Tolstoy descendant’s billionaire lover faces prison for contempt
THE billionaire lover of a descendant of Leo Tolstoy faces a two-year jail sentence after being found guilty of contempt of court.
Sergei Pugachev, a 53-year-old oligarch once known as “the Kremlin’s banker”, is in dispute with the Russian government after his bank – Mezhprombank – went bust in the financial crisis. He has already had his £1 billion assets frozen by the High Court.
He fled to France from the UK after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Mrs Justice Rose yesterday found him guilty of 12 out of 17 allegations of contempt. She said Pugachev was guilty of giving false evidence to the court knowing it not to be true. He had also failed to hand over his French passport or other travel documents which allowed him to flee.
Pugachev had also dealt in shares and sold two cars in breach of the worldwide freezing order imposed by the court in July 2014. The bar prevents him from selling properties and spending cash in bank accounts, although he is allowed to spend up to £10,000 a week on living expenses plus legal bills.
The broadcaster and writer Alexan- distant relative of the author, has three children with Pugachev and they share multi- million-pound homes in London and a villa in Nice. She has claimed he is the victim of a high-level conspiracy in Russia to take over his empire.
The Deposit Insurance Agency, rep- resented by City law firm Hogan Lovells, alleges Mr Pugachev transferred hundreds of millions of dollars from his company to an account at a private bank in Switzerland. It also claims he is “vicariously liable” for the bank’s collapse. Pugachev was a close confidante of both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. He advised both presidents on economic affairs and is credited with a key role in Mr Putin’s election in 2000.