In 2014, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev was locked in a fierce divorce battle with his wife Elena Rybolovleva, fought out in the Swiss courts where she launched the petition. His immense wealth, much of it placed in Cyprus-based trusts and today estimated by Forbes magazine at 6.8 billion dollars, was at stake, and the gloves were off that year as the deadline for a ruling on their divorce became imminent.
It was at that time that his entourage organised a series of meetings in several European capitals with a mystery figure they guardedly referred to as “our friend”.
Two people from Rybolovlev’s ‘family office’ (which managed his fortune), Tetiana Bersheda and Serguey Chernitsy, prepared the secret meetings, held in Dublin, Brussels and Paris. They did so in collaboration with Andreas Hadjikyriacos, a Cyprus-based PR consultant close to the island’s current president Nicos Anastasiades, for who he had acted as communications advisor during after the latter’s 2013 election campaign. His company also worked for Rybolovlev.
In an email message dated March 20th 2014 and seen by Mediapart and its partners in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network (see ‘Boîte Noire’ at bottom of page), contained in data from Football Leaks, Hadjikyriacos contacted three of Rybolovlev’s close staff, including Bersheda, an advisor to the billionaire and a board member of his football club, AS Monaco. “The president is very concerned that we haven’t yet been able to provide any details for the flight yet,” wrote Hadjikyriacos. “There are important security issues that need to be taken care of for him to fly and time is running out.”
The email prompts the question as to whether the “president” it refers to was Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. Contacted by Mediapart, Anastasiades firmly denied any involvement in the divorce battle between Dmitry Rybolovlev and his wife Elena. Concerning that latter’s arrest in Cyprus in early 2014, the Cypriot president said: “I neither knew nor was I later on informed as regards the incident concerning Mrs. Elena Rybolovleva. And it would be a paradox for a President of the Republic to be informed of any complaints or arrests conducted by the police force of his country.”
Anastasiades knew Rybolovlev, a shareholder in one of Cyprus’s biggest banks and who he had met on several occasions after his February 2013 election to discuss the island’s banking crisis. In the summer of 2016, Anastasiades was invited to attend the marriage of Rybolovlev’s daughter on the Greek island of Skorpios, owned by the Russian billionaire (finally, only the Cypriot president’s wife was able to attend).
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Contacted by the EIC, Andreas Hadjikyriacos refused to reveal the identity of the mystery man at the centre of the meetings, citing “ethical and legal” obligations towards his clients.
The meetings are one more mystery in the saga of Rybolovlev’s divorce. The phrase "most expensive" often appears in media commentaries concerning Rybolovlev's affairs, and it was again used to describe the ending of his marriage with his wife Elena. The legal battle lasted seven years, centred on the division of the oligarch’s wealth, estimated today by Forbes magazine at 6.8 billion dollars. The divorce was finally agreed in a confidential settlement in 2015, but before that the conflict between the two had involved Cyprus, where legal action against Elena Rybolovleva was launched by the billionaire’s aides as of December 2013.
The action, which was for a long while under kept wraps, eventually ended with the arrest of Elena Rybolovleva, the oligarch’s wife of 23 years and mother of his two daughters, on February 24th 2014. She was arrested after her plane landed at Larnaca airport, in southern Cyprus, after she had flown to the island to discuss a divorce settlement with Rybolovlev, just months before magistrates in Switzerland, where she was resident, were due to announce their ruling in the case.
But instead, Elena Rybolovleva was arrested in the VIP salon at the airport on a warrant issued after a complaint against her for theft was lodged by a Cyprus-based trust controlled by her husband, who had by then taken up residency in Monaco, where he had bought a two-thirds majority share in football club AS Monaco. It accused her of stealing a valuable piece of jewellery, described by one of Rybolovlev’s staff as being a diamond-encrusted ring in rose gold, and which was estimated to be worth 25 million euros. Elena Rybolovleva, who still had the receipt for the ring, insisted that it had been offered to her by her husband.
Rybolovlev’s team had hired two of Cyprus’s leading law firms, Chryssafinis & Polyviou and Neocleous & Co LLC, to represent the trust in the case. The latter is the largest legal practice on the island and is headed by Andreas Neocleous, once a member of the Cypriot House of Representatives, whose business manages thousands of companies. Neocleous enjoys considerable influence in Cyprus, where the divided Greek- and Turkish-speaking communities make up most of the population of about 840,000 and which welcomes with open arms offshore financial and corporate activities in an environment that offers largely impenetrable secrecy.
Neocleous’s standing is such that former United Nations secretary general Boustros Boustros-Ghali attended the inauguration in Limassol of new offices of Neocleous & Co LLC in 2009. French weekly Le Point reported that the company’s presentation brochure Neocleous's Introduction to Cyprus Law, prefaced by a former Cypriot president and public prosecutor, vaunts the merits of the island’s tax-dodging structures.
'She will be arrested at the private lounge passport control'
Neocleous’s law firm occupies a central position in Rybolovlev’s wealth management strategy. The firm hosts two trusts, Aries and Vigo, in which, since 2005, the oligarch has placed much of his fortune, founded in part on his early business activities in potash production in Russia. Neocleous & Co also administers Zeus Trust, whose economic beneficiaries are Dmitry Rybolovlev and his daughter Katia. Zeus Trust controls Monaco Football Marketing SAM, which is 99.98% owned by football club AS Monaco in which the oligarch has a 66.6% stake.
Zeus Trust is unknown to the public, thanks to the secrecy trusts enjoy in Cyprus where it is close to impossible to identify exactly who is hidden behind the official managers of trusts. Despite its membership of the European Union since 2004, Cyprus offers even greater secrecy to offshore structures than do the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands.
In 2010, Rybolovlev (who was to gain Cypriot nationality in 2012), acquired a 9.7% stake in the Bank of Cyprus, one of the island’s biggest banks, via an offshore fund called Odella Resources based in the British Virgin Islands, of which the oligarch and his two daughters are the main beneficiaries. His investment in the bank (which is recorded in 2013 as having dropped to just more than 5%) was a welcome one in a sector that had been severely hit by the Greek financial crisis to the point that Russia, in 2011, loaned Cyprus 2.5 billion euros to bail out its financial institutions.
Neocleous & Co is an efficient, multi-tasking practice. In 2014, one of its employees suggested a “discreet lobbying” campaign aimed at obtaining Cypriot passports for members of Rybolovlev’s close inner circle, and it was Panayotis Neocleous, son and associate of the law firm’s founder Andreas Neocleous, who, in coordination with Tetiana Bersheda, filed the complaint for theft against Elena Rybolovleva. Lawyers Neocleous and Bersheda closely followed the procedure that led up to the issue of the warrant against Rybolovleva on Sunday February 23rd, the eve of her arrival in Cyprus.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
Bersheda had facilitated the process by sending Panayotis Neocleous a few days earlier Rybolovleva’s passport number and arrival times in Cyprus. “The passport number is [withheld here by Mediapart], issued on 4 June 2013,” she told hime. “They should land at around noon - 1pm and I will send you exact time later.”
On February 23rd, the day the arrest warrant was issued, Bersheda wrote to Panayiotis Neocleous: “Pls keep me posted when you have any news…”. Neocleous replied: “Just spoke with the policeman. The aw [arrest warrant] will be applied for within the next two hours. Let us keep our fingers crossed.”
Contacted by Mediapart, Panayiotis Neocleous’s father Andreas Neocleous said his law firm had played no direct role in the issuing of the warrant, insisting that it was delivered by court on the request of the Cypriot police and not after a request by the lawyers.
On the day of the arrest, February 24th 2014, Tetiana Bersheda was regularly updated on the unfolding events by mobile phone messages sent by Sergey Chernitsyn, from the staff of Rybolovlev’s family office, who was present at Limassol airport. “She is still at the airport”, read one, “She is on the way to Limassol in the police car” read another. He even passed on to Bersheda elements from Elena Rybolovleva’s statements to police. Even after Rybolovleva’s arrest, her husband’s team appeared to maintain a close involvement. On February 27th, Bersheda sent a message to Panayotis Neocleous. “Pls do not forget to ask police to take her Swiss residency card,” Bersheda wrote.
Neither Tetiana Bersheda nor Serguey Chernitsyn accepted to reply to Mediapart’s questions about the events reported here, notably as to whether they enjoyed special access to the police procedures. However, in a statement to Mediapart in which she declined to be interviewed on specific issues Bersheda firmly insisted that “I have never collaborated in, or taken part in, an illicit activity or one that is in contradiction with the duties of my profession” (the full text of her statement can be found at the end of this report)
Also in a statement issued to Mediapart issued by one of his lawyer’s (the full text of which can be also found at the end of this report), Dmitry Rybolovlev denied involvement in “any wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct”.
Several messages revealed in the Football Leaks documents suggest that the events leading to the arrest of Elena Rybolovleva in Cyprus had involved highly placed officials, even before the theft complaint against her was lodged. On December 10th 2013, Serguey Chernitsyn wrote to Bersheda to say that an appointment with “the minister of justice” was confirmed for the following day and that he would soon send her an update. Contacted by Mediapart, Cypriot justice minister Ionas Nikolaou firmly denied being involved in any such meeting. “I can assure you that I had no appointment to meet with anyone in order to discuss this matter concerning Mr. Rybolovlev, nor have I given an authority to anyone to speak on my behalf or make any act in relation to the case under investigation,” he said.
On February 23rd 2014, communications advisor Andreas Hadjikyriacos, who had worked since 2010 for Dmitry Rybolovlev’s family office, wrote to Sergey Chernitsyn: “I confirmed with the MoJ [Ministry of justice] that she will be put on the alert list tomorrow and will be arrested at the passport control of the private lounge,” he announced. “This is the legal procedure when there is a warrant.”
But despite the apparently well prepared operation behind the arrest of Elena Rybolovleva, it was to turn into a farce, beginning with her rapid release following the intervention of Cypriot attorney general Costas Clerides. That was despite the precautions announced earlier by Chernitsyn: “AN [Andreas Neocleous] talked with n1. The reaction is good. N1 “he hopes” that AG [attorney general] will not interfere.” Just who was “Number 1” referred to in that message remains uncertain.
The plan collapsed after the attorney general’s office was contacted by the Russian embassy in Cyprus, which had been alerted to the arrest by Elena Rybolovleva’s lawyers. A contact of Dmitry Rybolovlev’s team was furious, complaining that the too rapid issuing of a statement announcing the arrest could have appeared to point to the “premeditation” of the operation.
In a separate case, following an investigation launched by attorney general Costas Clerides, lawyer Panayiotis Neocleous and the Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC law firm were found guilty in February 2017 of corruption by bribing deputy attorney general Rikkos Erotokritou to launch a criminal prosecution against five Russian nationals and a Russian company who were engaged in a dispute with the law firm over ownership of a trust fund.
Contacted, Andreas Neocleous said both his law firm and son Panayiotis Neocleous “firmly maintain their innocence” and that they were taking the case before the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that they were the victims of an unfair trial.
Rikkos Erotokritou was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but was controversially released after serving 17 months. Some media reports have suggested that it was Erotokritou who signed the order to arrest Elena Rybolovleva. Contacted, the Cypriot justice ministry declined to comment on the allegation.
Following the release of Elena Rybolovleva, Tetiana Bersheda and Dmitry Rybolovlev’s aides organised a summit at Larnaca airport for March 12th 2014. Bersheda wrote to her colleagues: “FYI. People coming for a meeting just have to present themselves at Skylink handling and advise them they have meeting with MKATE’s passengers and they will be escorted to the room.” M-KATE is the registration detail of Dmitry Rybolovlev’s private Airbus 319 jet (more here). Their new strategy was to obtain the freezing of Elena Rybolovleva’s assets, notably by asking Switzerland, her country of residence, for its cooperation in this.
At the beginning of March 2014, communications consultant Andreas Hadjikyriacos was in Dublin for meeting between Bersheda and “our friend” who was staying in the Maldron hotel in the Irish capital. The Football Leaks documents suggest the meeting was held with the knowledge of Andreas Neocleous, despite the fact that he was leading the legal case against Elena Rybolovleva. Hadjikyriacos contacted Bersheda to ask if the lawyer was aware of other meetings organised “in Paris & Brussels”. “No he does not,” she replied.
At around the same time, Averof Neofytou, the president of Cyprus’s ruling party, was invited to a meeting in Switzerland. He had replaced Nicos Anastasiades as head of the party after the latter’s election as president in February 2013. The location for the meeting was five-star Geneva hotel La Réserve, and Neofytou, confirming his presence to Bersheda by phone text, appeared delighted.
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“Meeting confirmed,” he wrote. “You are spoiling me arranging meetings to such upgraded [sic] places.” Questioned, Neofytou said the meeting was about the banking crisis and insisted that he had never been aware of the “details” of the case involving Elena Rybolovleva.
One week before the Geneva meeting, Neofytou had travelled to the Swiss alpine resort of Gstaad, where Dmitry Rybolovlev owns a chalet, to celebrate his son’s anniversary. Neofytou told Mediapart that he had stayed in the Swiss resort between March 7th and 10th 2014 on a family holiday and had not met Rybolovlev there nor any of his associates.
A text message he sent to Tetiana Bershida shortly after arriving in Gstaad suggest a certain proximity with Rybolovlev. “Good morning from Gstaad,” he began. “I hope everything is fine with all of you. Some people here mention to me that a very wealthy Russian has just bought his third chalet! Of course I did not tell them who is this guy neither that I know him. Otherwise I would tell them that he usually buys whole islands!!!!!!” To which Bersheda replied: “Thank you! Enjoy Gstaad.”
At the beginning of April 2014, PR man Hadjikyriacos set out a strategy, which was that there should be no request for a freeze of Elena Rybolovleva’s assets “now”, but rather to concentrate solely, in the short term, on identifying the assets through a request for cooperation from the Swiss authorities. Messages exchanged later suggest that in June the Swiss authorities turned down the request.
Meanwhile, a Nicosia court slapped a ban on Elena Rybolovleva and her lawyers from making any allegation of any sort about the ownership of the assets in Cyprus that were at stake in any future divorce settlement. Her Swiss lawyer Marc Bonnant denounced a move that was “contrary to the principles of a constitutional state,” adding: “Here we have judges who reason outside of law.”
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In response to questions submitted to Dmitry Rybolovlev before publication of this report, Mediapart received the following statement from one of his lawyers:
"In response to your request of 24 October 2018, we would like to inform you that in light of ongoing legal proceedings, it is not appropriate for us to provide comments on the substance of your questions at this stage. In addition, we have serious doubts as to legality of the sources and accuracy of your information.
Nevertheless, we deny any and all underlying suggestions that Mr Rybolovlev might have been involved in any wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct."
Also before publication of this report, Tetiana Bersheda, who was submitted questions about the issues raised in this report, sent the following statement:
“In reference to your email below, I note that to reply to the questions you have addressed to me would constitute a violation of my duties regarding the professional confidentiality required of a lawyer. As a result, I am unable to give a positive response to your invitation.
Surplus to this, I limit myself to making clear that I have never collaborated in, or taken part in, an illicit activity or one that is in contradiction with the duties of my profession. Any insinuation of the opposite may become the object of legal action.
To this day, there exists no judicial or other decision that supports the insinuations that underly in your questions and, to human view, an upcoming publication.
Moreover, I am saving my explanations for the competent authorities in the ongoing procedures.”
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- The French version of this article can be found here.