Belyaev Vadim Stanislavovich

Belyaev Vadim Stanislavovich

For 2020, Vadim Belyaev lives in the United States under the name Vadim Wolfson.

Biography

Vadim Stanislavovich Belyaev was born on May 28, 1966 in Moscow, Russia. His father is a famous scientist, doctor of chemical sciences Stanislav Alexandrovich Wolfson, author of a number of textbooks for higher education.

1989 - graduated from the Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation with a degree in Electrophysics.

1993 - entered the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation at the Faculty of Banking and Insurance.

1995 - defended his diploma in banking and insurance at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation.

1993: Deputy Chairman of Moscow Petrochemical Bank

October 1993 - July 1996 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of CB Moscow Petrochemical Bank.

1997: Head of VEO-Invest

1997-2001 - General Director of VEO-Invest OJSC.

2001: Head of "Brokerage House Discovery"

September 2001 - February 2007 - headed the "Discovery Brokerage House."

February 2007 - General Director of Otkritie FC OJSC^[1].

Business secrets: Vadim Belyaev

Vadim Belyaev has been a participant in the Snob project since December 2008.

2009 - acquired the Russian Development Bank.

Vadim Belyaev on the acquisition of the Russian Development Bank

• He was the sponsor of the group "Accident^[2].

• ^[3] general sponsor of the production of "Faster Than Rabbits" ("Quartet I")^[3].

• He financed the release of books by Mikhail Zhvanetsky, the filming of the films "Chapito Show" ^[4] with Peter Mamonov and "What men are talking about."

• He was the host on the radio "Echo of Moscow" of the weekly author's program "Investor School." Listens to classical jazz and Russian rock.

2010: Purchase of the Internet portal OpenSpace

In 2010, Vadim Belyaev became the owner of the OpenSpace Internet portal, which was not updated from late spring to late summer of this year due to lack of funding.

2011: Ranked 150th on Forbes Russia list with $600m

It ranks 150th in the ranking of the Russian-language version of Forbes "Richest Businessmen Russia - 2011." Vadim Belyaev's fortune is estimated at 600 million# dollars^[5]

2020

Lawsuit on charges of fraud for $700 million in transactions with Boris Mints

In early August 2020, the ex-owners of Binbank and Otkrytie were accused of fraud worth $700 million. Former owner of Rost-Bank and majority shareholder of Binbank Mikail Shishkhanov, ex-chairman of the board of Otkritie FC Vadim Belyaev and main shareholder of Otkritie FC bank Yevgeny Dankevich became co-defendants in the suit of Trust and Otkritie banks, which is being considered in the High Court of London.

According to RBC with reference to the legal portal Law360, the charges were consolidated with a lawsuit against the family of the owner of the O1 Group Boris Mints. At the end of June 2019, Trust Bank, together with Otkritie FC, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of London for damages of $700 million against Mr. Mints and his three sons - Dmitry, Igor and Alexander. Banks suspect a group of O1 of fraudulent transactions concluded before the reorganization of Otkritie Bank and Rost Bank.

Ex-Chairman of the Board of FC Otkritie Vadim Belyaevv accused of fraud for $700 million

According to the plaintiffs, Shishkhanov, Dankevich and Belyaev in August 2017 helped Mints structures sell deliberately illiquid O1 Group bonds. According to the applicants, they repaid the debts of the Mints structures to Otkritie FC and Rost-Bank. After that, garbage bonds with a maturity of 2032 remained on the balance sheet of banks. The plaintiffs estimated the damage from these actions at $572 million.

We are talking about the sale of so-called junk bonds - high-yield bonds, whose credit rating is lower than investment grade. As a rule, they are released by companies without a long history and reputation in order to improve their financial situation.

The Bank of Non-Core Assets was created on the basis of Trust Bank, which consolidated the "bad" and non-core assets of a number of rehabilitated banks for their further sale. In particular, Trust received the assets of Binbank, Rost Bank, Otkritie FC Bank, Avtovazbank and part of Promsvyazbank's assets.^[6]

Lawsuit on charges of withdrawing funds from the Otkritie group

Russian banks Trust and FC Otkritie filed a lawsuit in a New York court against Otkritie Holding founder Vadim Belyaev, who, according to them, illegally withdrew funds from the Otkritie group.

Using offshore companies, according to the plaintiffs, 22 billion rubles were withdrawn, which are part of a 39 billion rubles loan that Trust issued to Otkritie Capital for the purchase of securities in June 2017. Credit money went through 83 transactions to conceal their origin, and as a result, 22 billion rubles ended up in the accounts of Atesolia, owned by Vadim Belyaev. The lawsuit describes several similar financial chains conducted in 2016-2017, totaling 116 billion rubles.

"As a result of fraudulent lending schemes and other misconduct by Belyaev, Otkritie Bank, which was one of the five largest private banks in Russia, received a deficit of $8 billion," the lawsuit says.

A Luxurious Life in New York

In September 2020, the details of the life of Vadim Belyaev became known. It turned out that the fugitive banker lives in a luxurious house in the prestigious Soho neighborhood of New York.

Fugitive banker Vadim Belyaev lives in a luxury home in New York's upscale Soho neighborhood

The address became known in court documents. Forbes sources confirmed the data. As a broker working with luxury real estate in Manhattan for over 15 years told the publication, young wealthy people live in the Soho area, including stars and models.

The house in which Belyaev lives has 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 2 pools

The house in which Belyaev lives is a four-story building built in 1900. On its basement there are commercial premises, and the remaining four floors are occupied by a businessman's apartment. Several real estate sites have preserved her photographs and descriptions.

The cost of Belyaev's house is about $10 million

It is reported that the total area of ​ ​ the apartment is 1115 sq. m. It has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. The apartment has two swimming pools - closed with countercurrent and open on the roof, a wine room for 3000 bottles, a room for a conference room or home theater, a gym, Jacuzzi, steam room, sauna. The apartment is equipped with a smart home system. According to the Realtor.com real estate portal, this house was sold in 2011 for $7.4 million.

The apartment of the ex-owner of the Otkritie group has a wine room with 3000 bottles, a room for a conference room or home cinema, a gym, a jacuzzi, a steam room, a sauna

The current value of the house is about $10 million, a spokesman for Move told Forbes (it combines several real estate search sites). The average price of comparable real estate, according to the company, is about $12 million. The median property price in Soho is $2.65 million.

Belyaev's apartment in New York is equipped with smart home technologies

Although the ex-owner of the financial group Opening"" lives in this house, legally it belongs to another person - broker Matthew Colman. In January 2020, the property was put up for rent for $80,000 a month, and already in March it "left" the market - presumably it was leased by Belyaev, who, according to the Trust, lives in New York under the name Wolfson.^[7]

Charge of creating a pyramid in Otkritie Bank

In early December 2020, it became known about the accusations made by FC Opening"" to the former co-owner of the bank Vadim Belyaev. He is charged with unprofitable transactions with corporate securities and Eurobonds Russia in 2014-2017, due to which Otkritie and its subsidiary bank lost Trust more than 80 billion. rubles

As he writes, RBC referring to the requirements of the claim that financial institutions filed with the State Supreme Court, New York Otkritie and Trust suffered losses due to unfavorable transactions with securities, and Rosneft VTB Eurobonds of Russia. According to the plaintiffs' statement, Belyaev and his associates misused repo transactions, which "led to the diversion of huge sums from the Trust and Otkrytie.

Otkritie accused ex-co-owner Vadim Belyaev of creating a pyramid in the bank

The lawsuit says that Otkritie Bank participated in repo transactions with Rosneft securities not directly, but through Otkritie Capital LLC's Cypriot subsidiary Otkritie Holding. Otkritie was previously controlled by Otkritie Holding, in which Vadim Belyaev owned about 29%.

Otkritie Capital's debts were eventually closed according to the pyramid scheme: old loans were paid off at the expense of new or funds that Otkritie and Trust spent on Otkritie Holding bonds, the requirements say. Trust turned out to be the largest owner of default bonds Otkritie Holding, in October the bank estimated the company's debts at 450 billion rubles.

Discovery's extended lawsuit, with its wild and baseless allegations and long list of foreign deals, only reinforces our position that their case has no place in New York court. We are more convinced than ever that it will be rejected for this reason, "Belyaev's lawyer Duane Loft told RBC.

The press service of Trust Bank told the publication that the transactions with the papers "helped to bypass the limits for financing the group and acted as a withdrawal tool through margin call or the difference in rates."^[8]

2021: Claim to the Moscow Arbitration Court from Trust Bank for 156.6 billion rubles

In August 2021, the Bank of Non-Core Assets Trust filed a  lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court for 156.6 billion rubles against the former co-owner of the Otkritie group Vadim Belyaev.

2024

Arrest in the United States

On February 22, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of the former co-owner of Otkritie FC bank Vadim Belyaev (aka Vadim Wolfson) and American Gannon Bond. They are accused of helping the head of VTBANDRAY Kostin in circumventing sanctions.

According to the American authorities, Kostin participated in a scheme to evade sanctions and launder funds for the maintenance of two superyachts with a total value of more than $135 million and a luxurious house in Aspen in Colorado, which was acquired in 2010 for $13.5 million. Oligarch Kostin "beneficially owned and controlled through various shell companies several assets worth tens of millions of dollars," according to court documents.

source = Irina Buzhor/Kommersant

It is alleged that between April 6, 2018 and March 2, 2022, Wolfson and Bond provided funds, goods and services, including financial ones, in favor of Kostin, and also paid for the maintenance and operation of yachts without having the necessary license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury (OFAC). The defendants allegedly agreed to sell the house in Aspen and transfer about $12 million to Kostin. At the same time, Kostin himself, as noted in the message of the Ministry of Justice, participated in the international money laundering scheme.

Wolfson and Bond are charged with several counts of the Emergency International Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.^[9]

The head of VTB himself rejects the accusations made by the US Department of Justice. They, according to Andrei Kostin, are associated with the discontent of the political elite that VTB "did everything possible and impossible to minimize the damage" from blocking sanctions.

I never violated any, including American, legislation, did not bypass any sanctions. And I urge all my partners - not to look for and not come up with any ways to bypass, but to build another world - independent of the pressure of the political elite and the US military lobby , - said Kostin (quoted by RBC).[10]

Recovery by the court of 7.3 billion rubles

At the end of March 2024, the City Arbitration Court Moscow , at the request of the bankruptcy trustee "" Opening of the Holding Company Maria Bulatova, recovered more than 7.3 billion rubles losses from the former beneficiaries of this company. The damage was caused under a loan agreement concluded in 2015.

Losses are collected in solidarity with the former owners of Otkritie Holding Vadim Belyaev, Alexander Nesis, Alexander Bukharin and Nesis Investment Construction Technologies (IST) Group Ltd. The court recovered from the defendants about 3.1 billion rubles of principal debt, approximately 1.2 billion rubles of interest accrued on the loan amount for the period from the date of transfer of the loan amount (26.06.2015) to the date of debt transfer (31.08.2017), more than 3 billion rubles of interest accrued after debt transfer.

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Pixabay

To recover from Vadim Stanislavovich Belyaev, Alexander Natanovich Nesis, Bukharin Alexander Nikolaevich, Investment Construction Technologies Group Ltd jointly and severally in favor of Otkritie Holding joint-stock company losses in the amount of 7 310 749 315,07 rubles, the resolution says.

In addition, the court invalidated a payment in the amount of 910 million rubles made on June 18, 2019 by the Cypriot company Accles Holdings Limited in favor of Otkritie Holding for partial repayment of debt under a loan agreement, and restored the debt of Accles Holdings Limited to Otkritie Holding in the specified amount.

The court declared Otkritie Holding bankrupt in July 2022. The amount of creditors' claims is 920 billion rubles, including 911.2 billion rubles of principal debt and 8.8 billion rubles of penalties and fines. The main creditor of the organization is Trust Bank. Otkritie Holding until 2017 was one of the largest Russian financial groups. In August of the same year, the Central Bank began the procedure for the reorganization of its main asset - Otkritie FC Bank. ^[11]

Absentee arrest in Russia

On August 28, 2024, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow arrested in absentia the founder and ex-beneficiary of the Otkritie group Vadim Belyaev in a large-scale fraud case. In addition, the court will consider the issue of the absentee arrest of Mikhail Nazarychev, a former member of the board of Otkritie Holding.

The named persons are charged under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud on an especially large scale committed by an organized group). They face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

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Reuters.com

The court granted the request of the investigation to elect V.S. Belyaev as a preventive measure in the form of detention from the moment of detention on the territory of the Russian Federation or extradition, the Tver court said.

According to available information, Belyaev, who changed his last name to Wolfson, is abroad as of August 2024. It is said that earlier he became a defendant in the investigation related to bypassing sanctions in the United States.

Otkritie Bank, the main asset of Otkritie Holding, fell under the reorganization of the Central Bank in 2017, and Belyaev left Russia. In September 2020, Otkritie, together with Trust Bank, filed a lawsuit against Belyaev for hundreds of millions of dollars. It is alleged that the defendant withdrew funds from Otkrytie through numerous transactions, and the money then appeared in the accounts of offshore firms controlled by him. Earlier, the court recovered 289.5 billion rubles from former top managers of Otkritie Bank at the suit of the Bank of Russia. In addition to Belyaev, the defendants in the case were ex-chairman of the bank's board Yevgeny Dankevich, former vice president Gennady Zhuzhlev, ex-head of the board of directors Ruben Aganbegyan and former member of the board of directors Elena Budnik. In July 2022, the arbitration court declared Otkritie Holding bankrupt (the procedure was extended until February 14, 2025).^[12]

Awards and titles

2004 - awarded the Highest Public Award - the Order "For the Revival of Russia. XXI century "for outstanding services to strengthening the economic power, greatness and prosperity of Russia.

Three times awarded the title "Investment Banker of the Year" (2006, 2008, 2009).

Hobbies

Roman history, tennis.

• Books: Zhvanetsky and Sheckley;
• TV programs: NBA, NHL and fantastic action movies.

Marital status

Divorced, four children.

• Ex-wife - Amalia Mordvinova.
• Son - Herman Belyaev.
• Daughter - Evangelina Belyaeva.
• Daughter - Serafima Belyaeva^[13].

Notes