French court confiscates €120 million villa linked to Gazprom

A luxury villa on the Cote d'Azur was confiscated by the French authorities as part of a money laundering investigation. This information, first reported by Le Monde, was confirmed by the Paris Prosecutor's Office.  Source: francetvinfo, reported by European Pravda

Details: French authorities have seized a villa worth about EUR120 million on the French Riviera, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, as part of a money laundering investigation.

The major Russian natural gas company Gazprom is deemed the "effective beneficiary" of this residence, built in 1906, which has among other things a helipad and swimming pool, and is located just a few metres from the Mediterranean Sea. The Interregional, Specialised, Economic and Financial Jurisdiction of the Paris Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into aggravated money laundering for acts committed since 11 December 2009 in Paris, Cyprus, Russia and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in relation to Villa Del Mare, now named Villa Maria Irina. Established in 2009, the shell company Maritime Villa Holding acquired the villa for EUR70 million in 2010.

This entity was registered in Beaulieu-sur-Mer at the time and had a capital of EUR15,000. Through the companies Subville S.A.R.L. and Leyson Holdings Limited, the beneficiary of this acquisition was 58-year-old Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, according to the prosecutor's office. Evidence suggests that successive plans to acquire the villa were made in the name of different companies whose indirect ownership could make Gazprom the true owner.

On 12 February 2024, in accordance with the requests of the prosecutor's office, the villa and the shares of the company that owned the villa, SNC Maritime Villa Holding, were seized. This residence was previously owned by other very wealthy people, including former President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled from 1965 to 1997. A few months ago, law enforcement agencies executed the first criminal seizure of the villa of a sanctioned Russian oligarch since Russia started the full-scale war in Ukraine.

The property is located in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the Alpes-Maritimes. This luxury villa was valued at EUR23 million. It was seized in October 2022 at the request of the magistrates of the National Jurisdiction for the Fight Against Organised Crime (Junalco) of the Paris Prosecutor's Office.

Read more on the topic: Challenges of confiscation: what will help Ukraine achieve transfer of Russian assets

Background: Estonia called on the European Union to confiscate more than EUR150 billion of frozen Russian assets by the end of the year in time for the US elections.

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