Jun 13, 2022
Russian Tycoon Loses Fight Over Leaked Location of Riviera Villa
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Alexey Kuzmichev lost a court fight with the French government over its decision to reveal the locations of his Paris home and a Riviera villa as part of the widespread freezing of Russian assets in retaliation for the Kremlin-led invasion of Ukraine.
The tycoon claimed that making the information public put the life of his family in danger and sought to suspend the execution of an April decree that paved the way for the online publication of the addresses of all real estate assets targeted in France.
But the nation’s top court rejected his suit in a ruling late last week, saying privacy regulator CNIL had deemed the revelations to be “proportionate” and “adapted” to the circumstances. The publication is also useful to “prevent the renting out of these assets or the sale by private agreement of shares of companies” used as vehicles to own the property, judges at the Conseil d’Etat added.
Kuzmichev, one of the founders of of investment firm Alfa Group, was hit by the European Union asset freeze in mid-March. Aside from the Paris mansion, French officials targeted La Petite Ourse, a villa on the heights of Saint-Tropez, which boasts lush grounds and a large swimming pool. Authorities also froze two luxury yachts linked to Kuzmichev that were docked in the south of France and reportedly worth a total of nearly $100 million.
Kuzmichev declined to comment on the ruling.
Read more: The Villas That Russians Have Bought on France’s Billionaire Bay
When sanctioning Kuzmichev, the EU said he had “well established” links with Vladimir Putin, claiming he was connected to the Russian president’s eldest daughter via a charity project set up by Alfa-Bank called Alfa-Endo.
Kuzmichev was worth $5.4 billion before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Along with Mikhail Fridman and other partners, he made a significant part of his money from selling their stake in TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft in 2013, when Alfa Group pocketed $14 billion.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
