Rolf car dealership founder Sergei Petrov is sentenced to nine years in absentia over an alleged 4-billion-ruble scheme

According to Meduza, Sergey Petrov, founder of Russia's largest car dealership Rolf, has been sentenced to nine years in prison in absentia on charges of transferring four billion rubles abroad. Petrov fled to Austria in twenty nineteen and has denied the allegations, describing the case as a corporate raid. Prosecutors allege he and three others orchestrated a fraudulent scheme: Rolf bought shares in a company headed by one of the defendants for three point nine billion rubles, though those shares were worth only about one ruble—the money then passed through foreign firms to Petrov. In December twenty twenty-three, Putin signed a decree nationalizing Rolf, and the company is now owned by Umar Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton