The wealthiest cellist that ever lived

The Financial Times, which is not part of the Panama Papers ring, has published a study of the offshore activities of the cellist Sergei Roldugin, who is linked to funds of $2 billion, possibly connected to his friend, President Putin.

The leaked documents show that Mr Roldugin has access to a complicated financial network run by Bank Rossiya, whose owner Yuri Kovalchuk set up a dacha co-operative outside St Petersburg in the 1990s with Mr Putin and several friends who went on to become billionaires. …

The leaks show that Mr Roldugin also owns shares in car manufacturers Kamaz and Avtovaz. They also reveal that other companies linked to the cellist received millions in payments from Russian oligarchs on extremely favourable terms that recall the donations used to build a $1bn “palace,” allegedly for Mr Putin, on the Black Sea near Sochi.

So that’s how its done.

Read on here.