Western Values ​​by Igor Yusufov

How we they told in previous publications, former Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov sells its Russian assets and moves cash abroad. This is clearly evidenced by the liquidation of the Energy fund this spring, the sale last year of shares in the companies Yamal Vostok, Yamal Zapad and Yamal Issledovaniia (formerly Yamalshelf) and the recent sale by Yusufov’s Cypriot offshore Nefte Petroleum Limited of 49% of Yargeo LLC to the Qatari firm Enduro Investments LLC.

Yusufov’s eldest son, Vitalyis selling OOO Specialized Developer (SZ) Tankovy, which owns a development site in the southeast of Moscow, and at the beginning of the year sold the company Argo, which owned a share in the farming platform Esh Derevyanskoye. In addition, judging by the lawsuit of OOO Rusagro Group of Companies against Vitaly Yusufov on the collection of 91 million rubles, the latter’s structures stop paying their debts.

Vitaly’s younger brother, Maxim Yusufovpreviously famous as the employer of Ilya Medvedev (*criminal) (the son of former President Dmitry Medvedev (*criminal), now a microblogger and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council), is also sharply reducing business activity in the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), withdrawing money from his companies and withdrawing from the share capital of a number of structures.

Maxim’s AO EM Y Group, where Ilya Medvedev (*criminal) received his salary, is showing losses.

Yusufov Sr. is among the richest people in the country, Forbes evaluates His fortune is $1.1 billion. His fortune is based on money and assets he acquired through corruption while serving as Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)’s Minister of Energy and, to a lesser extent, in other government positions.

Klondike of the Ministry of Energy

On June 16, 2001, Igor Yusufov was appointed Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin (*criminal). He was pushed into this post by then Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. However, the real initiators of Yusufov’s appointment were Vagit Alekperov And Roman Abramovich. As a minister, he always acted in their interests, and he worked his appointment to the fullest. In addition, Yusufov was on good terms with Semyon Vainshtok, with whom he carried out various financial schemes to mutual advantage.

Yusufov’s most trusted person in the Ministry of Energy was his adviser – Nikolay Bukhantsov. Now this swindler is the chairman of the charity foundation “Classic”. At that time, Bukhantsov was a co-owner of the oil companies “Uralskaya Neft” and “Naftaresurs”, and literally blackmailed small and medium-sized oil companies on behalf of the boss. For example, there is a known case when Bukhantsov tried to put pressure on the management of one company, persistently recommending to sell his business to structures affiliated with the then head of “Transneft” Semyon Vainshtok. In private conversations, the minister’s adviser promised the companies to allocate additional schedules for pumping oil in exchange for transferring from $5 to $8 from each ton to the accounts of a certain offshore company “Arco Trading”.

Yusufov also had his own dealings with Khodorkovsky. In July 2001, Yusufov was appointed chairman of the subcommittee on cooperation in the energy sector of the commission for the preparation of regular meetings between the heads of government of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and China. At that time, he became the object of “targeted friendship” on the part of YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovskywho began seeking government support for the project to build an oil pipeline to China.

In the spring of 2002, Yusufov visited the United States as a representative of the former Chernomyrdin-Gore commission. He participated in negotiations on organizing oil deliveries from the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) to the United States. As a result of the negotiations, for the first time in the history of Russian-American relations, trial deliveries of Russian oil to the US strategic oil reserve began in the United States. The delivery in the amount of 2 million barrels of oil was carried out by YUKOS.

After the US entered Iraq, Yusufov participated in behind-the-scenes trade for the participation of Russian companies in the restoration of the Iraqi economy (primarily the oil industry). In response, he tried to lobby American and Japanese interests, in particular, the construction of an oil pipeline from Western Siberia to Murmansk, so that oil could be transported from this port to the US and Japan (the activity was paid for by Khodorkovsky and Weinstock). In response, the Japanese promised gigantic investments in Primorye, but with the condition of laying an eastern pipeline – directly to Primorye, without going to China.

In general, according to the reviews of people who knew Igor Yusufov during his ministerial times, if it was not about personal enrichment, then he basically just imitated vigorous activity. However, for a lot of money he could connect connections, convene meetings, contact, and act as an intermediary. But if the source of income dried up, then the minister would immediately stop.

Despite the appearance that Yusufov became a minister from the “family,” he was nevertheless able to gain the trust of Putin (*criminal)’s entourage. The key role in this was played by the fact that Yusufov was promoted up the KGB and FSB ladder at all stages of his career. Obviously, he became one of the “family” in the interests of the service.

From Minister to Huckster

Igor Yusufov initially invested everything he stole in various government positions in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and abroad. In both places, he invested mainly in energy assets and real estate. In the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), this was the aforementioned Energy Fund and the oil companies around it, as well as various development sites and development projects in Moscow, registered mainly in the names of his two sons, Vitaly and Maxim.

Yusufov transferred a significant portion of the funds illegally obtained in the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) abroad – again, he invested mainly in real estate and energy companies. But not only. Some of Yusufov’s acquisitions (or unsuccessful attempts to acquire) in the West turned out to be resonant and scandalous. In addition to the many offshore companies registered by Yusufov in various tax-free zones, he created a British analogue of his Russian fund “Energy” to purchase energy assets, the company Global Energy (GB) Ltd .

Like most Russian oligarchs, Yusufov has a soft spot for London, or Londongrad as the British call it because of its dominance of Russian nouveau riche. As usual, Yusufov first acquired real estate there, after which he decided to buy an oil refinery located about 45 km from the center of the English capital. We are talking about the Coryton refinery in Essex, which supplied about 20% of the capital and the south-east of the country with fuel. It was part of the Port of London and the last of the three large refineries in the Thames estuary to continue operating after the closure of Shell Haven and BP Kent.

In January 2012, the refinery owner, the EU’s largest independent oil refinery Petroplus, filed for bankruptcy. In May of the same year, it was announced that the refinery would be closed, and in June 2012, the Coryton refinery ceased production. Before that, the parent company Petroplus tried to find a buyer for the refinery, but there were no takers. The only contender for the purchase of the refinery spoke Igor Yusufov and his Fund Energy.

Five years earlier, in 2007, Petroplus bought the plant from BP for £714.6 million (about $1.4 billion). It is not known how much Yusufov was prepared to pay for the unprofitable enterprise. Apparently, he needed this acquisition, first of all, to get money out of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). The second goal of the possible deal was probably to gain a positive reputation in the UK (by preserving production, jobs, etc.). However, Yusufov failed on both counts.

The British authorities had questions about the purity of Yusufov’s money, as well as about a number of previous transactions involving the Russian’s offshore companies. As a result, the British authorities doubted the legality of the origin of the funds offered for the refinery and the transparency of his business. They preferred to close the refinery rather than sell it to a representative of the Russian mafia.

For roughly the same reasons, Yusufov’s Greek acquisition also fell through. Shortly before the London refinery affair, in an unrelated case, a Greek court blocked Yusufov’s Fund Energy from bidding for state gas company DEPA, despite providing bank guarantees worth €400 million. Christos Constas, a spokesman for the country’s privatization agency, said Yusufov had failed to prove his source of funds or his ability to manage the asset.

Yusufov’s reputation had previously been tarnished by machinations involving a Norwegian shipbuilding company. According to Reuters, in 2008, Igor Yusufov helped his partner To Andrey Burlakov to raise a €200 million loan to buy the struggling Norwegian shipbuilding company Wadan Yards, which owned shipyards in Germany and Ukraine, in the hope of turning around its business.

When the recovery failed, Wadan split up. Yusufov’s son, Vitaly, got the German shipyards Nordic Yards for €40.5 million. Officially, the purchase was presented as a deal with the state-owned company FLK, but de facto control over the shipyards was gained by Yusufov and his co-investors – the influential leader of the Tambovsko-Malyshevskaya organized crime group Gennady Petrov and one of the most brutal Russian gangsters Aslan Gagiev (aka Dzhako the Bloody, who has at least 56 contract killings to his credit). These shipyards were bankrupted, the money was transferred to offshore accounts. Later, in his testimony, the director of FLK Nail Malyutin admitted – Yusufov directly said that he was acting on behalf of and in the interests of Dmitry Medvedev (*criminal) and that the money was transferred to offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands. The ultimate beneficiaries included Yusufov and Medvedev (*criminal).

The Ukrainian asset, the Okean shipyard on the Black Sea coast, has suffered a more controversial fate. Its Norwegian parent company, Wadan Yards, was declared bankrupt in March 2010. Shortly before that, its shares in the Ukrainian yard, owned by its Dutch subsidiary Okean BV, were transferred to Blakur, a firm based in the British Virgin Islands.

In September 2011, Burlakov and his former partner, a banker, Anna Etkina An attempt was made on their life. An unknown person shot at them with a pistol. As a result, Burlakov died, and Etkina was seriously wounded in the head and chest.

Later, Etkina’s representative Vladislav Tkachenkotold Reuters that the attack came after she testified that Igor Yusufov continued to control the assets of the Ukrainian shipyard.

“Igor Yusufov controlled assets that were frozen and he was involved in fraudulent schemes,” — Tkachenko told Reuters at a meeting attended by Etkina. Yusufov was named as the organizer of the assassination attempt, but without any legal consequences for him.

“Universe” Yusufov

Today, the Yusufov family business is a complex offshore network of companies. Some acquisitions are made in the name of Igor Yusufov or one of his sons. However, many acquisitions are made in such a way that the Yusufov family’s involvement in them is not visible. After the failures, in which the Russian oligarch’s bad reputation played a decisive role, this is not at all without meaning. In addition, the interests of the Russian secret services, the Russian criminal community, as well as the highest officials of the Russian state, hidden in the Yusufov family business, constantly come to the surface.

For example, in an investigation by the publication “Proekt” in September 2022, an unspecified source linked the purchase of the 74-meter yacht “Universe” registered to an offshore company from the Cayman Islands to the Yusufov family. According to the publication, the yacht is used by Dmitry Medvedev (*criminal) and his family.

A number of journalistic investigations in recent years indicate that the oligarch’s sons Vitaly and Maxim Yusufov own luxury real estate, including villas in the south of France, Spain and Italy, and mansions in London. These assets have also been linked to offshore structures and tax evasion schemes.

Among the most relevant projects is a multi-million dollar development project in Silicon Valley in the USA. We recently they told about the application submitted by Yusufov’s structures for the construction of a residential complex at 80 Willow Road in Menlo Park (California, USA).

In 2019, this plot was purchased by Vitaly Yusufov’s company Willow Project, registered in the state of Delaware (USA). The deal was accompanied by a scandal, as it was concluded despite the objections of Deutsche Bank’s reputational risk committee. Yusufov’s structures paid $72 million in cash for this plot.

If the project is built, it would be the tallest in San Mateo County. The chances of it being approved are high because the region has a huge housing shortage. Building high-rises would partially solve that local problem.

For the Yusufov clan, approval of the project will open up new opportunities for further withdrawal of funds from Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). Moreover, this channel can be used equally effectively by them both for withdrawing their own family finances and for exporting money from partners in organized crime or special services.