A person titled Eric Whyte controls offshores you to own luxury properties and you can expenditures value millions. Clues recommend he is becoming a good proxy for Andrei Kostin, a sanctioned Russian banker having good Kremlin ties.
Trick Findings
- Eric Whyte, an effective Canadian citizen, seems inside records throughout the Pandora Paperwork due to the fact useful proprietor away from enterprises put up on Uk Virgin Islands one to owned luxury functions from inside the Russia and you can Europe.
- Some of these agencies appear to have been regularly cover-up Andrei Kostin’s control away from an international portfolio from higher-end a house.
- The companies is linked to anyone else, mostly entered within the Cyprus, one very own property worthy of a projected $130 million.
The newest son from an entire world-trotting Canadian communist, Eric Whyte transferred to the fresh new Soviet Union because the a great boy into the 1966, and you can was educated within an effective esteemed college exterior Moscow. The individuals are nearly most of the light information in public available regarding their lives –– actually “Wine and you can Meatballs,” a book-duration memoir by Whyte’s later father, Bert, just says their delivery.
But if you are Whyte retains a hidden, leaked corporate data offer a clue regarding their circumstances along the earlier a decade approximately: He seems to be good frontman to have approved Russian banker Andrei Kostin.
Whyte has enterprises joined for the secretive offshore monetary jurisdictions you to definitely keep luxury attributes around the Russia and you may European countries. All these possessions has actually website links so you’re able to Kostin, a switch Kremlin ally and you may direct of your own condition-possessed lender VTB.
A larger corporate community out-of providers with involvement with Eric Whyte’s enterprises possess way more qualities, as well as financial investments and you may stakes inside the Russian retailers and you will bistro stores – along with Hamburger Queen and you will KFC – value some $130 mil.
“It appears to be very persuasive one Whyte could have been acting as a beneficial proxy to possess Kostin,” told you Tamara Makarenko, a seasoned of one’s providers cleverness field that have comprehensive experience investigating oligarchs.
The Pandora Documents
Specifics of Whyte’s offshore passions come from the fresh new Pandora Files, a vast cache from leaked studies away from fourteen service providers acquired by All over the world Consortium regarding Investigative Journalists and you may distributed to hundreds out of journalists in the world.
“The new bits of the fresh puzzle… is reflective out-of how we know oligarchs was covering up its wealth,” she said after examining OCCRP’s conclusions.
Kostin features justification to have attempting to disguise one money the guy have accumulated through the his two decades as president out of VTB: He could be sanctioned regarding You.S. and you can European union for his help of your own lingering Russian war within the Ukraine therefore the annexation of Crimea from inside the 2014.
Whyte, Kostin, and you may VTB the refuted to remark because of it facts. But Kostin did offer a frank interviews in order to CNBC in 2018 regarding the impact the sanctions had been wearing your yourself.
He was not able to visit Bali to possess an international Economic Funds appointment, the guy told you, neither you’ll he go snowboarding in the Colorado. “That’s most unfortunate. An educated snow [is] inside the Colorado –– a good hill,” he said.
Whyte Winery
Within the Soviet ages, members of the fresh new ruling top-notch commonly had june households from the bright coastal town of Foros, with the Crimean peninsula.
Adopting the Russian annexation of Crimea during the 2014 Tyskt kvinnlig, a special breed of elite Russians rushed in. Multiple mass media channels at the time claimed rumors one to Andrei Kostin got purchased a deluxe property for the Foros, and a great winery regarding the Alma Valley, 70 kilometers towards the northern.
“Winery managers would not reveal who it falls under, whilst Russian news provides speculated that it is the latest president off among Russia’s most powerful banks,” had written Meinenger’s Wine Business Globally in the 2015.