- Joined
- Mar 22, 2015
- Location
- Untied States of America
The US has arrested one of the most influential executives in Russia’s natural gas industry over alleged tax misconduct linked to tens of millions of dollars held in offshore accounts.
The Department of Justice in a statement on Thursday said Mark Gyetvay, chief financial officer at Novatek, allegedly schemed to defraud the US by hiding ownership and control over “substantial offshore assets’‘ that at one point were worth more than $93m. He was also accused of failing to file and pay taxes on millions of dollars in income.
According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury, Gyetvay between 2005 and 2016 allegedly placed “lucrative” stock options or stock-linked remuneration from a “large Russian gas company” in two Swiss bank accounts, the US justice department said.Authorities accused him of seeking to conceal his ownership of the accounts through manoeuvres including making his then Russian wife the beneficial owner. He also allegedly failed to file US tax returns on deadline or filed false ones to hide the fraud, despite being a certified public accountant with work experience in the US and Russia, the justice department said.
Gyetvay, a US national, has held a Russian passport since 2019. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He was released on Friday on $80m bail by a Florida court, while remaining under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Novatek said on Friday it had received no official notification from US authorities and was seeking to clarify the matter but that the situation would not affect the company’s operations.
The Kremlin said it was “interested in his fate and the circumstances of the case, and of course our diplomatic missions will be ready to provide necessary assistance”, but that it could not interfere because of Gyetvay’s US citizenship.
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The Department of Justice in a statement on Thursday said Mark Gyetvay, chief financial officer at Novatek, allegedly schemed to defraud the US by hiding ownership and control over “substantial offshore assets’‘ that at one point were worth more than $93m. He was also accused of failing to file and pay taxes on millions of dollars in income.
According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury, Gyetvay between 2005 and 2016 allegedly placed “lucrative” stock options or stock-linked remuneration from a “large Russian gas company” in two Swiss bank accounts, the US justice department said.Authorities accused him of seeking to conceal his ownership of the accounts through manoeuvres including making his then Russian wife the beneficial owner. He also allegedly failed to file US tax returns on deadline or filed false ones to hide the fraud, despite being a certified public accountant with work experience in the US and Russia, the justice department said.
Gyetvay, a US national, has held a Russian passport since 2019. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He was released on Friday on $80m bail by a Florida court, while remaining under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Novatek said on Friday it had received no official notification from US authorities and was seeking to clarify the matter but that the situation would not affect the company’s operations.
The Kremlin said it was “interested in his fate and the circumstances of the case, and of course our diplomatic missions will be ready to provide necessary assistance”, but that it could not interfere because of Gyetvay’s US citizenship.
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