Russian Oligarchs and New York City Real Estate

Scrutiny over purchases of U.S. real estate by wealthy Russians is growing in the wake of the war in Ukraine. But these deals represent a drop in the bucket in the scheme of the nation’s housing market. Russian buyers accounted for just 0.8 percent of all foreign buyers who purchased U.S. residential property between April 2015 and March 2021. A little over half of the Russian purchases were all-cash deals. Only 41 percent of these buyers live abroad—the rest are U.S. residents who were looking for a home to live in.

Russian oligarchs have purchased the expensive properties in major cities across the U.S. for years, with New York City serving as an especially hot spot for wealthy Russians to invest in pricy real estate. But tracking the ownership of those apartment sales is tricky, with many oligarchs able to hide their identities behind limited liability companies, shell companies, and trusts. Moreover, thanks to the fact that the real estate industry has managed to nab “temporary exemptions’’ — for two decades — from American anti-money laundering laws since the Patriot Act of 2002.

Here is a shortlist of Russian oligarchs and their business partners who have reportedly bought luxury apartments, penthouses, or townhouses in New York City:

Roman Abramovich

Estimated Worth: $13.1 billion

At the top of the “Navalny 35” list is Roman Abramovich, the billionaire oligarch and British soccer club owner known as “Putin’s banker.” The 55-year-old is currently worth $13.1 billion, according to Bloomberg, and is the largest shareholder of Evraz, a top Russian steelmaking company.

Not currently on a US sanctions list. Owns two yachts and owns the Chelsea soccer club in Britain. Abramovich’s most recent purchase was in 2017, when he bought the fourth townhouse along with another property in Manhattan’s Upper East Side for his planned mega-mansion for a combined $96 million, according to Business Insider. Shortly before an earlier sanctions round in 2018, Abramovich transferred $92.3 million worth of real estate to his ex-wife, Dasha Zhukova, who is on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Shed.

Zhukova, now married to shipping heir Stavros Niarchos, is also a New York real estate developer. She has also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on her museum’s Instagram site.

Homes Connected to Him:

  • 9, 11, 13 East 75th St. ($74 million)
  • 15 East 75th St. ($16.5 million)
  • 215 E. 73rd St., fourth floor ($900,000)

Ownership of the three properties above all was transferred to Zhukova.

Oleg Deripaska

Estimated Worth: $4.1 billion

Barred from entering the United States, he began as a metals broker, trading aluminum. The US froze his assets but let his business partner’s ex-wife, Dasha Zhukova, live in his East 64th Street mansion for a time. She is no longer there. His companies were taken off the sanctions list when he reduced his ownership (but allegedly not his control) to under 50% His partners include Abramovich and Len Blavatnik. FBI agents recently raided the townhouse as well as another property Deripaska’s relative owns in Washington, D.C., according to The Washington Post.

Homes Connected to Him:

  • 11 E. 64th St. (bought for $42.5 million in 2008)
  • 12 Gay St ($4.5 million)

The ownership of the above two properties was transferred to relatives of Deripaska.

Alexei Kuzmichev

Estimated worth: $5.8 billion

Not on a US sanctions list. Kuzmichev is a co-founder of the Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest private bank and the fourth largest in that country. Alfa is on US and EU sanctions lists. He co-controls Alfa Group and LetterOne — which has interests in banking telecom and natural resources — with sanctioned oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and German Khan.

Kuzmichev has since supported his colleague, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Alpha Group Mikhail Fridman, in condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Homes Connected to Him:

  • 33 E. 74th St: In 2016, he paid $42 million for the first four floors of the 7 story mansion, plus $15.5 million for a three-bedroom unit in another building; he planned to combine them.


Eugene Shvidler

Estimated net worth: $1.7 billion

Not on a US sanctions list. Russian-American oil tycoon billionaire Shvidler is reportedly a friend and business partner of Abramovich. Shvidler is chairman of Abramovich’s Millhouse and Highland Gold Mining.

Homes Connected to Him:

  • 785 Fifth Avenue, Apt 17AB: In May 2018, Shvidler bought the duplex from David Geffen for $24.5 million.

 

Dmitry Rybolovlev

Estimated net worth: $6.7 billion

Not on a US sanctions list. Rybololev is a fertilizer oligarch and president of the Monaco Football Club.  In addition to being the “fertilizer king,” Rybolovlev is also the owner of Monaco football club. He made his fortune thanks to his ties to Putin, said Russian political activist Ilya Zaslavsky, who has written extensively on oligarchs. In 2008, Rybololev famously paid $95 million for Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion at 515 N. Country Road — $13 million more than the most expensive home sale ever in Palm Beach at the time.

Homes Connected to Him:

  • 15 Central Park West: Rybololev paid $88 million for a penthouse owned by ex-Citigroup honcho Sanford Weill. His spokesman said he bought it for his daughter in a trust.

(Text and Image Courtesy: The Hill/NY Post)

Images courtesy of (Image Courtesy: NY Post) and Image Courtesy: The Hill/NY Post

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