Monaco is investigating a €9.4 million deal involving the grandson of a sanctioned Russian oligarch – Bloomberg
Law enforcement authorities in Monaco have launched an investigation into the purchase of a luxury property worth €9.4 million, in which the grandson of Russian oligarch Viktor Rashnikov may be involved. According to Bloomberg, the deal was concluded a few weeks after Western sanctions were imposed on Rashnikov due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Investigators are examining possible signs of sanctions evasion and money laundering in connection with the purchase of the apartment in Monaco.
Monaco Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault told the agency that the principality’s law enforcement agencies are investigating whether this transaction was used to launder money, due to doubts about the origin of the funds.
According to Thibault, the criminal case was opened back in 2022, and last year prosecutors referred it to investigating judges with broader powers.
It is noted that the investigation itself came to light after Bloomberg Businessweek reviewed a cache of emails from Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit organization that stores data that has been hacked or leaked and is of public interest.
The correspondence shows that the real estate transaction was flagged as suspicious in a report to Monaco authorities compiled with the help of a local real estate agent.
The buyer was the younger Rashnikov, also named Victor.
The 19-year-old student at the time purchased the property with funds gifted to him by his mother. In the suspicious transaction report, she was described as the daughter of a recently sanctioned “oligarch” and a board member of his steel company.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that Viktor Rashnikov is acting indirectly on behalf of or at the behest of his grandfather,” states the report, compiled a few days before the planned signing of the agreement in April 2022. The letter adds that the funds for this transaction may “indirectly belong to this individual.”
No charges have been filed against anyone in this case at this time.
According to the lawyer representing Rashnikov and his mother, the grandson’s search for real estate in Monaco began “several months” before sanctions were imposed on his grandfather, Bloomberg reports.
Earlier, Akhmetov purchased luxury apartments in Monaco for over $500 million.
