Russian oligarchs Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, childhood friends of President Vladimir Putin and under international economic sanctions since 2014, managed to protect their wealth with the help of a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, it was revealed on Tuesday.
The information is contained in the so-called “Rotenberg Documents”, an investigation by the OCCRTP journalist consortium, based on a leak of more than 50,000 documents and emails between 2013 and 2020, obtained by the independent Russian media IStories and shared by 15 other independent newspapers, televisions, radios and news agencies.
The two brothers, who grew up in Leningrad, met Putin when they took martial arts classes together and the relationship between the three continued as the power of the former KGB agent (former name of the Russian secret service) grew and he assumed the position . of head of state.
According to the consortium, the two brothers’ fortunes also grew with lucrative contracts that, while sanctioned by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, brought them a combined fortune of about $4,900 million (4,450 million euros). according to Forbes magazine.
Boris and Arkady Rotenberg’s wealth was protected, according to the investigation, by a businessman and former Russian diplomat associated with Prince Michael of Kent, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, the British sovereign who died on September 22, 2022 at the age of 96. year.
That wealth had to be protected, and in the midst of sanctions and huge foreign assets at stake, the brothers tried to fend off the fortunes of Western regulators. The declassified documents show that one figure was instrumental in helping the Rotenberg brothers protect their fortunes.
It is Moscow businessman Maxim Viktorov, 50, whose company and Russian law firm played a key role in the plan to rescue the two brothers’ investments, such as shares in the Helsinki Halli stadium.
The Rotenberg family used a variety of techniques to move their wealth “like chess pieces” around the world, opening bank accounts while closing others and transforming ownership structures in response to new sanctions or questions from regulators, the study points to.
Viktorov used trusted business service providers to transfer the Rotenberg companies to “less demanding jurisdictions,” from the Virgin Islands to Cyprus.
In Russia, his company Evocorp Management controlled some of the brothers’ assets after they were placed under the control of top-secret investment funds that Viktorov claimed belonged to him, the investigation said.
Abroad, it is indicated that the company ILS Legal Services, registered in Panama, cooperated with Viktorov.
The leak also reveals how a series of third parties, including a man alleged to be Boris Rotenberg’s former bodyguard and a 36-year-old beautician, “who appears to be Arkadi Rotenberg’s secret romantic partner, have taken ownership of some of the owners. inherited. valuable possessions brothers”.
Viktorov said neither he nor any of his companies broke any laws and described the investigation as flawed.
Viktorov worked for the KGB in the 1990s. He later began providing legal services to businessmen and officials. In 2012 he became an adviser to the Minister of Defense. By then I was already familiar with Putin’s circle. Viktorov often drew on his contacts abroad in his work for the Rotenbergs.
In 2018, Viktorov’s Investment Programs Fund became a shareholder in British technology company RemitRadar, where businessman Sergey Markov, a former Soviet diplomat, and Prince Michael of Kent, grandnephew of Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who acted as an “ambassador” for the company, had, according to the also research interests.
According to the consortium, the British prince “distanced himself from his ties to the Putin regime after the invasion of Ukraine”, but remains associated with RemitRadar.
Source: DN
