Tycoon selling Whyte’s former castle

A RUSSIAN tycoon who bought former Rangers owner Craig Whyte’s Highland castle is trying to offload it at a knockdown price after being convicted of a £4million fraud.

Sergey Fedotov, who purchased Castle Grant near Grantown-on-Spey in Moray for £1 million, admitted a massive embezzlement while he was head of the Russian Authors’ Society (RAO), which collects royalty payments on behalf of writers.

The 40-year-old businessman was arrested in Moscow in 2016. He bought the 16th century A-listed castle in 2014 after it was repossessed from Whyte.

He admitted the fraud at a hearing in Moscow’s Meshchansky Court in June last year and was jailed for 18 months. He was released on parole after serving only six months.

Fedotov, who is still the registered owner of Castle Grant, put it up for sale last October for offers over £950,000 after he was ordered to pay back the money he had swindled from the RAO. It was then removed from the market, but it was put back up for sale this week at offers over £850,000.

Reports in Russia said the RAO had refused an offer to take ownership of the castle. Instead, it wants the money from its sale.

Fedotov has spent thousands refurbishing Castle Grant. But during the court case, he said: ‘That castle in Scotland I have, I acknowledge. But this property is irrelevant. The cost corresponds to the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in the centre of Moscow.’