Viktor Rashnikov
Le Monde reported that a villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat was confiscated, which, according to the authorities, belongs to Viktor Rashnikov. The representative of the businessman called this data slander, noting that he did not know anything about this mansion.
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At the chairman of the board of directors of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works Viktor Rashnikov there is no real estate in France registered to third parties, a representative of a businessman told RBC.
This is how he reacted to article in Le Mond, which refers to a villa in the commune of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in southeastern France. According to the publication, the mansion, which is valued at €23 million, was arrested as part of sanctions against Russian businessmen imposed due to hostilities in Ukraine. The villa was registered to a Swiss company owned by a Panamanian firm, but French authorities believe that Rashnikov is its real owner. Shortly after the start of the Russian military operation, an attempt was made to sell the villa, but the French Directorate for Intelligence and Counteracting Underground Financial Schemes blocked the attempt.
According to the representative of Rashnikov, “any fabrications about any villas, their sales and arrests or other property owned by third parties in his favor and which are presented in the article” are unreliable information and slander. He said that Rashnikov did not know anything about the villa, which Le Monde writes about, “and, accordingly, he could not sell it either personally or through other individuals or legal entities.”
The representative of the businessman added that Rashnikov’s property in France has a legal ownership structure, information about it is transferred to the authorities in accordance with local law.
Rashnikov came under EU sanctions in March 2022, a few months later he challenged the Brussels decision. Shortly after the introduction of restrictions, the French Ministry of Finance published addresses of houses and apartments that were frozen in accordance with the sanctions. According to Forbesfrom this list Rashnikov owned real estate in the amount of $ 200 million.
IA “RBC”, 04/16/2022, “Forbes learned about the freezing of the property of Timchenko and Rashnikov in France”: The French authorities froze the real estate of Russian businessmen in the amount of almost $ 1 billion due to sanctions. […] the owner of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Viktor Rashnikov, owns real estate from the list in the amount of $200 million:
– The villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Cote d’Azur belongs to him through his daughter Olga (she owns 94% of the companies for which real estate is registered, and Rashnikov is the director of both). The villa was built in the 1890s, occupied by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation, and rented by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards in the 1970s.
– Rashnikov owns three apartments in the center of Paris, next to the Elysee Palace, through SCI Parc Gabriel, according to Forbes. — Inset K.ru
In September Politico reportedthat Hungary asked the EU to lift sanctions against Rashnikov, Alisher Usmanov and Petr Aven. According to the newspaper, in Brussels persuaded Budapest to shelve this requirement.
Forbes last year assessed the state of Rashnikov in $6.6 billion. According to Bloombergit is $9.3 billion.
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The owner of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works loves scope, pomposity and golden interiors. Russian Press, which has already introduced readers to the 118-room palace, mega-yacht and golden business jet of Viktor Rashnikov, decided to study the atmosphere of the oligarch’s villa on the Cote d’Azur.
The Russian Press found out that Viktor Rashnikov has a villa in Nice while studying the Gulfstream G650ER with tail number VP-BOT, the “golden aircraft” owned by the oligarch. It turned out that one of Rashnikov’s favorite routes leads to Nice. We suspected that the oligarch owns real estate on the Cote d’Azur, where the cream of society from all over the planet gathers. And they weren’t wrong.
But a surprise awaited us: in the course of the investigation, it turned out that the oligarch Rashnikov had not one, but two villas in Nice!
So, where does the owner of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works rest in Nice?
We took unique photos and videos of two villas – from the street side, from the sea side and from the air, ordered up-to-date documents in France informing about the legal status of this property, and also studied little-known materials on the turbulent history of the most famous of these mansions – Villa Nelcote.
Both villas are located on Avenue Louise Bordes, at numbers 10 and 12 (10 Avenue Louise Bordes Quartier de Grasseuil Villa Nellcote 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer and 12 Avenue Louise Bordes Villa Les Figuiers 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer). The villa, located on plot 10, is called Nelkot and went down in history thanks to its turbulent past: in the early 1970s, musicians from the Rolling Stones “came off” here, so the villa became one of the places of pilgrimage for Rolling fans. Yes, and other facts, rather gloomy, in the history of the Villa Nelkot, as you will see, are quite enough …
Nelkot even looks luxurious from a distance – a circular drive, a swimming pool, a rooftop terrace …
The villa is surrounded by a spacious garden and is quite secluded. (When Nelkot was rented out by the rowdy Rolling Stones in the 1970s, the seclusion meant they had little to no harassment from the police.)
The second villa is much more modest. She does not have a big name, and the house looks simpler. It appears to serve an auxiliary purpose, possibly as a guest house or staff building.
The plots, on which luxurious mansions are located, are directly adjacent to the sea. But it is impossible to get into Rashnikov’s villas from the coast unnoticed. The path is blocked by a steep rocky wall.
And the area where, under the previous owners, it was possible to go down to the shore (and vice versa, go up), is now literally barricaded.
We got to the rise leading from the coast to the villa. The path was blocked by stone rubble and steel bars. Along the perimeter, the territory belonging to Viktor Rashnikov is surrounded by barbed wire.
The oligarch Rashnikov cares so much about the inviolability of his property that he even turned his personal piece of paradise into a kind of concentration camp …
We decided to order extracts for this property as well.
By the way, this is not so simple: not only does each statement cost 500 euros, but you can also get it only while in France and having the status of its resident. You can’t order online, you have to personally appear in court, write a statement. Documents are issued at least 2-3 weeks later. But we still were not too lazy – we received statements for the second villa of Viktor Rashnikov.
The owner of Villa Les Figuires, like its neighbor Nelkot, is a legal entity – the French company SCI BAIE DES FIGUIERS (registration number 499 824 969 RCS Nice), registered on September 5, 2007. It has an authorized capital of 100,000 euros. Registration address: 12 Avenue Louise Bordes Villa Les Figuiers 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer (same as the villa itself).
The manager of the company is Philippides Nadia Thalia, already familiar to us (we recall that she also manages the company to which Villa Nelkot is registered).
As for the real owners, they are the same as those of Villa Nelkot: SCI BAIE DES FIGUIERS is owned by Rashnikov Victor, his daughter Olga Rashnikova Olga and the already mentioned Cypriot company Callistephus Entreprises Limited (also owned by Rashnikov ). The Rashnikov family joined the company on April 19, 2013.
The second villa also has a mortgage – in the same bank where the mortgage was taken for the purchase of Nelkot. This is a bank located in Monaco – Societe Generale Private Banking. How much did the oligarch need? Not so much: the loan for the villa was 6,000,000 euros, for additional buildings – 1,200,000 euros. The interest rate is the same: 1.648%.
The oligarch Rashnikov must pay off the mortgage by July 31, 2024.
It is also worth mentioning the management company, which carries out service and coordination control over Rashnikov’s real estate on the Cote d’Azur. This is the French company Societe Civile Immobiliere Villa Les Figuiers (registration number 423 033 059 RCS Nice), registered on May 25, 1999. Its authorized capital is 914,694.10 euros. Registration address: Avenue Louise Bordes 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Societe Civile Immobiliere Villa Les Figuiers has two owners:
French Mallet Christelle Alexandrine, born May 3, 1970 in Aix-en-Provence and registered at 15 Seltisbergerstrasse 4410 Liestal Suisse (Switzerland).
Swiss Rosenmund Peter Louis, born on April 24, 1933 in the Swiss city of Liestal (Switzerland) and registered at Seltisbergerstrasse 15 – CH 4410 Liestal.
But, we emphasize, they have nothing to do with Rashnikov’s property, their functions are to keep order and maintain the oligarch’s paradise in perfect condition. At least according to the documents.
This could have ended the conversation about Villa Nelkot and its neighbor, if not for the interesting nuances revealed during our investigation.
But with the Cypriot Popadopoulou, the case turned out to be even more interesting. His office is located at Limassol, Arch. Makariou III, 195. And here is the company Neocleous & Co LLC – the agency of Elias Neocleous, in which he works with his brother Panagiotis (address Limassol, Arch. Makariou III, 195, Neocleous House 3030).
The Cypriot company Montrago Services Limited (registration number HE 52239) is also located at the same address. We ordered an extract for her. It turned out that this was the company secretary of Mintha Holding Limited, which owns the lion’s share of MMK’s shares.
In other words, the Neocleous Cypriot family of lawyers takes the most active part in the management of MMK’s assets in Cyprus. And it is unlikely that anyone will doubt that the task of Neocleous is to hide Victor Rashnikov’s money offshore.
This family has a very specific reputation. Previously, the Neocleouses did business through Andreas Neocleous & Co, but after a legal scandal, it formally closed, but Neocleous & Co LLC opened a bureau. The fact is that Andreas Neocleous was put on the international wanted list in Russia in 2015. Him, along with partner Andreas Kyprizoglou accused in an attempt to raid the elite residential complex CJSC MZhK Rosinka, located in the Moscow region. The “fat” piece: 350 townhouses on 60 hectares worth $150-200 million, some have already been sold, and some are leased.
According to the prosecution, Kiprizoglu and Neocleous tried to take over the Cypriot holding company Providencia Holding Ltd, on which 85% of Rosinka’s shares were registered, using very dirty methods, including an attempted raider takeover. The court agreed with the arguments of the prosecution. (Numbers in the file of arbitration cases, where the acts of the Neocleous are described: A41-44458/2011, A41-39569/2011, A41-1348/2012, A41-49646/2012, A40-131045/2012).)
What worthy people! These gentlemen, who ended up in the dock, were found guilty of bribery, abuse of office, conspiracy to commit a crime, corruption and fraud.
Well, the company was formally closed and a new one was opened, where the sons of the raider-lawyer Andreas Neocleous, Panagiotis and Elias, began to run it.
Particular attention should be paid to Elias Neocleous (pictured above), who was described by the media in the Rosinka case as “Pavlik Morozov”. He testified against his father to avoid personal liability.
It turns out that the Cypriot director of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Viktor Rashnikov, is a fraudster and a son-companion of a raider!
So, studying the history of the “villa of debauchery” Nelkot, you will learn new details about the life of Viktor Rashnikov.