Did the Russian oligarch legal wrongdoings?
Posted by Garcia Johnson on February 16th, 2019
The famous Russian oligarch yet the most controversial one – Dmitry Rybolovlev is especially known for his art and economic scandals across the world. Starting from the owner of potash-producing companies, becoming the president of AS Monaco or buying the famous Palm Beach mansion from the present US President – Donald Trump – Rybolovlev is a controversial name all over the world now. A lot of legal cases are still proceeding in several courts like the Swiss court, the US federal court, Singapore and many more.
Rybolovlev as the owner of Uralkali:
As the owner of the potash-producing company Uralkali – he also fell under a controversy. A Russian NGO has revealed in 2010 in an expedition that Uralkali’s sink contains a minimum of 16 harmful elements including ammonium and zinc exceeding the permissible level by 1,850 times. This NGO has listed Uralkali as one of the 100 most pollutant industries in Russia. Also, Rybolovlev has completely failed to disclose the complete list of the harmful elements that are regularly ejected into a local river Kama. The local Russian NGO has described this River Kama as the most polluted one. Basically, Uralkali’s environmental spending During Rybolovlev’s time was exceptionally low.
The Bouvier affair:
Dmitry Rybolovlev became famous after he got popularity as the art dealer and art collector. He has collected a lot of famous masterpieces created by the legendary artists including Leonardo da Vinci. A lot of artworks have been sold by famous auction houses like the Sotheby’s Auction House and the Christie’s Auction House. Yves Bouvier – a famous Swiss art dealer and art collector became his art advisor and then Rybolovlev has bought many masterpieces through him. Some of them were auctioned by the Sotheby’s Auction House and has earned millions of dollars.
But after a few years, Rybolovlev has filed a lawsuit against Bouvier and the Sotheby’s Auction House claiming that they have overcharged him more than billion for 38 pieces of artworks. It was also stated that Sotheby’s intentionally helped Bouvier with these artworks to overcharge Rybolovlev. He filed the case in the court of Manhattan where the headquarter of this famous auction house is.
Although Rybolovlev has alleged them, both Bouvier and Sotheby’s have completely denied these accusations by claiming nonsense. Still, the legal battle is going on in the courts of several countries including Switzerland and the US.
At the same time, Dmitry Ryvolovlev got involved in another scandal – “influence buying”. A French daily “Le Monde” has revealed that Rybolovlev along with his lawyer had a text conversation with Philippe Narmino – the justice minister of Monaco. After the “Monacogate” investigation, Narmino had to resign from his post. It is said that Rybolovlev has tried to get through some confidential legal documents that might Bouvier has represented in the court. During this investigation, Rybolovlev’s villa also was searched through. Now another judge has been appointed to investigate whether Rybolovlev really has influenced any legal officials at all.
The Panama Paper scandal:
In April 2016, the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigate Journalists) has allegedly accused Dmitry Rybolovlev that he has used a company which was registered in the Virgin Islands as he wanted to hide his art wealth from his former wife during the divorce proceeding. Rybolovlev’s exploiting his offshore companies are now described as the most popular textbook example of the wealthy people especially men try to protect their substantial wealth during the case of their marital breakup. Their divorce became the most expensive divorce in the world then. This offshore structure was established by the family trust of Rybolovlev. Although the family trust has already disclosed the actual owners or companies of these artworks years before the publication of the Panama Papers the fact was omitted in the original Panama Paper report.
