While the notoriously infamous businessman continues to win cases in German courts, new, astonishing facts about his criminal past are emerging.
Billionaire in currency trading Alisher Usmanov, the son of a Tashkent prosecutor, probably never imagined he would reach such heights in the future. He managed to outmaneuver his "competitors," including fellow Uzbek billionaire compatriots like Iskander Makhmudov, Lev Leviev, and the Cherny brothers. All of this came after a 6-year sentence in a strict-regime colony in Uzbekistan.
The military court of the Turkestan district initially sentenced him to 8 years with confiscation of property for bribery and fraud. The future oligarch was 26 years old at the time. His father, Burkhan Usmanov, who headed the Tashkent prosecutor’s office, lost his position. The criminal case materials were soon destroyed. But the "stain" remained for life, no matter how much Mr. Usmanov tried to erase it…
And there is another murky story: a connection with a criminal authority linked to the Solntsevskaya organized crime group—Gafur Rakhimov, also known as Gafur Cherny and Gafur Pirozhok. It is said that this Tashkent "Pirozhok" was involved in Usmanov’s early release from the colony.
Another "stain" in Usmanov’s multilayered biography is tied to the disappearance of the scandalously famous American businessman with Russian roots, Leonid Rozhetskin, known in narrow circles as "Malvina." Usmanov was "dividing" shares of the company Megafon with Rozhetskin at the time: the outcome of this division ended with Rozhetskin’s death. Before his demise, Rozhetskin had arrived in Jurmala on the Riga seaside, where he owned a luxurious hacienda. His body was not found in Latvia right away… But later, it became known that Alisher Usmanov bought an estate on the very same Kapu Street in Jurmala where the late Rozhetskin once lived. Does this mean that Usmanov, who owns a huge "golden" house in Tashkent, a mansion in London, several "cottages" in Italy, and a chalet in Germany, needed some thrills?
Leading German Justice by the Nose
As for the yacht worth 600 million "greenbacks," Mr. Usmanov filed a lawsuit in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, believing that his rights to the inviolability of his home were violated during searches on the yacht Dilbar in the port of Bremen… Usmanov’s lawyers drafted a 67-page lawsuit.
In 2024, even more curious events unfolded: the Frankfurt am Main Prosecutor General’s Office terminated the investigation against billionaire Usmanov in a money laundering case, and the Hamburg Regional Court prohibited attributing ownership of the yacht Dilbar to Usmanov.
The controversial yacht Dilbar: who is the owner?
By 2025, a German court once again sided with Usmanov and banned the press from publishing defamatory reports claiming that Usmanov evaded taxes.
According to Berliner Zeitung, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg prohibited the newspaper Bild from publishing claims related to Usmanov’s tax burden in Russia. Bild had claimed that from 2004 to 2020, thanks to special measures, the entrepreneur paid only 6.4% in income tax. An ordinary Russian pays 13%.
Usmanov filed a lawsuit for a court injunction. After the claim was rejected by the court of first instance, the Higher Regional Court sided with him. The decision text states that Alisher Usmanov "sufficiently convincingly proved the falsehood of these claims."
According to his testimony, from 2004 to 2020, he did not pay 6.4% in taxes in any single year or on average. He also stated that he paid as much tax as any taxable resident of the Russian Federation was required to pay.
Alisher Usmanov
However, it should be noted that the German prosecutor’s office has been conducting an investigation against Usmanov for suspected tax evasion for three and a half years. Prosecutors are trying to prove that from 2011 to 2022, billionaire Usmanov was obligated to pay taxes in Germany.
But Usmanov’s defense argues that the oligarch visited Germany exclusively for medical treatment and rehabilitation, so this wealthy man cannot be considered a tax resident of Germany. Court injunctions were issued against the newspaper Tagesspiegel, TV channels RTL and ARD, as well as Austrian and Swiss publications.
Then the newspaper Welt published a headline: "How a Russian Billionaire Makes Fools of German Authorities."
After all, back in 2022, the media reported that from 2014 to 2022, there were over 90 reports from banks in Germany regarding suspicious financial transactions related to the dollar billionaire Usmanov.
Brazen Money Laundering
It should be recalled that sanctions against Usmanov were imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Australia.
In 2023, Usmanov’s lawyers filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court of Germany to challenge the EU sanctions, but the EU refused to lift them. Later, the lawyers submitted a claim regarding the seizure of Usmanov’s assets in Italy.
On January 23, 2024, the Hamburg Regional Court granted Usmanov’s lawsuit against Forbes and banned the dissemination of untrue claims. The publication appeared in February 2022 and cited an anonymous expert whose conclusions served as the basis for EU sanctions.
Forbes refused to amend the article out of court, after which Usmanov initiated proceedings in the Hamburg court.
Interestingly, does the nouveau riche himself remember exactly how many mansions he owns in different countries around the world?
In the summer of 2024, the businessman filed a lawsuit in the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court against the bank UBS Europe SE over a series of unfounded suspicious activity reports: from 2018 to 2022, the credit institution sent more than 10 notifications regarding Usmanov’s transactions to the financial monitoring department of the German General Customs Directorate. These notifications mentioned possible money laundering.
But in November 2024, the German prosecutor’s office terminated the investigation.
Remarkable events!
Connection with Gafur Cherny
For many years, Usmanov has been hiding his dark past as well as his ties to criminal Uzbek organized crime groups, particularly with the pride of Gafur Rakhimov, also known as Gafur Cherny, Gafur Pirozhok.
Since 2012, Gafur Cherny has been on the U.S. sanctions list as one of the leaders of the "Brothers’ Circle" group.
Gafur Rakhimov, a Tashkent friend of Alisher Usmanov
Gafurov himself insists that the claims against him are based on false accusations resulting from intrigues by the daughter of the former president of Uzbekistan, Gulnara Karimova.
Like Usmanov, Gafurov was born in Tashkent: he started boxing at the age of 7. In his youth, he sold pies near the "Kazakhstan" cinema, earning his first nickname "Pirozhok." From the 1980s, Rakhimov gathered a criminal group of athletes around him. They engaged in armed robberies, extorting money from cooperatives. It was during these years that he became acquainted with many leaders of the criminal world, including thieves-in-law.
In the criminal world, he acquired a new nickname, "Gafur Cherny." It is said that Gafurov was the ideological mentor of the young Usmanov, after which the latter ended up in a strict-regime colony.
Thieves-in-law: Vladimir Tyurin (Tyurik), Aslan Usoyan (Ded Hasan), criminal authority Gafur Rakhimov (in the top row, center), and others.
Rakhimov became one of the major leaders of an international criminal community specializing in drug production in Central Asian countries.
This community is known as the "Brothers’ Circle."
In 1998, several major European publications ran stories about the Uzbek drug baron Rakhimov. French authorities revoked his visa and deported him to Uzbekistan.
However, the criminal authority managed to fully control drug trafficking from Central Asia to Russia and then to Western Europe. The media reported that Rakhimov’s trusted individuals in Moscow were Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov, nicknamed "Taiwanchik," and oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov
In a 1998 interview with the British publication Observer, Alisher Usmanov said he was personally acquainted with Gafur Rakhimov and had known him for 20 years…
"But we do not have close relations or business ties. I visit Uzbekistan only two or three times a year and meet with him in Tashkent each time…"
Later, European Parliament member Thomas Wise sharply criticized Usmanov, calling him a bandit and racketeer who served a prison term. He was pardoned by the order of mafia boss Gafur Rakhimov…
So, is this the person to whom Mr. Usmanov owes his early release on parole from the strict-regime colony? And, apparently, his immersion into the business that brought him billions in dividends?
Usmanov’s "Agroplast" Cooperative
In 1986, Usmanov was released on parole from the strict-regime colony, and on May 3, 2000, the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan overturned the verdict, declaring the case fabricated.
Usmanov then went into business: he started with the "Agroplast" cooperative. This cooperative produced polyethylene bags based at the Ramenskoye Plastics Plant.
In the early 1990s, Usmanov entered the telecommunications market: he became vice president and later president of the company "Intercross," a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. Soon, he became a member of the board of directors of the First Russian Independent Bank. In 1993, this bank co-founded MAPO-Bank.
Later, Usmanov headed the Interbank Investment and Financial Company "Interfin": he dealt with gas debt collection.
In 2008, Usmanov, together with billionaire Yuri Milner, invested in the DST fund. In 2010, DST gained full control over the internet portal Mail.ru, the ICQ messenger, and the social network "Odnoklassniki." These companies were later incorporated into Mail.ru Group.
Alisher Usmanov’s Companies
In 2012, all of the billionaire’s assets were consolidated into USM Holdings.
But a particularly dark story for Mr. Usmanov unfolded with the company "Megafon."
Death on the Riga Seaside
In May 2008, Usmanov purchased a stake in the Russian mobile operator "Megafon" from Danish lawyer Jeffrey Galmond: after the deal, Usmanov gained control over 31.1% of the shares. And he wanted it all!
However, an obstacle in the deal was shareholder Leonid Rozhetskin, who also held a Latvian passport under the name Leonards Rozets.
In court case materials, Rozhetskin claimed he was threatened with physical violence if he did not transfer his share package.
It should be noted that Rozhetskin left Leningrad as a teenager with his mother, Elvira Rozhetskina: in the USA, he received an excellent education, graduating from the mathematics department of Columbia University and later Harvard Law School. He then returned to Russia and started doing business.
Leonid Rozhetskin owned 25.1% of Megafon.
But tensions over the Megafon share package escalated. When the situation reached a deadlock, Alisher Usmanov stepped in to resolve it.
Rozhetskin initiated a lengthy legal process in New York. In October 2007, the New York court dismissed Rozhetskin’s lawsuit, but he filed again.
Leonid Rozhetskin, also known as Leonards Rozets
In March 2008, Rozhetskin suddenly disappeared in Jurmala. He flew to Riga from London on March 15, 2008, on his private Challenger 604 plane. He planned to leave on March 17, but vanished…
The search for Rozhetskin involved the FBI, Scotland Yard, Interpol, and private detectives from the GPW agency (UK).
That’s when information about Rozhetskin’s unconventional orientation became public. However, he was always surrounded by beautiful women. He even married model Natalya Belova, who bore him a son. Natalya Belova lived in London’s Mayfair under the protection of five bodyguards.
But on internet forums of a certain community in Riga, Leonid Rozhetskin was known by the nickname "Malvina."
Leonid Rozhetskin with his wife Natalya Belova
Clarity in Rozhetskin’s case emerged four years after his mysterious disappearance.
In a forest strip near the town of Tukums, a few kilometers from Jurmala, in August 2012, the remains of a man were found. Next to the half-decomposed body lay a credit card. In the name of Leonid Rozhetskin. DNA samples from the businessman’s mother, Elvira Rozhetskina, were then requested…
After some time, it became clear: the deceased was indeed Mr. Rozhetskin.
This was reported by "Versia."
As it turned out, the banker visited Latvia not only to attend wild parties. In Riga, he had a trusted person—someone named Andreas Kolenko. A significant portion of his property, including land in Cap Ferrat, France, and a personal Challenger plane, was registered under Kolenko’s name. Since Kolenko held Latvian citizenship, this allowed Rozhetskin to avoid taxation in the USA.
Before his disappearance, Mr. Rozhetskin had very ambitious plans: he actively engaged in investing in film production. He founded his own animation studio in Hollywood, partnering with Eric Eisner, the son of Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Recall that Alisher Usmanov, like Mr. Rozhetskin, also purchased a villa in the prestigious dune zone of Jurmala on Kapu Street for 3.9 million euros.
Usmanov’s Mansion in Jurmala
This was also reported by "Versia."
What a tangled criminal story…
Meanwhile, the Germans decided to keep the yacht Dilbar in the port of Hamburg, while the British proposed housing Eastern European refugees in two of Usmanov’s luxurious London mansions. It remains unclear what will happen to Usmanov’s villas in Italy, but he is calm about his "golden" palace in Tashkent: this palace will certainly not be confiscated from him.
It seems that Mr. Usmanov is unable to "cleanse" himself of his criminal past, despite the fact that German courts have suddenly started siding with him en masse. German justice has truly gone both blind and deaf.
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