A new online database is shedding light on the vast fortunes amassed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project released the “Russian Asset Tracker” on Monday, detailing $17.5 billion in luxurious residences, aircraft, yachts, and bank accounts linked to 10 oligarchs, government officials, and others.
The OCCRP estimates that oil tycoon Roman Abramovich is worth at least $8 billion, down more than 30% since he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union.
An $89.3 million seaside home on the French Riviera and a $15.3 million mansion on Austria’s Lake Fuschi are among his assets.
According to the OCCRP, Abramovich, the controversial owner of the Chelsea Football Club in the United Kingdom, also owns an estate in Saint Tropez, France, and an Airbus M-SOLO helicopter, the valuations of which are unknown.
Aluminum mogul Oleg Deripaska, whose $65 million property in London’s posh Belgrave Square area was briefly taken by anarchist demonstrators last week, comes close behind with a net worth of $5.7 billion.
According to the OCCRP, Deripaska has a $31 million estate on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, three coastal villas on the Italian island of Sardinia worth a total of $409 million, and a Clio “superyacht” with a value unknown.
Alisher Usmanov, the telecom, media, and mining tycoon whose 500-foot megayacht, the Dilbar, was confiscated by German police on March 2, is said to be worth $3.4 billion, with more than $2.1 billion in cash held in 27 Swiss bank accounts.
According to the OCCRP, Usmanov reportedly owns a $350 million Airbus A-340-300 passenger plane and two residences in North London at $96.1 million and $30.8 million.
Denis Popov, Moscow’s senior prosecutor, is also on the list, with a net worth of $5.6 million, TV and radio presenter Vladimir Soloyvyov, who owns an apartment and a villa on Lake Como, Italy, worth a combined $1.2 million, and Putin ambassador Yury Chaika, who owns $400,000.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman who was sanctioned by the US earlier this month, is also registered as the owner of a flat on Paris’s Avenue Victor Hugo, though its worth is unclear.
“This will assist European governments identify excellent targets to go after,” said Louise Shelley, head of George Mason University’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center.
“Oleg Deripaska is the only person named who has property in the United States,” she explained.
“Identifying the assets is simply step one,” said lawyer Tom Firestone, who specializes in global investigations and co-chairs Stroock & Stroock & Lavan’s white-collar and internal investigations practice.
“This is helpful,” he added, “but you can’t seize assets unless you have evidence that will hold up in court linking them to a crime.”