Russian-Israeli Oligarch - Mikhail Fridman
Laundering his money through named businesses in Cyprus and the British Virgin Isles
Russian-Israeli Oligarch - Mikhail Fridman and his secret Cyprus and British Virgin Isles money laundering schemes. Companies were named in a criminal case in Russia, February 2025.
👉 Mikhail Fridman - a potted history:
Fridman is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon and oligarch. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa-Group, a multinational Russian conglomerate. As per Forbes list of The Richest People In The World, dated 8 MARCH 2024 Mikhail Fridman ranked #150 with a net worth of $13.1 Billion.
👉 LetterOne and the Oligarch’s UK connections:
Using the proceeds from the sale of their stakes in TNK-BP, Fridman and his Alfa Group partners Khan and Kuzmichev established the international investment company LetterOne in 2013, and Fridman became the company's chairman.
LetterOne's additional co-founders were Petr Aven and Andrei Kosogov. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the company was created to invest in international projects in energy, telecoms, finance, technology, and other sectors. As of 31 December 2013, LetterOne had $29 billion in assets under management. In May 2015 Mervyn Davies (Lord Davies, Baron of Abersoch) was appointed deputy chairman of LetterOne, and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt was appointed as the board's advisor.
On 3 March 2015, L1 Energy acquired the international oil and gas company DEA from the German utility RWE for $7 billion (€5.1 billion). Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany with extensive assets in the British North Sea. The purchase was opposed by the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey, who raised concerns that Fridman might one day face international Ukraine-related sanctions against Russian companies and individuals, which could force L1 Energy to shut down production in the North Sea, thus imperiling oil supplies and 5% of Britain's North Sea natural gas output.
On 4 March 2015, Davey gave Fridman a one-week deadline to convince the UK government not to force him to sell the North Sea oil and gas assets. In April 2015, the government gave Fridman up to six months to sell.
In October 2015 Fridman and the LetterOne Group sold L1 Energy's British North Sea assets to Ineos, a Switzerland-based petrochemical company owned by Jim Ratcliffe, for $750 million. The British government assured LetterOne that the forced sale was "not a judgement on the suitability of LetterOne's owners to control these or any other assets in the UK".
The Financial Times reported on 02 March, 2022 - days after Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine - “Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have stepped down from London-based investment group LetterOne after the EU imposed sanctions on the Russian billionaires this week.” Chair Lord Mervyn Davies, a former UK Labour government minister, will take control of the group, with Fridman and Aven resigning from the board. Davies told the Financial Times that the billionaires had agreed to have no further involvement in the business. Fridman and Aven together own slightly less than 50 per cent of the group, which means that the company has avoided the sanctions imposed on them as individuals.
They of course maintained their interests in the business, using their stooge Mervyn Davies - the “Baron of Abersoch”.
👉 Fridman’s dirty hands to be seen everywhere in the West
In 2012 Fridman partnered with American real-estate developer Jack Rosen in a joint venture to invest $1 billion in distressed real estate properties along the U.S. East Coast.
In October 2016, Alfa Group acquired Ukrainian bank Ukrsotsbank, by offering its parent, the Italian financial conglomerate UniCredit Group, a minority stake of 9.9% in ABH Holdings.
In February 2016, Fridman's LetterOne fund invested $200 million in Uber.
The L1 Technology fund began acting as a holding company for the 48 percent stake in Vimpelcom owned by Fridman and his partners. The fund also has a 13.2% share in the Turkish telecom company Turkcell, which since 2005 has been hampered by a long-running feud between its three largest shareholders: Cukurova, owned by Turkcell founder Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Fridman's LetterOne via Alfa Telecom/Altimo, and Sweden's Telia Company.
In February 2016, Vimpelcom agreed to pay $800 million to settle U.S. and Dutch claims that it had bribed officials to win contracts in Uzbekistan between 2006 and 2012. A year later the company rebranded itself VEON, and changed its focus to mobile internet services such as banking, taxis, and messaging.
In June 2016, LetterOne prepared to expand into healthcare by launching the $3 billion fund L1 Health in the United States, for investments in the global healthcare industry.
In October 2016, Alfa Group acquired Ukrainian bank Ukrsotsbank, by offering its parent, the Italian financial conglomerate UniCredit Group, a minority stake of 9.9% in ABH Holdings.
In December 2016, LetterOne launched L1 Retail, headquartered in London, to invest $3 billion in "the retail stars of tomorrow" in Europe and the UK.
Fridman first appeared in the Spanish press in November 2002, when the Liberian tanker Prestige sank off the coast of Galicia. It was transferring 77,000 tons of Russian heavy oil; the cargo belonged to Crown Resources, a company owned by Fridman's Alfa Group. The oil spill contaminated the Spanish coast, causing a major environmental disaster, with total damage estimated at 1.5 billion euros. After the disaster, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo called Fridman ‘Dirty Michael’.
In June 2017 LetterOne's L1 Retail division acquired Holland & Barrett, Europe's largest health-food store chain, for £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion).
In January 2018, due to concerns over possible sanctions stemming from the 2017 U.S. Congressional sanctions on Russia, Fridman announced that Alfa-Bank was phasing out its holdings in Russia's defence industry.
In 2019, Mikhail Fridman acquired a 50% stake in one of the suppliers of computing devices for the Russian defense industry via the structures affiliated with A1 investment company.
Fridman is a member of numerous public-facing bodies, including the National Council on Corporate Governance in Russia and a board member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In February 2001, he became a member of the Council for Entrepreneurship at the Government of the Russian Federation. He was elected as a member of the Public Chamber of Russia in November 2005. Since 2005, he has been a Russian representative on the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Fridman is currently on the board of directors of ABH Holdings, which is the Luxembourg-headquartered holding company of Alfa Banking Group.
In 1996 Fridman was one of the founders of the Russian Jewish Congress, and he has been an active member since then, including having been its vice president and head of its cultural committee.
Fridman a major donor to the European Jewish Fund, which promotes inter-religious dialogue.
👉 Sanctions on the Oligarch Fridman:
On 28 February 2022, the European Union blacklisted Fridman and had all his assets frozen as part of a package of sanctions imposed against Russian officials and oligarchs in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Fridman claimed the EU's allegations were false and defamatory. He subsequently decided to step down from the boards of LetterOne and Alfa Group, so that they could avoid sanctions. As reported by several media, Fridman has already filed lawsuits challenging sanctions on at least two occasions, like in July 2022 and in December 2022.
In December 2022, a man reported by Russian state media to be Fridman was arrested in London by the UK's National Crime Agency, on charges of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury.
The UK National Crime Agency did not name the man, stating only that it had detained a 58-year-old "wealthy Russian businessman" at a "multi-million-pound residence". He was later released on bail. Subsequently, the agency scaled back its probe. In September 2023 the National Crime Agency closed the investigation.
Fridman said that the war would "damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years" and called for the "bloodshed to end". The United Kingdom also sanctioned Fridman on 15 March 2022.
In October 2022 Fridman offered to transfer $1 billion of his personal wealth into the Ukrainian Sense Bank that he co-founded. Officials said the proposal was calculated to persuade the UK to lift sanctions against him. Fridman denied making a quid pro quo offer to Ukraine.
Following the invasion of Ukraine Sense Bank transferred millions of its own budget to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense units. Fridman was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to the invasion.
In September 2023 the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury (UK) updated the text of the financial sanctions notice related to Mikhail Fridman. He is now referred to as "an involved person under the Russia regulations" instead of "a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch". Additionally, a phrase alleging close ties between Mikhail Fridman and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been deleted from the document.
On September 5, 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine announced in absentia that Fridman was suspected of violating Article 110 of the Criminal Code, which provides for liability for financing actions to seize power, overthrow the constitutional order, or change the territory of the state. Under this article, he could face up to 8 years in prison with confiscation of property. The SSU believes that since the start of the conflict, the banker has invested about 2 billion rubles in Russian defence enterprises, in particular, in the Tula Cartridge Plant.
In April 2024, following a legal challenge, The General Court of the European Union took Fridman off the EU sanctions list. In May 2024, Fridman sued the Luxembourg government, becoming the first Russian billionaire to challenge European sanctions and demand compensation for his frozen assets. In August 2024, Fridman, after loss of trial in Luxembourg, started arbitration dispute with Luxembourg at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC).
In October 2023, Fridman reportedly announced to return to Russia.
👉 Secret Piggy Bank and money laundering scheme revealed:
Mikhail Fridman's "secret piggy bank" is the "Ambermanor" fund. It receives funds withdrawn from Alfa Bank, "laundered" through offshore companies, and then used by Fridman for nefarious deals and for the overseas needs of Fridman's family - his children, common-law wife Vera Antoshenkova.
Details have been leaked from a recent criminal case in Russia, which describe in detail the scheme of work of "Ambermanor": how and under what pretext Alfa-Bank funds are pumped into it.
"The Ambermanor Group of Companies includes legal entities both registered in the territory of the Russian Federation and registered in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.
Among others, the Ambermanor Group of Companies includes
BSK Finance and Consulting LLC, Evitakon LLC (TIN 7727686089),
Acalen International Corp. (jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands, registration number 1551997),
Rovera Investments Corp. (jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands, registration number 1528069),
Verire Limited (jurisdiction of the Republic of Cyprus, registration number 215705),
Binta international Cogr." (jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands, registration number 1551998)
The company "Ambermanor Asset Management Limited" (jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands), the company "Ambermanor Investments Limited" (jurisdiction of the Republic of Cyprus).
The main activity of Ambermanor Group of Companies is the management and sale of movable and immovable property that is subject to foreclosure under the claims of Alfa-Bank JSC to pay off debts on provided banking products.
BSK Finance and Consulting LLC manages Russian companies that are part of the Ambermanor Group of Companies. All offshore companies are managed by Ambermanor Investments and the Cyprus office of Ambermanor Group. The ultimate beneficiary of the activities of the Ambermanor Group of Companies is named in the case materials as the owner of shares in the Ambermanor Asset Management company, Zheleznov.
Zheleznov is a classmate and friend of Friedman, he signed a safe guarantee in Friedman's favor. That is, the real owner of this entire secret "empire" is Friedman.
👉 How are Alfa Bank's money laundered for Fridman's personal needs?
Between Alfa-Bank JSC, represented by the Managing Director for Collection of Corporate Overdue Debt, Negrey Yu.V., and Ambermanor Group of Companies, represented by the beneficiary, Zheleznov, a cooperation agreement was concluded on 01.02.2018, in accordance with the terms of which, Alfa-Bank JSC authorises Ambermanor Group of Companies to manage and sell the problem assets of Alfa-Bank JSC.
Simply put, the extremely profitable and “sweet” assets that Alfa Bank’s debtors have are not given to the bank, but to Ambermanor, which sells them, and the funds go to the needs of the Fridman family.
The "nominal" owners of the assets that are subject to foreclosure to pay off debts on credit products of Alfa-Bank JSC are companies that are part of the Ambermanor Group of Companies. At the same time, the person authorised to make decisions on the transfer of any property of the Ambermanor Group of Companies to third parties, including cash, is Fridman himself.
👉 References and sources:
The Cyprus and BVI business details were published on Russian Telegram by Cheka OGPU channel - 05 February 2025.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Group
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Ratcliffe
https://www.forbes.com/profile/mikhail-fridman/
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-worlds-50-Richest-Jews-1-10
https://www.ft.com/content/c1837a20-6147-45c5-876c-add96ee8432c
https://news.yahoo.com/uk-drops-sanctions-evasion-probe-192700595.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=-UKfdbP1bWYC&pg=PA66
👉 For more reading on the Russian activity and corruption in Cyprus, read my thread here:
https://beefeaterresearch.substack.com/p/cyprus-and-russia?r=4r2ohh
👉 For more reading on the Russian activity and corruption in the British Virgin Islands, read my thread here:
https://beefeaterresearch.substack.com/p/british-virgin-islands-e96?r=4r2ohh
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The BVI, a British overseas territory has developed a reputation for its somewhat murky financial services which account for over 50% of the island's revenue stream. Its secretive nature and low taxes allegedly attract nefarious entities (draw your own conclusions). Cyprus has previously attracted corrupt oligarchs who have invested huge sums of money into the island.