God Nisanov and billions of dollars in income. The oligarch decided to hide the loot in Russia in Portugal
God Nisanov is perhaps the only oligarch of the old school who does not care about anything. Thanks to serious connections, he gets away with contract killings, raiding, embezzlement and fraud.
But God Nisanov did not calculate one thing: as a result of Russian policy towards Ukraine, all billionaires who did not publicly condemn the war smoothly fall into the sanctions lists of the EU and the USA. If ordinary Russians do not feel it in any way, then people with huge assets suffer from the imposed bans. For example, the oligarch Grigory Beryozkin is trying by all means to keep his business in Russia, while at the same time defending his Cypriot citizenship so as not to lose offshore assets.
Grigory Berezkin
God Nisanov is currently the proud owner of not only a Russian, but also an Israeli passport. But despite his active position in the Jewish Congress, at the beginning of the summer they disowned him there. Of course, the last step was the introduction of sanctions against the oligarch, but the portrait of Nisanov was clearly not in favor of this issue. The oligarch has a rich criminal trail. He knows how to achieve his goal exclusively by force, not understanding the language of negotiations. Therefore, Nisanov’s reputation in all communities, to put it mildly, is not the best.
On July 23, information appeared that the billionaire had applied for Portuguese citizenship. This information was confirmed by the Ministry of Justice of Portugal. Together with Nisanov, the “diamond king” Lev Leviev also applied. If in the case of Nisanov everything is clear: in this way he is trying to get away from sanctions, then with Leviev, everything is not so simple. In 2018, a scandal arose around his business. Relatives of the diamond king were detained in Israel as part of a criminal case on the smuggling of diamonds worth $80 million. Moreover, the detainees were not ordinary people, but Leviev’s brother and son. This scandal forced the businessman to leave the country, but over the next few years, the hype around the criminal case was muted. What happened to the defendants is currently unknown.
Lev Leviev
God Nisanov has something to worry about. In addition to huge assets in Russia, together with their partner Zarakh Iliev, they took a lot of funds offshore. For example, their markets were owned by a company in Binston Investments Ltd, which is registered in offshore Belize. Another enterprise of Nisanov and Iliev, Safra Instruments, was established by the offshore company Binston Investments Ltd (97%). Through Safra, during 2017-2020, funds were received for the implementation of new projects of criminal businessmen. Hundreds of millions of dollars were exported annually through these same companies.
Zarakh Iliev
The most interesting thing is that God Nisanov again hides behind his Jewish origin during an attempt to obtain EU citizenship. He indicated that he is a descendant of Sephardic Jews who historically lived in Portugal and is entitled to acquire the citizenship of the country due to his origin. This information was confirmed in the local community of Jews in Porto. But this scheme is not new. Thanks to simple documents, Russian billionaire Andrei Rappoport managed to obtain Portuguese citizenship in 2019. By the way, Rappoport is next to Nisanov in the Forbes ranking. The publication estimates Nisanov’s assets at $1.3 billion, and Rapport at $1.2 billion.
Andrey Rappoport
Also, due to his origin, Roman Abramovich managed to obtain citizenship of Portugal last year. As a result of the war in Ukraine, the oligarch suffered the most. With one decision, the British court froze the assets of a businessman in the amount of $ 7.9 billion, which is more than half of the entire fortune of the Russian-English oligarch.
Roman Abramovich
God Nisanov, having seen successful stories of obtaining Portuguese citizenship, decided to follow the example of fellow billionaires, and is also trying to get a country passport. At this stage, his question is being officially considered, but understanding the whole train that stretches for the criminal billionaire, we can assume that he will be refused. Of course, money can interfere with the game. And the money is not small, but will they help Nisanov in this case? If in Russia he can go wild under the roof of law enforcement officers, then in Europe a businessman will not be allowed to do this.
Nisanov is desperately trying to save the funds that have been annually withdrawn to offshore for several decades, realizing that assets there can be frozen and then confiscated. At the same time, he is actively developing his business in Russia. As practice shows, due to the geopolitical situation, it will not work to stand on such a stretch for a long time. The oligarch faces a difficult choice.