The widow of the co-founder of the DonStroy development group of companies, Dmitry Zelenov, Natalya Dvoryaninova, sued the businessman’s parents, accusing them of trying to deprive her of part of the inheritance, Forbes reports. The publication notes that Zelenov, who died in France in December, did not leave a will or any plan for the division of his property.
The application was filed at the end of January in a Florida court, the eldest son of Zelenov and Dvoryaninova Mikhail also acted as a plaintiff. In addition to the businessman’s parents, the defendants were his adult daughter and a financial consultant.
In the lawsuit, Dvoryaninova and Zelenov Jr. allege that the defendants changed the locks on the Moscow home of the Donstroy co-founder and his widow, and took “over two dozen” cars belonging to the businessman, including four Mercedes, two Bentleys and a Rolls Royce; the total cost of the machines is seven figures. In addition, Zelenov’s widow and son lost access to rental income from a ski chalet in Courchevel and a $5 million seven-bedroom estate in New Jersey, the complaint says.
It is difficult to estimate the total value of Zelenov’s assets, and the plaintiffs also note this, writes Forbes. The businessman did not live in the United States on a permanent basis (Dvoryaninova now lives there with two children), and at the time of his death he was a resident of Cyprus. Dvoryaninova’s lawyers say the assets include “tens of millions of dollars” in Russian real estate and another $90 million in France.
Michael Carlin, a partner at the law firm Karlin & Peebles, said the assets were structured through limited liability companies owned by the businessman himself.
Dmitry Zelenov founded DonStroy in 1994 on a parity basis with developer Maxim Blazhko. Among the most famous projects of the group are the residential complex “Scarlet Sails”, “Triumph Palace”, “House on Mosfilmovskaya”, Schuka shopping mall in Moscow. In 2008, Zelenov entered the Forbes list of Russian billionaires, but soon, as the newspaper writes, his fortune began to decline due to the consequences of the financial crisis for the real estate market. In 2009, a controlling stake in Donstroy was acquired by VTB Bank, paying a symbolic 500 rubles for them, Kommersant wrote.
Zelenov died on December 10, 2022 in a hospital in Nice, Nice-Matin reported. The businessman was visiting friends in Antibes. When leaving the house, the man became ill, he fell over the railing and hit his head. Baza wrote that shortly before his death, Zelenov underwent vascular surgery because he had heart problems.
