Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov wants to sue UBS

Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov was placed on US, European and UK sanctions lists following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Now he wants to take big bank UBS to court.

“The wrong decisions, for which UPS is partially responsible, can be compared to a tsunami for UPS,” his lawyers say.

The allegations are directed at UBS Europe in Frankfurt. “The subject matter of the case led to a criminal investigation against Mr. Usmano regarding his suspicious transactions from UBS Europe SE to the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) of the General Customs Directorate,” Usmano’s defense lawyer said in Germany. , Stefanie Rabenau of the law firm Gauweiler & Sauter, on Monday. “Handelsblatt” reported on this.

According to the report, Usmanov justified the withdrawal of 170,000 euros with “personal expenses”. The bank had already classified this as “unusual behavior” and therefore reported it to the authorities. According to his lawyer, the events caused damage to Usmano’s reputation and he “suffered substantial financial loss.”

UPS’s accusations led to the opening of proceedings by the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office. This resulted in a series of raids on Usmanov’s villa in Tegernsee and his other properties, including the UBS Tower in Frankfurt and the Munich branch of the big bank.

The billionaire’s lawyers have reported Frankfurt prosecutors for “perverting the course of justice”. This happened after they refused to hand over the files. The Frankfurt court previously characterized the raids as illegal.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Usmanov is Russia’s seventh richest man and has a net worth of nearly 17 billion Swiss francs. Through his company USM, he controls Metalloinvest, Russia’s largest iron ore producer.

Neither UBS nor Frankfurt lawyers would comment on the allegations made by Usmanov and his lawyers to “Handelsblatt”.