oligarchs

A mega-yacht seized by U.S. authorities from a Russian oligarch is costing the government nearly $1 million a month to maintain, according to new court filings.The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking permission to sell a 348-foot yacht called Amadea, which it seized in 2022, alleging that it was owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov. The government said it wants to sell the $230 million yacht due to the "excessive costs" of maintenance and crew, which it said could total $922,000 a month."It is…

Tom Cruise supposedly has a new love interest, but she sounds like she’d be a risky proposition for his “Mission: Impossible” alter ego, according to reports. Elsina Khayrova is a 36-year-old Russian socialite and former model whose father is an ally of Vladimir Putin and whose ex-husband is a U.K-based Russian oligarch on a Kremlin “wanted list,” according to news reports. Khayrova’s recent divorce from her diamond merchant husband made her infamous when a London judge scolded her for “dishonesty” because she hid assets,…

Sarah Thomas’s debut immerses the reader in a Kardashianesque world of Russian oligarchs, beige interiors and intimacy issues. Melanie is a private tutor to the children of the extremely rich, lulled into the job because it promises ease. In the Kemerov household, she occupies the coveted position of being just below the family but above all the staff. Capitalising on her insider knowledge of the English boarding school system, she has been employed by Kata, a billionaire’s wife hoping to penetrate the English upper…

This data visualization of nearly 80,000 financial intermediaries (yellow) and their ultra-wealthy clients in Russia (red), China (purple), Hong Kong (green), and the United States (blue) shows how wealth is concentrated in a few offshore wealth managers. Russian oligarchs especially tend to rely on experts with smaller client lists to ensure secrecy, which makes their fortunes more vulnerable to sanctions against a few key intermediaries. Credit:…

It may be just one of many fashionable hotels in the Hungarian capital, but for anti-corruption activist Attila Juhasz, the Alice Hotel symbolises… It may be just one of many fashionable hotels in the Hungarian capital, but for anti-corruption activist Attila Juhasz, the Alice Hotel symbolises the capture of the tourism industry by an elite that has enriched itself under Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "One of the owners is a commercial partner of (Orban's son-in-law) Istvan Tiborcz," Juhasz, a bearded 30-year-old in a…

An Israeli private investigator currently in U.S. custody used Indian hackers to conduct surveillance operations for ultra-wealthy Russians, a reporter said in a court filing late Wednesday.Independent journalist Scott Stedman told a court in New York that jailed private detective Aviram Azari worked "on surveillance and cyber-intelligence operations at the behest of Russian oligarchs," citing a mix of public reporting and confidential sources.Stedman said in a declaration that one of the Russian oligarchs concerned was…

The U.S. Treasury Department outlined actions it plans to take to address illicit-finance risks, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had underscored the need to close regulatory loopholes and step up the fight against corruption. The national strategy for combating illicit finance, released Friday, is the latest iteration of a report the Treasury produces every two years. But this year’s strategy might be among the most important it has produced, Treasury officials said, given Russia’s…

The cryptocurrency industry has been quietly lobbying U.S. lawmakers against legislation designed to prevent Russian oligarchs from using digital currencies to evade sanctions imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies and their companies following Russia's attack on Ukraine.The Blockchain Association, a lobbying group that represents more than 70 crypto platforms including Ripple, Crypto.com and Dragonfly Capital, is trying to convince Congress that cryptocurrencies aren't being used by wealthy Russians to to…