916
0
He is among the richest people in Russia and the world.
Russian billionaire senator Suleiman Kerimov, through a trust fund, had a stake in the American company SpaceX, headed by entrepreneur Elon Musk. He managed to do this even after the first Trump administration imposed sanctions on him.
This indicates gaps in the implementation of restrictive measures against representatives of the Russian elite who support the Kremlin's policies, Bloomberg reports.
According to the publication's interlocutors, including two former senior US national security officials, Kerimov has owned a stake in SpaceX through the Heritage Trust, registered in Delaware, since 2017. Initially, this trust owned about 1% of the company's shares.
The SpaceX holding company was created a year before the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Kerimov and others for supporting Russian aggression. The sanctions were intended to freeze Kerimov’s assets and prevent him from doing business with U.S. companies. Citigroup Inc., which managed the trust, consulted with the Treasury Department and concluded that freezing the Heritage Trust’s assets was unnecessary, so the fund continued to operate.
In June 2022, the US Treasury Department froze a $1 billion trust, finding that it was created to manage Kerimov's US assets. According to the investigation, the fund used a complex system of legal structures and front persons to hide its connection to the senator. According to sources, the stake in SpaceX was sold before the asset seizure procedure began, and the trust's ownership of shares in Musk's company was previously unreported.
“The situation highlights the difficulties in enforcing sanctions due to complex financial schemes, as well as the challenges faced by private companies such as SpaceX, valued at $350 billion. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of investor due diligence by large financial institutions, including Citigroup, which is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over its role in the Heritage Trust,” Bloomberg writes.
Private companies usually conduct thorough due diligence on investors, but in some cases it is difficult to determine the ultimate owner of the shares. Investors can acquire shares through legal entities created specifically for such transactions, or buy shares on the secondary market.
Suleiman Kerimov, 58, is ranked 282nd in the world on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a fortune of about $9,9 billion. He is the 17th richest citizen in Russia.
