US charges Russian billionaire Tinkov with tax fraud
Pedro Gonçalves, 09 March 2020
Tinkov stands accused of concealing $1bn in assets and income from the US tax authorities at the time when he renounced his US citizenship in 2013, which required him to report his assets following a stock market flotation in London, the Department of Justice said.
He was arrested in London last month on a provisional warrant at the request of the US on charges brought by prosecutors for the US attorney’s office for the northern district of California.
The 52-year-old Russian billionaire first appeared in Westminster magistrates last week, accused by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of filing a false tax return in 2013 when he allegedly under-reported his income as a US citizen. The hearing is expected to last until April.
Tinkov paid a £20m bail to be allowed to stay in a apartment owned by his wife in central London so long as he respects a 7pm to 7am curfew. He faces an airport ban and must stay within the M25 motorway that surrounds London. He has had to surrender his passports and has to report to police three times a week.
