EU courts
Founder of Luxembourg investment fund is latest in line of rich Russians seeking relief at EU court
The life of Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s original oligarchs, was “destroyed” after he was singled out for European Union sanctions following the Kremlin-led invasion of Ukraine, his attorney told an EU court in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
At a hearing in the bloc’s General Court, Fridman’s legal team pushed back at the EU’s allegations “of the most serious crimes” — that he’s an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed and benefited from the aggression in his native Ukraine.
“This has a very negative impact on his life and it rests on nothing,” lawyer Thierry Marembert said, describing the EU’s evidence as “not trustworthy” and “a lot of empty words.”
Fridman is one of Russia’s most prominent businessmen after making billions in banking, oil and retail. After he and his partners pocketed $14 billion from the sale of oil company TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft in 2013, he moved to the UK to set up a private equity firm investing in businesses around the world.
Fridman, Petr Aven, German Khan and two other rich Russians founded the Luxembourg-based investment firm LetterOne Holdings. All five of the founders resigned last year after the invasion as the fund’s net assets fell by around 20%.
Fridman, Aven, Khan, Alexey Kuzmichev and Roman Abramovich and family members are among dozens of billionaires who’ve flocked to the EU’s top courts to extricate themselves from EU sanctions, which imposed asset freezes and travel bans on them.
The EU and the UK imposed sanctions on Fridman and his partners soon after the invasion began last February, freezing his assets. He has remained in London, living under the restrictions.
Fridman last year publicly condemned the war as a “tragedy,” but stopped short of directly criticizing Putin. Since then he’s vehemently rejected EU findings that he’s gained from his loyalty to Putin.
The EU says its evidence shows Fridman is a co-founder of Alfa Group, which controls Russia’s largest retailer and private bank, and close ties to the Russian political regime. It’s these connections that allowed him “to acquire state property as a reward from Alfa Group for his loyalty to the political regime,” according to the EU.
The EU has sanctioned almost 1,800 people and entities since Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, starting with its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and followed by its invasion of the country in February last year. EU court appeals over sanctions can last years and seldom result in victory. Former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych and his son remain on the EU’s sanctions list since 2014, even after winning several court appeals.
Aven was also scheduled for a hearing before the court on Tuesday. Marembert also represents Aven and Khan, and at a June 13 EU court hearing for Khan he dissed the EU’s evidence against him as “23 pages of pure gossip.”
Lawyers for Russian metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov argued last month before the EU court that he was unfairly targeted for sanctions because he was a visible and public of wealth.. Usmanov’s ties to Luxembourg include having a private jet registered in the country.
The cases are: T-304/22 Fridman v Council, T-301/22 Aven v Council; T-333/22 Khan v. Council.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
