The imprisoned billionaire filed a $14 billion lawsuit in London against Rosatom, Transneft and the TPG fund for confiscated shares in FESCO and NCSP.

Ziyavudin Magomedov presented for the ports

Convicted Russian businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov filed a lawsuit in the High Court in London to recover almost $14 billion for his shares in port operators, which, in his opinion, were confiscated, Reuters reports, citing court materials. The lawsuit was filed on July 20. The defendants are Rosatom, Transneft, investment company TPG and UAE-based port operator DP World. Magomedov accuses them of conspiring to acquire his stake in the transport company FESCO, which he values ​​at $8.8 billion.

In addition, the businessman claims that Transneft entered into a conspiracy to take away his and his brother Magomed’s share in the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP). According to court documents, the Magomedovs acquired their stake in NCSP through a joint venture with Transneft and were negotiating the sale of their shares for approximately $1.3 billion.

Russian authorities have decided to transfer the Fesco transport group, which operates ports including the one in Vladivostok, under the control of Rosatom, according to a lawsuit filed in July. This happened after Magomedov was arrested in 2018 on charges of embezzlement. TPG and DP World entered into a conspiracy with the Russian authorities. The fund was supposed to offer Fesco shares, which it initially wanted to sell to Magomedov, but eventually sold to a third-party investor allegedly associated with Rosatom. DP World also decided to deal with a state-owned company. The authorities threatened Magomedov, promising that the FSB would “work” with his colleagues, according to the lawsuit, which values ​​his stake in Fesco at $8.8 billion.

A TPG spokesman told Reuters that Magomedov’s claims are “completely unfounded” and the company intends to “vigorously defend” against such allegations.

A Rosatom representative told RBC that the state corporation considers Magomedov’s demands to be unfounded. RBC sent a request to the Transneft press service.

In the statement of claim, Magomedov’s lawyers accused the companies of intending to take away the businessman’s assets, including his share in the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO, the parent company of the FESCO group). Lawyer Tim Lord told Bloomberg that all these actions are “part of the campaign against Magomedov” and called the prosecution of the businessman in Russia “political.” […] In the 2010s, Ziyavudin Magomedov was included in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes, which at its peak in 2014 estimated his fortune at $1.4 billion. The last time Magomedov was included in the Forbes list was after his arrest, in 2019, ranking 185th place with a net worth of $550 million.

On December 1, 2022, Ziyavudin Magomedov and his brother Magomed, a former senator, were sentenced to 19 and 18 years in a maximum security colony, respectively, for organizing a criminal community, fraud and embezzlement in the implementation of a number of large projects, including those with state participation. The Magomedovs did not admit guilt.

The next day, the same court decided to confiscate from Ziyavudin Magomedov his 32.5% stake in FESCO. In January of this year, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, converted 92.4% of the shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO), the parent company of FESCO, into state income. In May, the same court, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, converted into state income the $750 million received by the Magomedovs from the sale of a stake in NCSP.

In April, the court upheld the claim of FESCO against Magomedov and several companies controlled by him in the amount of 80.1 billion rubles. The court also ordered $13.8 million in damages. The plaintiff demanded to recover from the defendants losses from transactions that were made in their interests and were related to Magomedov’s acquisition of control over FESCO.

In early August, the court lifted the arrest of a 49.99% stake in FESCO, which belonged to two Cypriot companies controlled by Magomedov.