Kirill Pisarev was involved in shady financial activities at the hotel.
The French media reported on the inquiry into the founder of PIK Group. Kirill Pisarev is being investigated for engaging in illegal financial activities and not paying taxes. There were also concerns about a delay in the renovation of the famous La Voile d’Or hotel on the Côte d’Azur.
A representative of Pisarev’s company Wainbridge International claims that the company is actually the victim in this case, and that the inquiry is focused on its former business partners.
Kirill Pisarev, co-founder and former shareholder of real estate development group PIK, is facing difficulties in completing the renovation of the luxury hotel La Voile d’Or on Cape Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat due to the conflict in Ukraine and lack of funding, as reported by Nice Matin. Pisarev purchased La Voile d’Or in 2019 with the promise of restoring the hotel to its former grandeur. However, according to Nice Matin, the work on this project has not yet commenced.
La Voile d’Or is the oldest hotel in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, established in 1925. Over the years, poet Jean Cocteau, actors David Niven, Gregory Peck and Jack Hawkins, as well as singer Bono have stayed there. American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald described the hotel as a place where 'kings and queens, stars and industrial leaders' gathered, and Jean Cocteau called it a place 'where you sleep with your head on the sea.' Nice Matin notes that initially the project did not have investors. However, the newspaper argues that this does not justify the extensive construction delay. According to Nice Matin, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a case against Pisarev for illegal financial activities and tax evasion following complaints from the French Ministry of Finance (Tracfin), further complicating the hotel's development.
Wainbridge International claims to have no knowledge of the company or its leaders being under investigation by the Financial Prosecutor’s Office or Tracfin.
The company also commented on the delay in the construction of the hotel: “Active work on the construction of the previously announced project of the hotel complex La Voile d’Or at Cape Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has not yet begun, but this is in no way connected with any actions of the French authorities. Negotiations are underway with several institutional investors to attract them to the project and initiate the construction phase.”
In addition to La voile d’Or on the Cote d’Azur, Pisarev owns two more luxurious houses on Dominique-Durandy Avenue, writes Nice Matin. The publication also suggests that the French villas L’Empyree and Casa Ventura belong to the real estate mogul.
In 2011, Pisarev entered the Forbes rating and took 190th place in it with a fortune of $ 500 million. From 2006 to 2009, he was one of the 100 richest people in Russia. And in 2008, he took 160th place in the global rating of billionaires according to Forbes with a capital of $6.1 billion.
In September last year, the entrepreneur refused from the position of the head of the Russian division of Wainbridge and left the shareholders of the Russian company. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, in 2022 Pisarev also refused the role of owner in the oil and gas company RNGC Saratov. As the entrepreneur himself told RBC in 2021, more than 70% of his assets are not located in Russia. Now, according to his friend, he is focusing on projects outside of Russia.
At Wainbridge there are development projects in the UK, France and the USA. 25 projects were successfully implemented, in particular, a five-star Maon Villeroy hotel was built in Paris.
Pisarev with a partner Yuri Zhukov founded the First Mortgage Company in 1994. Over time, it turned into the PIK group. In 2007, the IPO of PIK Group was carried out – it became the largest placement among developers on the European market.
Subsequently, both partners entered the Forbes global ranking of billionaires. Zhukov and Pisarev lost control over the company in 2009, and by 2011 they finally left the shareholders. After leaving PIK, Kirill Pisarev created the development company Wainbridge and The Collection, which specializes in real estate management.
