Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth 550 billion rubles ($7.59 billion) linked to jailed billionaire Vadim Moshkovich and transferred them to state ownership, the Interior Ministry said Thursday, in what appears to be the largest asset seizure of Russia's recent wave of nationalizations.
From the article: '…The value of the assets seized from Moshkovich exceeds that of several other high-profile nationalization cases that have reshaped Russia’s business landscape in recent years.
Those include the confiscation of seafood magnate Oleg Kan’s “crab empire,” valued at about $4.3 billion; Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, valued at 320 billion rubles ($4.42 billion); gold producer Yuzhuralzoloto, controlled by billionaire Konstantin Strukov and estimated to be worth around $2 billion; assets belonging to former Yugra Bank owner Alexei Khotin worth more than 200 billion rubles ($2.76 billion); pasta producer Makfa, valued at roughly 100 billion rubles ($1.38 billion); PVC manufacturer Sayanskkhimplast, valued at 92 billion rubles ($1.27 billion); and car dealer Rolf, valued at about 60 billion rubles ($828 million).
…The agency reported that billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, whose fortune is estimated at $11.6 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, offered during a closed-door meeting with Putin in March to contribute 100 billion rubles ($1.38 billion) to the state budget.
Bloomberg reported that the federal budget subsequently received 220 billion rubles ($3.04 billion) in what officials described as gratuitous contributions following Putin’s annual meeting with leading business executives.’
He’s shaking them down.