Dmitry Rybolovlev

Full name:

Dmitry Rybolovlev

Dmitry Rybolovlev Date of Birth :

22 November 1966

Dmitry Rybolovlev Citizenship:

Russia/Cyprus

Professional field/official position Dmitry Rybolovlev:

Russian oligarch, owner of FC Monaco

Dmitry Rybolovlev biography:

RYBOLOVLEV Dmitry Yevgenyevich (b. 1966 in Perm) graduated with honors from the Perm Medical Institute in 1990, worked as an orderly in the intensive care unit of the cardiology department. In 1990, Dmitry Rybolovlev founded the company Magnets, which provided medical services to corporate clients using the method of magnetotherapy developed by his father.

In 1992, Rybolovlev received a certificate from the Ministry of Finance to work with securities and opened the Financial House investment company and an investment fund in Perm, which bought privatization vouchers from individuals for participating in the privatization of local industrial enterprises. Rybolovlev bought up the assets of companies producing potassium and other chemicals: Silvinit OJSC, Metafraks OJSC, Neftekhimik JSC.

In 1994, he headed Credit FD Bank. In 1996, he was arrested on a charge of the murder of Yevgeny Panteleimonov, director-general of Neftekhimik JSC, but in 1997 he was fully acquitted.

In 1994, Rybolovlev became a member of the Board of Uralkali, and 2 years later he headed the company that controls about 30% of the global export of potash fertilizers. In 2000, he consolidated more than 50% of the company’s shares.
In 2007, the company made an IPO, where Rybolovlev sold 14% of the shares from his stake (at that time 80%), receiving more than $1 billion. In 2010-2011, he sold the rest of his stake to the structures of Senator Suleiman Kerimov for $5 billion.

Since 1995, Rybolovlev has lived in Switzerland most of the time.
In 2010, he received actual control over the largest bank in Cyprus, Bank of Cyprus, having bought 9.7% of its shares.
In 2012, he received Cypriot citizenship.
In 2011, he moved to Monaco, where he bought a controlling stake in FC Monaco. He is known for his passion for art and expensive real estate.
In 2008, he bought one of his mansions, Maison de Lamite in Florida, from the future US President Donald Trump for $95 million. For 2019, Dmitry Rybolovlev’s fortune was estimated at $6.8 billion.
In 1990, he graduated with honors from the Perm Medical Institute, received a doctor’s diploma and began working as a cardiac intensive care physician. Rybolovlev’s first enterprise was connected with medicine – together with his father he founded the company “Magnetix”, which specialized in using the method of magnetotherapy developed by his father – Evgeny Rybolovlev.
At the beginning of the 1990s, he took a broker course in Moscow and became the first entrepreneur from the Perm Region to be certified by the Russian Ministry of Finance for operations with securities.
In 1992, he founded his first investment company.
In 1994, he established his own bank, and acquired interests in numerous large Perm enterprises, becoming a member of the board of directors of these companies.
In 1995, he sold part of his shares and pooled his investments, concentrating them in enterprises of the Perm Region, first of all in Berezniki’s Uralkali, also acquired stakes in Silvinit (Solikamsk), Azot (Berezniki), Metafrax (Gubakha) and Solikamskbumprom. In 1995, he headed the Board of Directors of Credit FD Bank.
In 1999-2000, he was the leader of the Supervisory Board of Uralsky Finansovy Dom Bank. Since 2000, he completely controlled Uralkali.
In November 2005, he became the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Belarusian Potash Company. In 2006, he also possessed a 20% share in Silvinit.
In June 2010, he sold majority shares (53.2%) in Uralkali to Kaliha Finance Limited (Suleiman Kerimov, 25% ownership), Aerellia Investments Limited (Alexander Nesis, 15%) and Becounioco Holdings Limited (Filaret Galchev, 13.2%). The transaction was valued at $5.32 billion, but only up to $3 billion was paid in cash (the amount that Kerimov, Nesis and Galchev obtained from VTB for the deal).
In April 2011 the remaining 10% of Uralkali shares were purchased from Rybolovlev by Alexander Nesis. In September 2010, he gained effective control of the largest bank of Cyprus – Bank of Cyprus, by acquiring 9.7% of its shares.
In 2011, he relocated to Monaco, where he acquired a controlling share in FC Monaco.

Rybolovlev Dmitry family

His former wife is Elena Rybolovleva. Dmitry and Elena got married in 1987. During their marriage the spouses had two daughters: Catherine (born in 1989) and Anna (born in 2001). On 22 December 2008 Elena filed for divorce because of her husband’s unfaithfulness. The issue of property division remained unresolved for 7 years – until October 2015.

Rybolovlev Dmitry crimes:

National and international corruption.

Unlike many other Russian billionaires who made a fortune on government contracts and rigged auctions, Dmitry Rybolovlev seems relatively respectable. In recent years, he has been earnestly investing in his image of a Western philanthropist and art enthusiast. However, he still chose to evade the allegations of corruption from Monaco authorities in Moscow. In his position, he must have close connections with the Kremlin, and it's no surprise that he was listed in the Kremlin report by the US Treasury.

Allegedly, Dmitry Rybolovlev used his contacts in Russia to cover up the case of the accident at the Uralkali mine in Berezniki in 2006, which led to human casualties. Supposedly, the then Minister of Resources and Environmental Management of the Russian Federation, Yuri Trutnev, helped him to avoid a substantial fine and damage to his business reputation in appreciation for funding his election campaign for governor of the Perm Region in the early 2000s.

Dmitry Rybolovlev was a defendant in Robert Mueller’s inquiry about Russia’s potential interference in US elections. The Mueller Commission investigated Rybolovlev’s purchase of the Donald Trump mansion in Palm Beach in 2008. The purchase was very suspicious: Rybolovlev bought Trump’s villa for a record $95 million at that time, even though Trump had purchased it in 2004 for $41 million.
On November 6, 2018, Rybolovlev was arrested by Monaco police at the request of the local prosecutor’s office, and police conducted searches in his apartments in Monte Carlo. An investigation is ongoing against him on suspicion of corruption and undue influence. It was about the inquiry of the case against the Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier. In 2017, the Minister of Justice of Monaco, Philip Narmino, had to resign shortly after the release of information about potential corruption ties with Rybolovlev. The publication Le Monde alleged that a Russian billionaire could have utilized his acquaintance with Narmino to exert pressure on the investigation against his former art dealer Yves Bouvier. The billionaire sued him, accusing him of inflating the prices of purchased art objects. Journalists obtained evidence of Narmino’s corruption from SMS messages from Tatyana Bersheda, Rybolovlev’s lawyer. Bersheda alerted police commissioner Christoph Aget and his deputy about the arrival of an art dealer in Monaco, after which Bouvier was arrested. After reviewing Bersheda’s correspondence, Le Monde concluded that the Russian businessman had “inappropriate connections” not only with Narmino but also with other senior members of the judiciary, police officers, and politicians from Monaco. On November 8, 2018, Rybolovlev departed from Monaco and flew to Moscow.
One cannot but welcome the desire of some large businessmen from Russia to integrate into the Western elite. However, while a corrupt authoritarian regime rules in Russia, cooperation with such figures must be approached with particular care. These people, as a rule, have close relations with corrupt Russian officials and are able to transfer corrupt practices to Western institutions. This can contribute to the erosion of Western law enforcement and political systems to the benefit of the ruling group in Russia, involved in numerous violations of human rights and war crimes.