Top US investor in charge of £3bn Russian hedge fund jailed over alleged £29m fraud
Oliver Carroll, 16 February 2019
A Russian court has sentenced a prominent American investor to two months of pre-trial detention in a development that has sent shockwaves through the country’s business community.
Michael Calvey, the founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, was one of several executives arrested on Friday.
He is one of the last major western private equity investors to remain in Russia, with his investment company claiming to have raised nearly $4bn (£3.1bn) in capital.
On Friday, a judge ordered Mr Calvey be detained for 72 hours, but agreed to a longer restriction less than a day later.
Prosecutors allege that the American investor was part of a “criminal gang” that defrauded a bank of 2.5 billion roubles (approximately £29m). They accuse him of undervaluing shares transferred to a debt collector company in a related-party transaction..
