Leaked financial papers published by an international group of investigative journalists Sunday implicated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close associates — including his alleged mistress — in amassing secret offshore assets.
Financial records show that Svetlana Krivonogikh became the owner of an apartment in Monaco in 2003 via an offshore company created weeks after she gave birth, according to The Washington Post. The luxury waterfront unit cost $4.1 million at the time of purchase, and its value is likely to have gone up since then.
Russian investigative outlet Proekt last year identified Krivonogikh as a former cleaner who has mysteriously amassed at least 7.7 billion rubles ($106 million) of Russia-based assets alone, and the mother of Putin’s alleged extramarital daughter, Luiza Rozova. Russian authorities banned Proekt this summer and placed several of its journalists on their list of “foreign agents.”
The Pandora Papers also named the family of Sergei Chemezov, one of Putin’s oldest friends, German Gref, the CEO of Russia’s state-controlled lender Sberbank, and Konstantin Ernst, the CEO of one of Russia’s most-watched state-run broadcasters Channel One, in alleged offshore dealings.