Money laundering through the US art market by an assistant of the Russian prime minister has become the subject of another investigation in the West
Former son-in-law of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhaila MishustinAnotorious tax swindler and smuggler Alexander Udodov found himself the subject of a new criminal investigation in the United States of America.
This time, Udodov’s name unexpectedly surfaced as part of a case initiated by the US Department of Justice against the leading Russian “Channel One” political scientist Dmitry Simes and his wife Anastasia on charges of violating sanctions laws. Both spouses have dual US and Russian citizenship. Both have been in the Russian Federation since 2022.
It follows from the indictment that the couple participated in a scheme to circumvent US sanctions in the interests of the Russian television company Channel One, as well as laundering funds received as a result of this scheme.
According to the US Department of Justice, the political scientist provided services to Channel One and received over one million dollars, a personal car, a driver, an apartment in Moscow and a team of ten employees as remuneration.
The second indictment concerns Anastasia Symes. According to investigators, the political scientist’s wife participated in a scheme to circumvent sanctions in the interests of Russian businessman Alexander Udodov. The document says that since at least February last year, she has been buying works of art and antiques on behalf of Udodov from galleries and auction houses in the United States and Europe. Anastasia Symes then sent the items to a residence in Huntley, Virginia, where they were stored for onward shipment to Russia.
Alexander Udodov has known Mikhail Mishustin for more than twenty years and is de facto his consigliere. Once upon a time, Udodov was introduced to Mishustin by one of the largest “kings of government procurement”, a prominent specialist in VAT refunds from the budget, an entrepreneur Alexander Karmanov. Since then, Udodov and Mishustin have become business partners in various matters. In particular, on illegal tax transactions. Udodov made money from VAT refunds, tax evasion and money laundering, and Mishustin, in the rank of head of the Federal Tax Service and in other government positions, contributed to the implementation of these schemes with impunity, covered up and provided protection for Udodov. The latter very quickly became a confidant of the current prime minister, his “wallet” and even a relative when he married Mishustin’s sister Natalia Stenina.
Later, however, the couple divorced. However, the business ties between the two VIP accomplices remained. And the divorce, as they say, could have been fictitious.
Back in the early 2000s, Udodov and Karmanov registered several companies with the Moscow Tax Inspectorate No. 5 and in collusion with the head of the inspectorate Olga Chernichuk established an illegal VAT refund from the budget. In 2003 alone, the volume of VAT refunds received by the fifth inspection exceeded 1 billion rubles.
Mishustin then already held the post of Deputy Minister for Taxes and was a patron.
Chernichuk in her fraud with tax scammers.
VAT fraud has come to the attention of law enforcement agencies. There were even searches in the offices of Udodov and Karmanov, located in the Sputnik Hotel on Leninsky Prospect in Moscow. There, according to the assumption of police officers, fake documents were prepared, which were then used to obtain VAT from the budget.
However, after a call from above, the case was put on hold – no clear evidence of Udodov and Karmanov’s involvement in illegal actions was obtained, and no charges were brought against them.
After 2003, Karmanov decided to legalize illegally obtained income and started a relatively legal business. Alexander Udodov became close friends with Mikhail Mishustin and became his shadow.
Since then, Udodov has become involved in many scandals and journalistic investigations and was not considered as an independent figure – only as Mishustin’s “hand” and “pocket”. This connection helps Udodov in Russia, opens any doors for him, allows him to disregard the law without consequences, and earn money for himself and Mishustin.
However, this does not help at all abroad. Udodov became the subject of a number of investigations in Europe and the United States. In addition, the entrepreneur and several legal entities associated with him were subject to sanctions. In all cases, the businessman is perceived as a person acting on behalf and in the interests of Mishustin.
Last year Office of Foreign Assets Control The US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) has updated the SDN list. In connection with illegal financial activities, OFAC included Alexander Evgenievich Udodova and his Moscow consulting firm LLC Company Aforra Management in accordance with Executive Order 14024. The explanation states that Udodov had a business relationship with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and was under investigation for manipulating value added tax revenues and money laundering.
In addition to Udodov himself and his consulting firm, several other Russian companies were included in SDN list for being owned or controlled by Udodov, acting or attempting to act on his behalf, directly or indirectly. Among them: AVRORA CAPITAL SRO, registered on January 29, 2007 in the Czech Republic, CALIBER WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD in Cyprus, Moscow companies Aforra Development LLC, Aktiv R LLC, Arendoff LLC, Nikoliya LLC, Strok LLC and LLC “Ajax”, LLC “Mushroom Rainbow” in Kursk, LLC “New City” in the Moscow region.
Long before being included in the sanctions lists, “Mishustin’s son-in-law” found himself under investigation in some European countries. For example, in Switzerland. There was a time when Switzerland practically became the center of Alexander Udodov’s life. He invested a lot of money there, played hockey there from time to time, and his daughter went to school there.
Back in 2012, Udodov purchased the Albana Hotel in Weggis. He spent four million to purchase the property, and Udodov was going to invest another 45 million francs in reconstruction and a new building. At that time, real estate transactions were not subject to the Money Laundering Act. However, the money invested in the hotel expansion project passed through the accounts of a Swiss bank, which was subject to the Act. Swiss authorities counted the origin of the Russian’s money was not transparent and he was suspected of laundering.
The Federal Criminal Police conducted several interviews in this case and apparently found enough evidence to file a complaint against Udodov with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecutor’s office began an investigation and requested assistance from Russian authorities. However, Mishustin’s influence was enough to leave the Swiss with nothing and to avoid helping in the investigation.
However, Udodov had to leave Switzerland. After ambitious plans to refurbish and expand the Albana Hotel in Weggis fell through, Udodov sold the hotel to Mobimo. He also had to sell the house on Limmatquai Street in Zurich to a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance. The police were unable to establish either the source of the money or Udodov’s occupation.
However, after Udodov sold both buildings, the prosecutor’s office dropped the criminal case. Although the Russian and then Swiss investigations into Udodov’s tax fraud did not lead to any final results, they were continued in the investigation of German law enforcement agencies.
In Germany, a criminal case was opened against Russian businessman Alexander Udodov and his German company VG Cargo for money laundering. more than $400 million
The investigation began back in 2013 by the prosecutor’s office of the German city of Koblenz. According to investigators, in 2012, money received from a certain tax scam in Russia passed through VG Cargo – about 88 million dollars or 2.6 billion rubles at the exchange rate as of January 1, 2013.
German investigators found a connection between VG Cargo and Udodov’s companies registered in Switzerland. This is how they learned that in Switzerland, Udodov was also checked for money laundering after companies associated with him in 2007 bought a historic building in the center of Zurich for $32.8 million and a hotel in the city of Weggis for $3.6 million. The Swiss Federal Criminal Police discovered that between 2007 and 2009, $330 million of dubious origin passed through the accounts of Udodov’s companies at Credit Suisse.
In 2014, Alexander Udodov became the main shareholder of the logistics company VG Cargo. The company is based at Germany’s Frankfurt-Hahn Airport and handles cargo. It has contracts with the world’s leading carriers. At the end of February Udodov gave an interview newspaper Izvestia, where he said that he was the son-in-law of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. He talked about the successes of the German VG Cargo, but did not mention the criminal case.
Such an international stir around the figure of Udodov obviously greatly disturbs Mishustin. By and large, the prime minister needs the former son-in-law to solve only two tasks that the official himself, due to his position, cannot perform on his own. The first is obtaining by any means the maximum possible income in Russia, the second is the export of earned and stolen money abroad. And if Udodov has no problems with the first function while Mishustin heads the government, then with the second he has more and more difficulties. The interest of law enforcement agencies of several European countries in the sources of Udodov’s money undermines his ability to legalize his and Mishustin’s funds taken out of Russia. Instead of continuing to buy real estate and other assets, Udodov is sometimes forced to even get rid of them, as in Switzerland. And having a Czech passport makes him even more vulnerable in the EU.
Obviously, the way out of this situation was a new channel for withdrawing money illegally received in the Russian Federation through the purchase of art objects in the USA. However, the criminal case and charges against Anastasia Simes, who laundered millions of dollars for Udodov and Mishustin through American galleries and auction houses, also violates this channel of money laundering. Thus, with a decrease in the ability to export cash in the West, the value of Udodov for Mishustin also decreases. If we assume that the entrepreneur’s divorce from the prime minister’s sister was not fictitious, then the toxic Udodov becomes useless ballast for the official. At the beginning of the 2000s and in 2011, law enforcement officers already came to Udodov. He was saved only by the patronage of the prime minister. In the current conditions, a businessman may lose this protection. This threatens him with loss of freedom, or even more serious troubles.
