­lion. Ismailov is now no more than 30 years old. His broth­er Sanjar Ismailov owns a $28.6 mil­lion man­sion on Winnington Road. 

Usmanov’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive denies that the busi­ness­man­’s nephews bought the man­sions with his mon­ey. However, he con­firmed that Usmanov trans­fers mon­ey to their moth­er, his sis­ter Gulbahor, and she could give mon­ey to her sons.

Gulbahor Ismailova her­self, through a chain of Croatian and Cypriot com­pa­nies, owns two hous­es and a land plot with a for­est on the Peljesac Peninsula in Croatia with a total area of ​​22.5 thou­sand square meters. The approx­i­mate val­ue of this prop­er­ty is $5.6 mil­lion. Ismailova also owns an apart­ment in Jurmala worth $620,500.

You can read more about Usmanov’s assets here .

Igor Sechin, head of the state company Rosneft

Sanctions:

• USA — from February 24, 2022
• EU — from February 28, 2022
• United Kingdom — from March 10, 2022

Why on the list

Igor Sechin is one of the most influ­en­tial peo­ple in Russia. For many years he worked as an assis­tant to Vladimir Putin. In 2008, Sechin became Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, a posi­tion held by Vladimir Putin at the time. 

Since 2012, Sechin has been head of Rosneft, Russia’s main state oil company.

You can read more about Sechin’s assets here .

Nikolai Tokarev, President of Transneft

Sanctions:

• EU — from February 28, 2022
• United States — from March 3, 2022
• United Kingdom — from March 10, 2022
• Australia — from March 14, 2022

Why on the list

Tokarev is a retired KGB major gen­er­al and a long­time asso­ciate of Vladimir Putin who became close dur­ing the 1980s while serv­ing togeth­er in Dresden.

In 2007, Tokarev head­ed one of Russia’s most impor­tant state-owned com­pa­nies, Transneft, which trans­ports 82% of the coun­try’s oil pro­duc­tion. His rel­a­tives own real estate in Russia and Europe.

What’s New: House in Croatia Owned by Daughter

Since 2021, the daugh­ter of Transneft President Nikolay Tokarev , Maya Bolotova , has owned the Croatian com­pa­ny TGA, which in turn owns a 272-square-meter house on the island of Lošinj in Croatia. The com­pa­ny bought this house in 2010, when Tokarev’s wife Galina was the own­er of the com­pa­ny. Financial doc­u­ments show that the cost of the house as of 2020 is about 670 thou­sand dollars.

You can read more about Tokarev’s assets here .

Oleg Deripaska, oligarch

Sanctions:

• United States — from April 6, 2018
• Canada — from March 6, 2022
• United Kingdom — from March 10, 2022

Why on the list

Deripaska is an alu­minum mag­nate and a long­time sup­port­er of Vladimir Putin. A spokesman for Deripaska told OCCRP that he had nev­er been involved in ille­gal fraud, that he acquired all the assets with hard-earned mon­ey and was the vic­tim of a pure­ly polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed witch hunt.

What’s new: three vil­las and com­mer­cial prop­er­ty in Sardinia

In 2016, Oleg Deripaska pur­chased real estate in Cyprus in order to obtain cit­i­zen­ship of the coun­try: a vil­la on the island of Paphos worth $650,000 and a com­mer­cial facil­i­ty in Limassol worth $3 mil­lion. Deripaska also has com­mer­cial prop­er­ty in Luxembourg. 

We also dis­cov­ered that Deripaska has three vil­las in Sardinia on the Costa Smeralda, which he owns through a chain of com­pa­nies, includ­ing from the British Virgin Islands. Their total cost is almost 410 mil­lion dollars.

Deripaska’s ex-wife Polina Yumasheva owns a stake in London-based mar­ket­ing firm Buro.Global, which tar­gets “wealthy millennials.”

You can read more about Deripaska’s assets here .

Denis Popov, Moscow prosecutor

Why on the list

Before Vladimir Putin appoint­ed Popov as the pros­e­cu­tor of Moscow in 2019, he worked as the pros­e­cu­tor of the Republic of Dagestan. Two years lat­er, Putin award­ed him the Order of Honor for strength­en­ing the rule of law in Russia.

In 2019, an arti­cle was pub­lished on Navalny’s web­site , which stat­ed that Popov “per­son­al­ly ini­ti­ates law­suits against oppo­si­tion­ists in the inter­ests of the National Guard. The Moscow pros­e­cu­tor’s office plays a cru­cial role in rec­og­niz­ing every­one and every­thing as for­eign agents.

You can read more about Popov’s assets here .

Vladimir Solovyov, TV and radio presenter

Sanctions:

• EU — from February 23, 2022
• Canada — from March 6, 2022

Why on the list

Vladimir Solovyov is one of the main mouth­pieces of Russian pro­pa­gan­da. He active­ly sup­ports Russia’s war with Ukraine.

You can read more about Solovyov’s assets here .

Original source of arti­cle: https://istories.media/