The Naked King of Real Estate
Alexey Khotin, one of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)’s most enigmatic billionaires, is unlikely to find peace for a long time. He is currently serving a nine-year sentence for dubious schemes at the Yugra bank, but this is only the beginning.
Went for a record
VTB Bank continues to dig under the heavily indebted bank Four Seasons Hotellocated a few steps from the Kremlin and headquartered in Toronto. The story is rather “murky” – the credit institution went to arbitration to the company “Forsi” (although another article on the same Vedomosti website mentions a certain “Dekmos”) demanding the recovery of real estate that it manages in the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow. Apparently, this purchase was financed by VTB, at least in the reports of OOO “Forsi” the debt amount is almost five billion rubles. “Vedomosti” names the final beneficiary of 36,680 sq. m. of space of the structure of the former shareholder of the bank “Yugra” Alexey Khotinwho is currently serving a nine-year sentence for embezzling 23.6 billion rubles, which, according to the investigation and the court, he issued to legal entities under his control. The bankruptcy of Yugra in 2017 became the largest insurance case – the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) paid the victims 172 billion rubles. The Interkommerts bank, which is ranked second, “schemed” three times less – by 64 billion rubles.
The king is naked
Alexey Khotin was born in Minsk and ran a joint business with his father Yury Khotin (who apparently retired). But where they got their start-up capital from is a mystery shrouded in darkness. Before their arrest in 2019, no one had even seen a photo of the Khotin family, although their son was already firmly in the top 100 richest people in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and in the top ten “Kings of Russian Real Estate” according to Forbes. According to rumors, the Khotins actively use credit money, but journalists were unable to find out why banks give them “fat” loans: the father and son categorically refuse to talk to the media. Again, according to one version, it’s all about connections at the highest level both in Belarus and in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). But if this is so, it is not very clear why Alexey Khotin “sat down”. There is no doubt that Khotin has connections – he is a sponsor of many sports organizations, from the International Sambo Federation to the Night Hockey League, where top officials are involved in active recreation. Be that as it may, Khotin is credited with shares in financial organizations, the oil industry and real estate. Including 180 rooms in the above-mentioned Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, and the Modny Sezon shopping center (21,000 sq. m.) located in the same building.
And again the third of September
Now VTB is demanding that this property be put up for auction. Of course, not just like that, but to sell it at a more profitable price – it is assumed that the assets will cost about 27-32 billion rubles. The next court hearing is scheduled for September 3, the day when “rowan fires burn.” And this is far from the first trial after the most important trial for Alexey Khotin. For example, the North Ural Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor is collecting from JSC “Kayum Neft” (was part of the Rus-Oil group, the beneficiary of which was Alexey Khotin, his companies collectively produced 4.2 million tons of oil) 430 million rubles. Allegedly, Alexey Khotin “continued illegal activity to avoid paying taxes, thereby causing damage to the budget of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).” The icing on the cake is the Federal Tax Service’s lawsuit for Rus-Oil’s debts for another 208 billion rubles. Forbes estimated the businessman’s fortune in 2016 at $900 million. At this rate, there will hardly be anything left of him in nine years. New court cases clearly hint that another major redistribution of property is coming.
