CORRUPTION
The Insider found new evidence of corrupt ties between Dmitry Medvedev and businessman Igor Yusufov (who, as we previously reported, had been purchasing assets in Russia and in the West in the interests and on behalf of the former Russian president): Medvedev’s son is employed by Yusufov Jr. The Yusufovs not only conducted business on behalf of Medvedev but were also business partners with leaders of the Russian mafia — the Tambov Organized Crime Group and the Gagiev gang (Dzhako the Bloody). Before going to work for Yusufov, Medvedev’s son was employed by Alisher Usmanov, who sponsored his father’s luxurious life. But while Usmanov is under Western sanctions, Yusufov, who manages Medvedev’s wealth, avoided the sanctions list. And while Medvedev confesses in Telegram he hates the West, his “wallet” Yusufov continues to do business there.
Ilya Medvedev (son of Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian President who is now a microblogger and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) was employed by MY Group immediately after graduation. According to the tax databases, which The Insider reviewed, he earned over 3 million rubles from that company in 2018.
“He’s trying to develop private business projects, including in the digital economy sphere. You know, the kind of things that are quite popular with young people right now. He does it himself and he does it for fun. I haven’t seen any particular successes there yet, but I hope everything is still to come,” Medvedev was telling about his son a couple of years ago. However, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Ilya Medvedev does not own any business of his own.
The founder and president of MY Group is Maxim Yusufov, the younger son of former Energy Minister Igor Yusufov. Yusufov Sr. is among Russia’s richest people, Forbes estimates his fortune at $1.1 billion.
As The Insider previously wrote, Igor Yusufov made no secret of the fact that he was acting on Medvedev’s behalf. For example, in 2008, when Yusufov was the president’s special representative for international energy cooperation, he organized the purchase of German shipyards in Germany. Officially, the purchase was presented as a deal with the state-owned FLK company, but in fact it was Yusufov who gained control over the shipyards, together with two co-investors: Gennady Petrov, the influential leader of the Tambov-Malyshev gang, and Aslan Gagiev, one of the most brutal Russian bandits (aka Dzhako the Bloody, who is accused of at least 56 contract murders). The shipyards were bankrupted, and the money was moved offshore. Later, FLK director Nail Malyutin admitted in his testimony Yusufov had told him outright he was acting on behalf of and in the interests of Dmitry Medvedev, and that the money had been moved offshore to the British Virgin Islands. Yusufov and Medvedev were among the ultimate beneficiaries.
Former Bank of Moscow head Andrei Borodin also said that when he sold the bank’s shares to Yusufov, he was firmly convinced that he was acting in the interests of Dmitry Medvedev:
“Behind this whole story there was a political decision to take control of the bank. And this decision was carried out by the VTB chairman Andrey Kostin and Igor Yusufov, who is close to the top brass. Yusufov explicitly told me he was acting in the interests of and on instructions from President Dmitry Medvedev, who had made the decision to let the government take control of Bank of Moscow. There was a politically motivated decision to take it away from its owner.”
Yusufov’s main known asset is his 49% stake in the oil producing company Yargeo through Nefte Petroleum. The remaining 51% in Yargeo belongs to Novatek, a company owned by oligarch Leonid Mikhelson (one of Medvedev’s “sponsors” who financed the Dar Foundation, through which Medvedev’s mansions were paid for) and United Russia State Duma deputy Leonid Simanovsky. The net profit of Yargeo, which is developing the Yarudeyskoye field, amounted to more than 36 billion rubles in 2021.
In addition to MY Group, Dmitry Medvedev’s son (at least in 2016-18) got his paychecks from VKontakte LLC and Mail.ru. At the time, the companies were owned by Alisher Usmanov, another of Medvedev’s sponsors.
Usmanov is under all sorts of sanctions in the West, but neither Igor Yusufov nor Leonid Mikhelson are yet under EU or US sanctions. Yusufov continues to do business in the West on behalf of Medvedev and holds his European and American assets.
The British company Global Energy was in business until November 2020
Maxim Yusufov’s name can be found in the Spanish business register. He heads the real estate management firm GLZ ESTATES SL. in Benahavis, Malaga province.
Another son of Medvedev’s “wallet,” Vitaly Yusufov, purchased a one-story office complex in American Silicon Valley several years ago. The seller was Deutsche Bank and the transaction amounted to $72 million.
According to the Pandora Papers leak, Vitaly is the beneficiary of a number of British Virgin Islands offshore companies (Gedling Investment, Fredigton Investment, Prondale Investment, Metland Holdings, Medford Corporate, Beroca Investments, Banford Services, Merton Assets, Marble Property Holdings, Lenville Management, Rodington Investments). Yusufov Sr. was the ultimate owner of another series of offshore companies within the same jurisdiction (Knightsbridge Realty, Aurora Borealis Development, Derminghem Properties, Phoenix Investments and Development, Rosland Holdings, Ronham Holding Limited).