Russian oligarch and politician retained stake in SpaceX for 4 years under US sanctions – Bloomberg
Pravda Ukraine
Suleyman Kerimov, a member of the Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament) and one of the country’s richest men, has held a stake in Musk’s SpaceX company through a trust fund even after the first Trump administration imposed sanctions on it.
Source: Bloomberg
Details: Kerimov has owned a stake in SpaceX through the Delaware-based Heritage Trust since 2017. According to three sources, the trust initially owned about 1% of SpaceX shares.
After sanctions were imposed on Kerimov in 2018, Citigroup, which managed the Heritage Trust, consulted with the US Treasury and concluded that there was no need to block the fund and related entities.
Four years later, in June 2022, the Treasury Department blocked a US$1 billion trust that was said to be set up for Kerimov’s US assets after its investigators discovered a complex system of legal structures and frontmen created to hide his interest in the trust.
For about four years after the imposition of sanctions, Kerimov maintained control over and benefited from assets in the US worth more than US$1 billion, US Treasury spokeswoman Andrea Gacki said.
It is noted that the stake in SpaceX was sold before the Treasury began the arrest procedure.
Currently, Citigroup continues to manage the Heritage Trust account, but cannot conduct financial transactions due to its freezing by the Treasury.
Background:
- The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs has blocked CHF 1.3 billion (about US$1.5 billion) that may belong to Senator Kerimov.
- The US government is asking a court to allow it to auction a superyacht belonging to Kerimov, as it is spending more than US$7 million a year on its maintenance.
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