Pavel Fuchs
Oligarch
Pavel Yakovlevich Fuchs is a scandalous Russian-Ukrainian entrepreneur, also referred to in the media as the "new oligarch" and "Yanukovich's heir. After former President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage fled, Pavel Fuchs took over the gas business and other important assets of the former president's entourage. With the help of connections in the government and new schemes he managed to multiply his fortune in just a few years.
In Ukraine, he was involved in several major scandals related to obtaining gas fields, the swindling of the Kiev subway for 2 billion hryvnias, work for the FSB of the Russian Federation and double citizenship (Russian and Ukrainian). Pavel Fuchs is also known for his threats against journalists. Over the years, he became the subject of investigations by Ukrainian Pravda, Radio Svoboda, Al Jazeera, OBOZREVATEL and a number of other reputable media.
He has a common office and jointly conducts business with Vitaliy Khomutynnyk, an MP and member of the Vidrodzhennya group. Also, according to unconfirmed information, controls State Property Fund, State Service of Geology and Subsoil.
Biographical information
Born October 27, 1971 in Kharkov. In 1994 he graduated from Kharkov National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, where he specialized in "Economic and Social Planning".
As a schoolboy, I sold cigarettes by the piece. During the same period he met the future mayor of Kharkov, Gennadiy Kernes. According to mass media sources, both of them were boxing.
In 1992-1994 he worked as an adviser of the general director of the enterprise JV Trade House Intrada. The company was engaged in trade, with no specific specialization. What exactly Fuchs was doing and what else he was doing is not known. In one of his interviews with journalists, he said that he did not remember who was the general director of the company at the time. "I used to do boxing - I may not remember something," explained the oligarch. The businessman also does not remember who his business partners were: "I don't know where they are now. I don't remember their names.
The laudatory biography of Paul Fuchs as a "philanthropist and charity worker," published on Wikipedia, does not mention his 1994-1997 period at all.
In 1994, Pavel Fuchs left Ukraine for Moscow. The reason for such a sudden change could be the disagreement with the Kharkov businessmen who suffered from the machinations of the future oligarch, and alleged problems with crime.
In the same year, the Ukrainian officially received Russian citizenship. During the subsequent paperwork, he indicated that he had been a citizen of Ukraine until July 14, 1995. In Moscow, from the very first day Fuchs fell into the entourage of the criminal authority Sergei Batozsky ("Baton"). Together they dealt in vodka, alcohol, computers, and chicken hams from Singapore.
In the early 2000s , Sergei Batozsky brought Fuchs into the construction business.
In 2001, Batozsky was shot dead, and Paul Fuchs got his influence in the real estate development business.
In 2002, he founded the company Tekhinvest, which became the foundation of the future construction business in Moscow. At that time the capital of the aggressor state was being actively developed, and the oligarch managed to take part in dozens of major projects in Moscow and the Moscow Region.
The partner in the company was Makhtar Ablyazov, who since 2005 has been accused of stealing $6 billion from BTA Bank. In Kazakhstan, Ablyazov served as Minister of Energy, Industry and Trade. After numerous accusations, including theft of funds, Fuchs' partner fled.
In 2006, he created the company MosCity Group (MCG), which combined various projects of the already Russian entrepreneur. Fuchs's partner was Mikhail Riadyak (at the time close to then-Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov). After his sudden death in 2007, the oligarch inherited his company Ingeokom, which brought its owners more than a billion dollars in net profits.
On November 26, 2006, he received an award at the FSB building on Lubyanka from Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is not known for what services the supposedly honest businessman received the award. At this time, he establishes close ties with the entourage of the then businessman Donald Trump. Talks about investing in Russia.
In2008, Fuchs's company Tekhinvest and his associate Mukhtar Ablyazov obtained a 12.5 billion rubles ($500 million) credit line from Sberbank for the construction of Eurasia Tower, which was to be part of Moscow City. In 2010, the Kazakh government accused Ablyazov of major fraud and he fled to London. The project was not implemented. They got the money, but the project was not completed: in fact, the construction became one of the schemes for obtaining huge funds.
As Fuchs said in an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda, his main partner in the Moscow City project was Alexander Ter-Avanesov (from 2006 to 2015, he was a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation).
Fuchs' company also received $105 million from the state-owned Moskapstroy to build the Sky House complex. The project was not completed. In 2018, a criminal case was opened against the developer of the residential complex under an article on fraud. "Obligations to the shareholders of the Sky House housing complex have not been fulfilled since 2014. In addition, when analyzing the quarterly reporting of the developer specialists of the committee revealed a violation of the norm of the target use of funds of the population, "- said in the press service of Moscomstroyinvest.
In 2008, he joined the Board of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Russia.
From 2010 to 2015, he was the majority shareholder of Sovcombank (21.83%). At the same time he was actively involved in business in Moscow and continued to receive support from the Russian authorities. After some of the schemes in the Russian Federation collapsed and criminal proceedings began against the companies, Fuchs decided to prepare his return to Ukraine.
InJuly 2014 , in Moscow, Fuchs declared the loss of his Russian passport (series 4505 No. 173341, dated April 22, 2003). The status of the document was invalid and had been wanted since July 24, 2014. He was issued a new one (series 4514 #500025 of 24.07.2014).
In 2015, he moved to Ukraine and started concentrating the assets of Viktor Yanukovych's runaway entourage. He received a Ukrainian passport (in fact, a second citizenship), but refused to register for military service, which is grounds for depriving him of his Ukrainian citizenship.
In 2017, he received another passport in the Russian Federation (upon reaching the age of 45, the Russian Federation reissues the "book", rather than pasting another photo).
2015-2019 - in a short period of time accumulated the gas business of Eduard Stavitsky, the Minister of Energy of the time of Yanukovych, who fled, bought the company and achieved the recovery of 2 billion UAH from the "Kiev Metro" (as a result had to increase the cost of travel in the subway).
Fuchs schemes: what scandals the oligarch is involved in
Scandalous redistribution of the gas market and getting licenses without competition. The oligarch bought from Yanukovych's entourage Ukrnaftoburenie (producing over 530 mln cubic meters of gas a year), DV Oil and Gas Production Company, Devon PJSC, and East Europe Petroleum (previously Golden Derrick). The gas business is conducted jointly with Vitaliy Khomutynnik, an MP and member of the Vidrodzhennya group. By a strange coincidence, these companies returned dormant licenses and got new ones. Without any tenders. The said companies have licenses for the development of the Sakhalin field in Kharkiv region. And there are about 15 billion cubic meters of gas reserves only according to the confirmed data. At the current price such volume of gas can be sold for about $3.9 bln. Reserves of gas in Poltava region, which fell to Fuchs, are estimated at 8 bln cubic meters. At market price, this is about $2 billion. In total, Fuchs owned $5.9 billion worth of gas reserves!
On hidden terms, he received a share of the state enterprise "Nadra Ukrainy" in one of the companies. Europe Petroleum was 67% owned by the Cypriot offshore behind which Fuchs stands, and 33% by the state company Nadra Ukraine. At the end of 2018, the state-owned company transferred its shares to Avant Trade Limited on classified terms. The founder of the said company is Maria Vladimirovna Martynenko. She previously referred to herself as the director of the same East Europe Petroleum.
Geonadra refused to disclose the details of the deal. What is interesting is that the new licenses were refused to be granted to the state-owned company Ukrhazvydobuvannya by tender. Instead, the regional council actually handed over Ukrainian fields worth billions of dollars to the Russian oligarch.
"Blown" billion-dollar debts of the Kiev Metro. Fuchs' company Ukrrosleasing (currently called Austro-Hungarian Leasing Company) leased cars to the subway in 2010-2013. A few years later, they demanded from the utility company 365.9 million UAH for the cars themselves, 112.3 million UAH of interest, 229 million "inflation costs", 42 million UAH of penalties and 1.1 billion UAH of "adjustments".
The case of Kyiv Metro about the "relationship" with LLC "Ukrrosleasing" was under consideration in the Commercial Court of Kyiv. The decisions, which later became fateful and, in fact, gave green light to "legal robbery", were made by the judge of the Commercial Court Vadim Bosym. His baggage includes dubious court decisions and "no stake, no yard", "secret" information about prosecution for hooliganism, eight years of church training.
The Met has signed a settlement agreement with the oligarch. According to the document, until December 31, 2018, the utility company had to pay 656.1 million UAH to the oligarch, and until December 31, 2019 - another 994 million UAH. In total, for the period of a little over a year - 1.65 billion UAH. According to the financial statements of the subway, the company carries 498.5 million passengers per year. Each of them, paying for their fare, will give at least 3,3 UAH to Fuchs.
By the way, in 2013-2014, according to the audit service, the average cost of the car, which purchased the Kiev subway, was at 9.6-11.5 million UAH. While Ukrrosleasing sold cars to the subway at an average price of about 13 million.
Connection with the FSB and dual citizenship. The international TV company Al-Jazeera published an investigation about the oligarch's ties with the Kremlin. Thus, Pavlo Fuchs might have been infiltrated into Ukraine to implement corruption schemes and collect dirt on politicians and officials linked to the machinations. The information that the oligarch is embedded in Ukraine to collect dirt on the top of the country is also confirmed by competent sources .
In December 2018, he was included in the sanctions lists of the Russian Federation. In fact, the odious billionaire remains untouchable with the help of associates in power and thanks to the support of the Kremlin. The sanctions imposed on the oligarch are purely formal in nature. In essence, it is a standard cover-up operation of his agent, skillfully implemented by the FSB. Thanks to this, Pavel Fuchs easily runs scams in Ukraine, continuing to inflict damage on our country.
The day after obtaining Ukrainian citizenship (in 2015) Fuchs registered (registered) in the Obolonsky district of Kiev. However, he did not register for military service, as required by Ukrainian law. "Citizen Fuchs Pavel Yakovlevich, b. 27.10.1971, on the military registration in the district military commissariats in Kiev is not listed, there is no information on the receipt of this citizen's citizenship of Ukraine", - said in the answer of the Kiev city military commissariat to the information request OBOZREVATEL.
Scandals in Mexico and the United States. On January 7, 2019, Fuchs together with an MP, deputy head of the "Popular Front" Andrei Ivanchuk arrived in Mexico, was immediately detained and sent to the "monkey house". The businessman and the politician arrived by charter flight NBR 537-7813 (costing about 200 thousand euros one way).
Oligrakh tried to enter Mexico with a Ukrainian passport on the basis of a U.S. visa, which was pasted into his Russian passport and which he received as a Russian citizen. While behind bars, Fuchs had to apply for a new U.S. visa, declaring his property in a new way.
In the U.S. Pavel Fuchs is accused of threatening an American businessman involved in the sale of seats for the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. Thus, the two tickets he bought for 200 thousand dollars left him and Ukrainian Vidrodzhennya MP Vitaliy Khomutynnik with bad seats
By the way, the presence of at least a dozen Ukrainian politicians and businessmen (some of whom have close ties to Russia), at the January 20, 2017 inauguration sparked the interest of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Some of the Ukrainian guests "promoted grand deals or peace plans" in line with Kremlin interests, The New York Times reported. Fuchs, who was among them, tried to return to the U.S. in December 2017 but was detained and expelled by border guards, who revoked his visa, according to several sources. The oligarch, who owns real estate in New York and Miami, later claimed he was the victim of an administrative error.
Fuchs is also known for his ties to U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani. While still a Moscow businessman, he negotiated the then-billionaire Trump's entry into the Russian market. His ties to Trump have also been mocked in the American media. Thus, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the oligarch's last name was subjected to phonetic mockery. In particular, very obscene analogies were openly made on the air. The host hinted that Fuchs' last name was consonant with the common U.S. word "f*ck," which literally means "to have intercourse." "Congress has announced intentions to look at Trump's funding, and I hope they start with past years. Because there are new details about the 2006 case, namely, real estate deals between the president and a Russian-Ukrainian developer named Pavel (I'm told it rhymes with... "books" (books) Fuchs! To avoid confusion, the Internet helped me by showing me his name on the screen. But whenever I said his name out loud, and to this query I said "Fuchs - yes," it sounded on the air.
WHAT PAVEL FUCHS "BECAME FAMOUS FOR:
In August 2018, Fuchs sued the communal enterprise "Kievmetropolitan" about 2 billion UAH, overstating the amount of the claims. In order to pay them, the Kiev subway had to sharply increase the fare by 3 UAH, of which 2 UAH from each trip goes directly into the pocket of Putin's billionaire.
The state-owned company Nadra Ukraina actually gave a stake in the gas business to the Russian-Ukrainian oligarch. As a result, Ukraine lost hundreds of billions of hryvnias.
Fuchs is suspected of covering up money laundering schemes by the former president of Ukraine and trying to get "Yanukovych's money" out of Ukraine.
He is suspected of having ties to a criminal authority who is one of the organizers of the murder of former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov.
Fuchs came under special investigation by FBI advisor Robert Mueller. According to the American, some of the Ukrainians who were at the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump tried to offer "peace" plans and other agreements that coincided with the interests of Russia.
He tried to enter Mexico on a Ukrainian passport on the basis of a U.S. visa that was pasted into his Russian passport.
Fuchs, who moved to Ukraine, can carry out his machinations on its territory under the patronage of the Kremlin. This is the subject of an investigation by Al Jazeera.
After a series of high-profile publications in our edition, Fuchs started to pressurize OBOZREVATEL and launched a black discrediting campaign against the head of the media editorial board Mikhail Brodsky.
INVESTIGATIONS OF THE LEADING MEDIA ABOUT FUCHS:
"Ukrainska Pravda": How Fuchs got the business of Yanukovych's entourage
"Radio Liberty: investigating Fuchs's ties with the government
Al Jazeera: On Fuchs's ties with the Kremlin
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