Alexey Kuzmichev: Difference between revisions
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== Arrest == |
== Arrest == |
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On October 30, 2023, French police detained Kuzmichev and also conducted searches in the businessman’s Parisian mansion and his villa in [[Saint-Tropez]] |
On October 30, 2023, French police detained Kuzmichev and also conducted searches in the businessman’s Parisian mansion and his villa in [[Saint-Tropez]]. Kuzmichev is suspected of tax crimes and violation of sanctions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2023/10/30/l-oligarque-russe-alexei-kouzmitchev-place-en-garde-a-vue-par-la-justice-francaise-dans-une-affaire-de-blanchiment_6197379_4355770.html|title=L’oligarque russe Alexeï Kouzmitchev placé en garde à vue par la justice française dans une affaire de blanchiment|language=fr|date=2023-10-30|website=[[Le Monde]]}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 12:39, 31 October 2023
Alexey Kuzmichev | |
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![]() Kuzmichev in 2015 | |
Born | |
Occupation | Businessman |
Spouse | Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya |
Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev or Kousmichoff (Russian: Алексей Викторович Кузьмичёв) is a Russian businessman. He is one of the founders of the LetterOne Group (LetterOne) and the Alfa Group.[1]
Kuzmichev was a stakeholder in VimpelCom, Alfa-Bank, and X5 Retail Group.[2] In March 2013, Kuzmichev sold his stake in energy venture TNK-BP to state-run oil company Rosneft for $2.5 billion. Forbes magazine rated Kuzmichev as the 138th world's richest person in 2013 with a fortune estimated at $8.8 billion.[3] In March 2023, Kuzmichev sold his 16.32% stake in Alfa Bank and left the shareholders.[4]
Early life and career
Kuzmichev was born in 1962 in Kirov, Russia. Between 1980 and 1982 he served in the army on the Soviet-Chinese border as a radio operator. During this time he joined the Communist party.[citation needed]
In 1983, he enrolled in the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys where he met his future business partners, Mikhail Fridman and German Khan. In 1988 Kuzmichev, Fridman and Khan, along with Mikhail Alfimov, founded Alfa Photo, which specialized in the import of photo chemicals.[citation needed]
Later, Kuzmichev convinced his partners to diversify into the export business. Thus in 1998 Alfa Eco was founded. This venture would become the basis of Alfa Group Consortium. (In 2005, Alfa Eco was rebranded as A1).[citation needed]
Alfa Group
Alfa Group's portfolio includes the largest commercial bank in Russia, Alfa-Bank, (with affiliates in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and the Netherlands/Amsterdam Trade Bank); international telecom company VimpelCom (the sixth largest mobile network operator in the world by subscribers as of April, 2012); as well as holding shares in Turkish telecommunications company Turkcell. Until April 2012, Alfa Group owned 25 percent of Russian cell phone operator MegaFon; it sold its share for $5.2 billion. Alfa also has stakes in Russian retailer X5 Retail Group,[2] Rosvodokanal Group; and insurance company, Alfa-Strakhovanie Group.[5] Kuzmichev owns over 18 percent of the consortium's joint assets and is a member of the board of directors of Alfa Finance Holdings. The Group's major transactions include TNK oil company privatization, which later became a part of TNK-BP venture, Russia's third-largest oil producer. In March 2013 Alfa Group and its joint partners AAR Consortium sold 50 percent of TNK-BP to Russian oil company Rosneft.[citation needed]
Kuzmichev is responsible for overseeing Alfa Group’s international trading operations.[citation needed]
Sinking of The Prestige
Crown Resources, a European oil and commodity trading arm of Alfa Group, of which Kuzmichev is chairman, was the owner of the oil cargo on The Prestige vessel, which sank near the coast of Galicia, Spain in 2002. The case concerning The Prestige centred on the negligence of the vessel's owner and was completed in July 2013. No accusations or financial claims were brought against Crown Resources.[6]
LetterOne Group
Kuzmichev is one of the original founders of the LetterOne Group. The LetterOne Group (LetterOne) is an international investment business based in Luxembourg. Its investments are focused on the telecoms, technology and energy sectors through its two main business units, L1 Energy and L1 Technology.[7] Despite recently being required by the Government to sell their North Sea oil and gas fields, LetterOne have reportedly been told in a letter from a senior UK official that this 'is not a judgement on the suitability of LetterOne's owners to control these or any other assets in the UK.[8]
Kuzmichev is married to Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya.[9] In 2016, he bought a $42 million mansion in New York City.[10]
Sanctions
Sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War. [11]
Two of Kuzmichev's yachts have been seized by France due the sanctions against Russians billionaires after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia but were returned on appeal.[12]
Arrest
On October 30, 2023, French police detained Kuzmichev and also conducted searches in the businessman’s Parisian mansion and his villa in Saint-Tropez. Kuzmichev is suspected of tax crimes and violation of sanctions.[13]
See also
References
- ^ "Supervisory Board". Alfa Group. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
- ^ a b "X5 Retail Group". X5.ru. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "Alexei Kuzmichev". Forbes. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "Альфа-банк изменил состав акционеров". RBC (in Russian). 15 March 2023.
- ^ "About company". Alfastrah.ru. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ Govan, Fiona. "Prestige oil tanker sinking: Spanish court finds nobody responsible". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ "Alexey Kuzmichev". Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Ineos targets further North Sea assets in wake of $750m deal". Financial Times.
- ^ "Leadership". Project Perpetual. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ Chaffin, Joshua (19 March 2022). "Wealthy Russian property owners leave Manhattan with a whisper". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
- ^ Bouaziz, Franck. "Deux nouveaux yachts appartenant à un oligarque russe immobilisés dans les Alpes-Maritimes". Libération (in French). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ "L'oligarque russe Alexeï Kouzmitchev placé en garde à vue par la justice française dans une affaire de blanchiment". Le Monde (in French). 30 October 2023.
External links
- Alfa-Group Global Archived 7 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Alfa Group
- National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni
- 1963 births
- Living people
- Russian venture capitalists
- Russian billionaires
- Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions
- Russian businesspeople in Cyprus
- Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions