Failed appearances of Alexei Kuzmichev
Russian billionaire Alexei Kuzmichev lost his trial in France. He challenged the government’s decision to publish the addresses of his house in Paris and a villa on the French Riviera. The sanctioned billionaire said that the release of the data posed a threat to his family, but the court rejected his claim.
The Supreme Court of France rejected the claim of the Russian billionaire, co-founder of Letter One and Alfa Group Alexei Kuzmichev. He disputed the publication by the authorities of the country of data on the location of his house in Paris and a villa on the Riviera, reports Bloomberg. According to the agency, the decision was made by the court at the end of last week.
From left to right: Alexey Kuzmichev, Mikhail Khabarov and Dmitry Vozianov
Kuzmichev’s property has been frozen due to European Union sanctions, and the location of his house and villa has been made public. The billionaire, in his lawsuit, said that the publication of these data endangered the life of his family, and demanded the suspension of the decree issued by the French authorities in April, which provided for the publication of real estate addresses of businessmen from Russia on the network.
In its decision, the French court indicated that the French data privacy regulator recognized such publications as “proportionate” to the circumstances. The judges also concluded that disclosing the property would prevent it from being leased or sold by private agreement between companies in the form of shares.
On March 15, the European Union imposed new sanctions against the richest Russian businessmen, including Letter One co-owners Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev. After that, Kuzmichev, together with his partners, left the beneficiaries of Alfa-Bank. The businessmen also left the board of directors of Letter One. According to the Forbes-2022 ranking of Russian billionaires, Kuzmichev owns a fortune of $ 6 billion and occupies the 20th position among the richest Russians.
French officials have decided to freeze Kuzmichev’s Parisian mansion and La Petite Ourse villa in Saint-Tropez and have detained two yachts associated with it that were moored in the south of France and cost about $100 million in total.
Villa Alexei Kuzmichev La Petite Ourse in Saint-Tropez
In addition, according to Forbes, the French authorities froze the property of one of the founders of Alfa Group, Alexei Kuzmichev. In particular, a villa in Saint-Tropez, acquired for $57 million through SCI Le Cedre Rouge, was frozen. In addition, three properties in a residential building in the center of Paris were arrested.
In May of this year, Cyprus deprived four Russian billionaires and their relatives of their “golden passports”. Among them was Alexei Kuzmichev.