Family, friends, business and searches - the main thing from the biography of a businessman

On September 14, businessman Telman Ismailov was searched: eight apartments belonging to his family were checked. What the owner of the Cherkizovsky market became famous for and what they can look for from him - in the text by Sofia Savina.

Telman Ismailov’s lawyer Alexander Dubrovinsky reported about the searches. “There are searches going on at 12(!) addresses. Dozens of people are involved. They are looking for something that they cannot find” (spelling of the source has been preserved. - Ed.), he wrote on Facebook. The searches began at half past five in the morning and even took place at the businessman’s nephew and his mother-in-law, Ismailov himself told RBC.

“You are our brother!”

Telman Ismailov is from Baku. His father was a merchant, and Thalmann has been working with him since the age of 14. At the age of 18, he became the director of the only commercial store in Baku.

In the 1980s, Ismailov moved to Moscow and got a job as an economist at the Ministry of Trade, and then went to work as an expert at Vostokintorg (All-Union Association for Trade with Eastern Countries). He meets Yuri Luzhkov, who at that time served as chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee commission on cooperative activities. Twenty years later, already being the mayor of the capital, Luzhkov will congratulate Ismailov on his fiftieth birthday with the words: “Telman! You are our brother! We walk with you through life!” Ismailov also had friendly relations with the former vice-mayor of Moscow, Joseph Ordzhonikidze.

Yuri Luzhkov congratulates Telman Ismailov on his anniversary. Source: YouTube

In 1989, Telman Ismailov opened his first Moscow business - he registered the AST group. The abbreviation consists of the first letters of the names of the owners - a businessman and his two sons: Alekper-Sarkhan-Telman. AST started with clothing trade. In the first year of operation, she opened 52 commercial stores in Moscow - no one had done this before in the city.

The group began to grow. A few years later, it included dozens of companies in various fields: hotel business(“AST-Gof”), construction (“AST-Kapstroy”), publishing (“AST-Moscow Printing House”), transport (“AST-TransService”), jewelry business (“AST-Gold”). Ismailov owned the Moscow restaurant "Prague" on Arbat, the department store "Voentorg", as well as the famous wholesale markets - Luzhniki and Cherkizovsky.

It was the Cherkizovsky clothing market that became Ismailov’s main capital. In 2006, Cherkizon was the largest center for small-scale wholesale clothing trade in terms of turnover in the European part of Russia, and Ismailov himself in 2007 took 76th place in the Forbes list with a fortune of $260 million.

From Cherkizon to a seven-star hotel

According to unofficial data, Cherkizovsky was inhabited by 100 thousand inhabitants. In 2006, an explosion occurred in the market. As a result of the terrorist attack, 14 people were killed and 61 were injured. The investigation established that the explosion was organized by members of the nationalist organization “Spas” in order to “stop the influx of immigrants.”

Chinese smuggling, illegal immigrants, prostitution - Cherkizon existed in such conditions for more than 20 years. Mass market checks began after the arrest of a large consignment of smuggled goods at the warehouses of the AST company. In 2009, the market was publicly criticized by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: “As for smuggling, goods worth more than $2 billion are worth in one of the markets.” After this the market was closed.

Cherkizovsky market

The official reason was a violation of sanitary standards. The government stated that closing the market was a measure to protect domestic producers: traders at Cherkizon did not pay taxes and “stifled” local production. “Every point on the Cherkizovsky market meant a stopped workshop in Russia,” said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Stanislav Naumov then.

After the closure of Cherkizon, Ismailov went to live in Turkey. There, two months before the market closed, he built the seven-star Mardan Palace hotel, named after his father: a portrait of Mardan Ismailov hangs on the ground floor of the hotel. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper rated it as “the most expensive hotel on the continent”: the cost is $1.4 billion. Gold leaf, crystal jewelry, Italian marble were used for its construction, and the sand for the beach near the hotel was specially delivered from Egypt. There is a zoo and singing fountains on the territory. The opening ceremony was attended not only by Hollywood stars - Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, but also by Moscow Deputy Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Mardan Palace

Vladimir Putin also paid attention to the hotel. He said that he did not see any crime in Ismailov’s construction of a hotel in Turkey, but hinted that it would be nice to create the same projects in Russia, for example, in Sochi for the Olympics. In response, Telman Ismailov signed an agreement with the Olimpstroy corporation in 2010 to build hotels in Sochi worth $800 million. However, no money was found, and the construction of Olympic facilities had to be abandoned.

Hide and seek with money

Things got worse for Ismailov after the closure of the Cherkizovsky market. He took out more and more loans to pay off old debts. He was helped by BM-Bank (Bank of Moscow) and the Mangazeya structures of Sergei Yanchukov. When the banks demanded the money back, the businessman began to hide it. In 2014, Telman Ismailov transferred his companies to his sons Alekper and Sarkhan and nephew Zaur Mardanov in order to escape from creditors.

At the same time, Ismailov organized the withdrawal of funds abroad: he used $8 million to purchase the Craig Valley Plaza shopping center in Las Vegas. Another scheme is to bankrupt yourself. He took out new loans from fictitious organizations registered under his acquaintances. It was supposed to work like this: in bankruptcy, the seized property is divided among creditors in proportion to the amount of debt. If the debt to “their” organizations exceeds the debt to the Bank of Moscow, then the bank gets pennies, and all property is returned to the owner.

Craig Valley Plaza Shopping Center in Las Vegas. Source: Omninet Capital

However, in the end, the court declared Ismailov bankrupt, and creditors took all the businessman’s assets. VTB received the Prague restaurant, AST and Tropicano shopping centers. A shopping center in the United States was also seized following a suit from the Bank of Moscow. A luxurious mansion overlooking Skolkovo went, according to Rosreestr, to the Settlement and Credit Bank, owned by the family of State Duma deputy Vakha Agayev.

The famous Mardan Palace was also sold for debts in 2015. A Turkish bank bought the hotel at auction for $124 million, although its cost was estimated at $248 million. It was in 2015 that Ismailov was last included in the Forbes list. Then the magazine estimated his fortune at $600 million. In March 2017, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, by its decision, began the sale of his property.

Family rules of life

The businessman became famous for his passion for luxury. The media write that he flew to a party in Nice on a gold-plated plane, gave singer Nikolai Baskov a villa in Turkey for his birthday, and his collection wristwatch has more than 2 thousand copies.

Telman Ismailov’s friends include not only representatives of show business. He also has friendly relations with the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The businessman himself admitted in an interview with the Azerbaijani publication Haqqin.az that in difficult times, Kadyrov asked Putin for him: “Yes, I have a very good relationship with Ramzan Kadyrov. Not only he asked, but also many other people in the highest elite of Russia.”

Back in 2010, after a visit to Chechnya, Ismailov agreed to sponsor the local football club Terek (now Akhmat). At the same time, the president of the club, Ramzan Kadyrov, appointed Sarkhan Ismailov, the son of a businessman, as vice-president of Terek.

Ismailov’s children, like their father, are famous for their passion for a luxurious life. Both sons studied and lived in Switzerland. There, according to media reports, they were witnesses in the case of an accident. Four Russians staged a race in expensive cars, as a result of which a pensioner was injured. Ismailov's sons were driving the Bugatti Veyron and Mercedes McLaren, Swiss police reported.

Alekper, Telman, Sarkhan Ismailovs

According to eyewitnesses, the President of Uzbekistan arrived in Antalya for the wedding of the businessman’s eldest son, Alekper Ismailov, and presented the newlyweds with a helicopter. Alekper Ismailov still owns a share of 37.5% of the AST group of companies. Now various banks are trying to declare him bankrupt. In September of this year, National Standard Bank filed a lawsuit against Ismailov Jr.

The youngest son Sarkhan studied at the University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. He also owns 37.5% of the AST group of companies and is also experiencing financial difficulties. The other day, a Turkish publication reported that Sarkhan Ismailov’s Rolls Royce was seized for debts from the Mardan Palace hotel. Another 25% of AST belongs to Telman Ismailov’s nephew, Zaur Mardanov. The Vedomosti newspaper, citing its source, reported in 2014 that the businessman’s family are nominal owners, and control over AST belongs to Telman Ismailov himself.

Relatives in law

What did they want to find from Ismailov during the searches? Two versions are put forward. According to one of them, the searches are related to fraud against one of the banks. A source close to the investigation told RBC about this.

According to other sources, the businessman was searched because of the murder of two businessmen. Ismailov’s brother, Rafik, is accused of shooting the owner of shopping malls, Vladimir Savkin, and the founder of Lyublino-Motors, Yuri Brilev. An Interfax source reported that the searches at Telman Ismailov’s place were connected specifically with this case. The same version was put forward by the businessman’s lawyer.

The double murder was committed in May 2016 in the Moscow region. Rafik Ismailov is now in custody, he has been charged under the article “Murder of two or more persons.” According to the Investigative Committee, the motive for the shooting could have been a financial dispute between Rafik Ismailov and his business partner Savkin.

Ismailov and Savkin were co-owners of a large shopping and entertainment center in Moscow. According to the investigation, Rafik Ismailov sold the business and took all the money for himself. In order not to repay the $5.5 million debt to Savkin, he ordered his former partner, the investigation suggests. The founder of Lyublino Motors, Brilev, could have become an accidental victim - he witnessed the attack.

Telman Ismailov’s second brother, Vagif, a former officer of the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is also involved in this case and is wanted. In April of this year, it was reported that Telman Ismailov also became a defendant in the investigation into contract killings: an arrested member of the group gave evidence against him. They are talking not about two, but about eight murders.

Sofia Savina

The Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested in absentia a major Moscow businessman, the former owner of the famous Cherkizon (Cherkizovsky market). He was accused of organizing a double murder and illegal weapons trafficking. Ismailov's story is unique: he was once one of the most powerful people in the capital, but soon after the market closed in 2009, his star began to fade - and now he faces life imprisonment. I remembered how Ismailov’s career developed and tried to figure out where and when the businessman took a wrong turn.

Disgraced Cherkizon

Residents of the east of the capital, which emerged in the early 1990s, have always disliked the Cherkizovsky clothing market, comparing it with the famous Khitrovka. However, the market existed successfully until 2009, including thanks to its social function: low-income townspeople could easily dress up there for modest money. In addition, the market has become a wholesale base for small businesses throughout European Russia from Murmansk to Derbent. Cherkizon was a unique phenomenon for its time - a kind of state with its own unwritten laws, around which an entire infrastructure grew up, designed to satisfy the various needs of visitors and workers. The authorities repeatedly tried to drive out the traders or at least improve the territory of the huge market, but they did not achieve success in this matter soon.

In 2009, a massive campaign against Cherkizon was launched in the media. TV stories talked about abuses in the market, and the appearance of some dangerous goods was directly linked to the name of the main shareholder of the market - Telman Ismailov (net worth $0.6 billion, according to). Who exactly and why launched the attack on the capital’s largest market is still unknown. However, it was Cherkizon who had the then Prime Minister in mind when calling to fight smuggling. “Smuggling is a separate issue, and the fight seems to be going on, but there are few results. In one of the markets there are goods worth more than two billion dollars, they have not yet been destroyed and there are no owners (...) The result of the struggle should be imprisonment. Where are the landings?” Putin said at a meeting of the government presidium on June 1, 2009.

According to one version, Ismailov incurred the wrath of high-ranking officials by opening the seven-star Mardan Palace hotel in Antalya, Turkey, in 2009, which became the most expensive hotel in the Mediterranean: its cost was $1.4-1.6 billion. Special sand was brought from Egypt especially for the beach of this hotel, which does not burn your feet in the heat; Gold leaf and natural crystal were used to decorate the interiors, and guests were offered wine at a price of four thousand dollars per bottle. World celebrities were present at the presentation of the hotel; the ceremony was hosted by the actress.

The Russian authorities might be outraged by the fact that all this luxury was created with the profits from smuggling and other crimes of Cherkizon (he, according to some sources, brought the owners one million dollars a day in 2009). But Ismailov’s special cynicism was that the businessman invested one and a half billion dollars (45 billion rubles) in the Turkish coast, while the whole country chipped in to build facilities for the Sochi Olympics. By the way, their total cost, including donations from Russian businessmen, according to official data, amounted to 214 billion rubles.

Following the media, the security forces attacked the market. On June 7, 2009 (SKP) announced an investigation into the discovery of hazardous goods for consumption at the Cherkizovsky market. It was noted that a group of unidentified persons brought and placed in Cherkizon warehouses more than six thousand containers with clothes, shoes and other goods without warehouse and shipping documents.

According to the Investigative Committee, children's clothing and shoes were found in 58 containers that did not meet sanitary and epidemiological standards - they were subject to destruction. The investigation opened a criminal case under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods that do not meet safety requirements”). At the end of June 2009, Cherkizon was closed. High-ranking officials discovered unsanitary conditions, smuggling and brothels in the market, then control services came and the market stopped working forever.

To the Turkish shore

Soon after Cherkizon was dealt with, on August 6, 2009, SKP investigators with operatives and special forces soldiers went to the famous Prague restaurant on Arbat. Like Cherkizon, it belonged to the AST group of companies headed by President Telman Ismailov. The security forces, in the best traditions of the “mask show,” effectively conducted a search in “Prague” and seized documents.

Officially, the investigative actions took place as part of the investigation of the criminal case brought against, the former rector of the Russian State University physical culture, sports and tourism (RGUFKSiT). He was accused of abuse of official position: Matytsin allegedly leased a plot of university land with an area of ​​about 665 thousand square meters to the KBF AST company. This site was used by Cherkizon for trade, but the land was in federal ownership, which means that the ex-rector had no right to lease it.

However, AST’s lawyers then stated that the case about university lands was only a pretext for searches, and investigators seized documents related to Telman Ismailov’s business. In particular, the lawyer said that investigators had already seized documents relating to land leases during searches in Prague in 2007, which means that in 2009 they were apparently looking for something else. As a result, late in the evening of August 6, investigators took away several dozen boxes of papers and computer system units from Prague.

Telman Ismailov's entourage connected both the closure of Cherkizon and the searches in Prague with part of a large campaign against the entrepreneur.

“Telman Mardanovich still hopes that his troubles were organized by one of his competitors and in the end, even with some losses, the situation will be resolved. But for those who are closely familiar with what is happening around his business, it is already clear that the orders come from the very top,” a close acquaintance of Ismailov told the media.

Already at that time, the owner of Cherkizon took steps to minimize possible consequences campaigns against him. Ismailov moved to Turkey and began obtaining citizenship of this country.

He currently lives in a rented villa and was able to negotiate with local authorities not to extradite him to Russia.

The ex-owner of the Cherkizovsky market Telman Ismailov, accused of contract murder, is hiding in Montenegro. An informed source told The CrimeRussia about this. According to him, the fugitive oligarch agreed with the ruling circles of this country not to extradite him to the Russian authorities.

Let us remember that last year the Ismailov family lived in a mansion on the territory of the Mardan Palace hotel complex in Antalya. However, fearing extradition to the Russian authorities, they left Turkey, as local law enforcement agencies had questions for Telman Ismailov. According to Turkish investigators, he is involved in the murder of thief in law Rovshan Dzhaniev (Rovshan Lenkoransky). Then the oligarch’s family moved to France. But even there he did not feel safe, since he was put on the international wanted list through Interpol.

He currently lives in a rented villa in Montenegro. It was there that he recorded his recent video message, where he expressed fears that his brother Rafik Ismailov could be “eliminated” before trial. The investigation against him was completed and soon the charge of organizing the murder of two entrepreneurs (Part 2 of Article 105 and Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) should be approved by the prosecutor's office, after which the materials will be transferred to the court.

Telman Ismailov

23.10.2018 - The ex-owner of the Cherkizovsky market claims that he became a victim of former business partners.

Telman Ismailov wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, he claims that he became a victim of former business partners and accuses them of corruption. According to interlocutors, such a message may be due to the fact that the Investigative Committee plans to bring charges against Ismailov for organizing a criminal community.

As a source told law enforcement agencies, former owner Cherkizovsky market Telman Ismailov handed over a letter addressed to the head of state to the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. This information was confirmed to the agency by several interlocutors familiar with the situation. The message takes up 12 pages, its essence was told by a source who has read the document. According to him, Ismailov describes the balance of forces behind the smuggling channel through which goods were supplied to Cherkizon. After the closure of the market, according to the entrepreneur, he found himself in the most unfair situation: his “junior” partners were allocated other large areas to continue the business, but he himself received nothing. Moreover, according to Ismailov, former partners, with the help of their connections, launched an attack on him, undermined him financial position. And then they began to pursue him through law enforcement. As a result, the businessman left the country and was later put on the wanted list on charges of organizing two murders. In his letter, Ismailov describes connections and possible crimes allegedly committed by his former partners. And at the same time he declares that he himself is not involved in the acts accused of him.

A source in law enforcement agencies believes that Ismailov’s arguments do not stand up to criticism, and connects the message with the events currently taking place in the criminal case. “The investigation has collected enough evidence to charge Ismailov in absentia with organizing a criminal community - this could happen in the next few days,” the agency’s interlocutor opined. “Also, active work is now underway against Ismailov’s inner circle. We have many questions for the businessman’s brother, former deputy prefect of the Northern Administrative Okrug Fazil Izmailov, but he is not available for questioning. Also, one of the former senior officers of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Northern Administrative District has already been interrogated. He is suspected of having close ties with the Ismailov clan.” According to the source, Telman Ismailov and his brothers Fazil and Vagif (who are wanted) travel between France and Montenegro. At one time, Telman Ismailov lived in Turkey, but, according to the agency’s interlocutor, he was forced to leave this country: supposedly local police had questions for him in connection with the execution of thief in law Rovshan Dzhaniev (Rovshan Lyankoransky).

According to the agency’s source, the “Ismailovs’ case” now includes seven murders and attempts, which are related to the businessman’s conflict with the “Koptev” and “Lyubertsy” groups. The reason for the conflict with the Koptevskaya organized crime group lies in the struggle for the right to control over a number of capital cities wholesale markets. In the late 1990s, the Ismailov family set its sights on profitable properties in the Northern Administrative District (NAD), in particular the Lianozovsky market, the market in Western Degunino, and several shopping centers.

However, most of the objects that interested the Ismailovs were related to representatives of the “Koptev” group, who did not want to share the profits at all. A conflict arose between the then leader of the Koptevskys, Andrei Lobanov (Loban), and the family of the owner of Cherkizon, which ended in the murder of the “authority”.

After this, according to operatives, the Ismailovs began to “fight” with Loban’s successors - also members of the Koptevskaya organized crime group. Over the course of five years, at least seven “authorities” were killed. The main chord of this war was the arson of the Lianozovsky market in October 2005, which, according to investigators, was committed on the orders of the Ismailov family. The Koptevskys and businessmen associated with them had to agree with the Ismailovs’ claims and create partnerships with the family.

At some point, the Ismailovs sold all the properties and, according to the terms of the agreement, had to give part of the profits to their partners. For example, businessman Vladimir Savkin’s share from the sale of the Stroymarket No. 1 shopping center was $5.5 million. However, he was simply thrown out. Savkin began to remind the family about the debt, mainly his complaints were addressed to Rafik Ismailov. When he became too persistent, the businessman was invited to a meeting to discuss the details of paying off the debt. During it, in May 2016, Savkin, along with his acquaintance Yuri Brilev, was shot. A case was initiated, within the framework of which all the details of the activities of the Ismailov family “came to light.”

As already reported, Rafik’s “right hand” Harry Belotserkovsky is actively cooperating with the investigation. According to Belotserkovsky’s testimony, in 2000 he and Rafik came to the Prague restaurant, where he witnessed a conversation with Telman Ismailov. During the meeting, according to Belotserkovsky, the brothers discussed the need to eliminate the “authority” of the Koptevskaya organized crime group Andrei Lobanov, as well as the details of the crime.

“Telman Mardanovich is shocked by what happened and doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” a person from Telman Ismailov’s entourage responded to Vedomosti’s request for an interview after it became known that he was part of the group VTB Bank of Moscow filed a bankruptcy claim against a businessman. Things are getting worse: creditors are seeking to seize property all over the world. The businessman believes that a raider takeover of his assets is taking place, two of his acquaintances told Vedomosti. But it seems that the problem is that Ismailov did not moderate his ambitions after the loss of the Cherkizovsky market - there was simply not enough money for megaprojects.

From Baku to Cherkizon

A native of Baku, coming from a large family of Mountain Jews, Ismailov has been involved in business since childhood: first he helped his father, a Baku shop worker, then he managed the first commercial store in the city, then he went to study at the Plekhanov Institute in Moscow and remained in the capital. Here he met the first deputy chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee and the chairman of the city commission on cooperative and individual labor activity Yuri Luzhkov and the secretary of the commission Elena Baturina. In 1989, when Ismailov founded the AST group, he was already on friendly terms with Luzhkov.

In 2009, Ismailov was included for the first time in the Forbes ranking of the richest Russian businessmen with a fortune of $600 million. Despite the fact that the AST group was engaged in different types business - construction, hotel, jewelry and security - the basis of her wealth was the Cherkizovsky market. The group controlled a significant part of a huge flea market, located on more than 200 hectares near the metro station of the same name.

They repeatedly tried to close Cherkizovsky; since 2001, the prosecutor’s office has repeatedly won cases in court to terminate land lease agreements, but the market continued to operate. Everything changed on June 1, 2009, when then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized customs officials at the government presidium. “Several years ago I practically dispersed the entire customs management. And what? The [smuggling] channels have worked and are still working. There are goods worth more than $2 billion in one of the markets, [they] have not yet been destroyed and there are no owners,” Putin scolded the security forces (quotes from Interfax). It soon became clear which market he had in mind. At the end of June 2009, the Cherkizovsky market was temporarily closed due to violations of sanitary standards discovered by Rospotrebnadzor. Then the FMS found hundreds of illegal migrants on the market. Land lease agreements with the Russian state university physical culture were dissolved through the arbitration court, the buildings were demolished, and that was the story of the largest in the CIS clothing market ended.

Business empire of Telman Ismailov

In fact, they didn’t want to close the market, Ismailov’s acquaintances and those who participated in its liquidation now assure. It’s just that different law enforcement agencies competed with customs officers for control over the cash flows passing through Cherkizovsky, collected folders with compromising evidence and regularly reported their contents to the top. And so, just when the ground was prepared for an attack on customs, at the end of May 2009, Ismailov organized a grand celebration in Antalya, Turkey, to mark the opening of the Mardan Palace hotel, on the construction of which he spent almost all his available funds - more than $1 billion. Hollywood stars, including Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, were presented with precious gifts and fireworks roared. The fact that the co-owner of the Cherkizovsky market spent the money he earned here with such noise was the last straw that overflowed the patience of the authorities, recalls a former Moscow official. Ismailov chose to wait out the hype in Turkey, where an equally luxurious house was built for him next to the Mardan Palace. True, in Russia he had to sell to Suleiman Kerimov one of his most important assets in Moscow - subject to reconstruction shopping mall"Voentorg".

Life after the market

Unexpectedly, Ismailov found out that he had few friends in Russia, but many enemies. “Ismailov’s main problem is how he understands friendly relations,” says one of his former business partners. “When he needed someone or simply liked him, he brought this person closer to him, literally showering him with expensive gifts in the oriental style - diamonds, gold. Everyone around him got used to this, and squabbles quickly began within those close to him - so, this one was given more, I was given less. And the offended person very quickly reached the point of hatred towards Ismailov. So he made himself more than one enemy. And when the easy money ran out, so did the gifts, and it turned out that there were no close people around,” explains the interlocutor.

“Ismailov bought all his assets with money earned at the Cherkizovsky market; during his work there were no interruptions in cash. As soon as it became clear that this flow no longer existed and money was not earned very easily, Ismailov’s business went much worse,” says the former Moscow official. New assets - Voentorg, the Prague restaurant, the same Mardan Palace - did not bring comparable profits.

Therefore, immediately after the closure of the Cherkizovsky market, Ismailov tried to return to the market business he was familiar with, but outside Russia. According to Ukrainian media, Ismailov tried to become a co-owner of the large clothing market “Seventh Kilometer” near Odessa, but was unsuccessful: the company managing the market was acquired by partners of the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

Ismailov tried to open a second market in Kazakhstan. In 2010, the AST wholesale clothing market was inaugurated on the site of the Zhibek Zholy automobile market near Almaty. According to the description on the nur.kz portal, it resembled the Moscow “Cherkizovsky” - the market housed a customs terminal, a hotel, exchange offices, a pharmacy, Groceries and dentistry.

Ismailov’s partner in the Kazakh AST market was his old acquaintance, co-owner of the mining and metallurgy Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and one of the richest people in Kazakhstan, Alexander Mashkevich (for more details, see the inset). Ismailov knew Mashkevich from the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, where the former was president until 2011, and the latter his deputy.

According to Kazakh media, AST has problems due to its distance from the city. In 2011, it turned out that the market owners did not even pay about $5 million to several reconstruction contractors, which is why they went bankrupt and their employees gathered to protest. Ismailov and Mashkevich had to hold a press conference and publicly promise to pay off their debts to the builders.

Now the AST market has returned its name – the international trade center “Zhibek Zholy”. It is managed by a European production company controlled by Mashkevich and his ERG partners. It is unknown whether Ismailov remained in the project. Neither he nor Mashkevich responded to Vedomosti’s requests.

Pass home

Return to Russian business Ismailov tried with the help of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. In a March interview with the Azerbaijani online publication Haqqin.az, Ismailov confirmed that Kadyrov asked Putin for him. “At one time, I was very close friends with Ramzan Kadyrov’s father, the late Akhmat Kadyrov. Yes, I have very good relations with Ramzan Kadyrov. Not only he asked, but also many other people in the highest elite of Russia,” said Ismailov.

At the beginning of 2010, Ismailov and his son Sarkhan flew to Grozny to meet with Kadyrov. As a result of the negotiations, Ismailov promised to “look” at investment projects in Chechnya and agreed to sponsor the Terek football club. Sarkhan Ismailov was appointed vice-president of Terek. The club was headed by Kadyrov himself.

But investment projects The businessman never appeared in Chechnya. Perhaps because by that time it became clear: the federal authorities needed investments in another region. Back at the end of 2009, Putin said on a direct line that he saw no crime in the construction of a hotel in Turkey, but that investment resources “would be nice to implement in the Russian Federation.”<...>For example, it would be possible to invest money in the construction of hotel complexes in Sochi for the 2014 Olympics - no one is prohibiting it.”

Already in April 2010, Ismailov signed an agreement with the Olimpstroy corporation on the construction of hotels in Sochi with 4,000 rooms worth $800 million. “But the businessman could not find the money to start construction - he did not have his own, and the banks did not give loans, and , when it became clear to us that the deadlines were missed, we had to urgently look for a replacement investor - literally grabbing the jacket of the first oligarch that caught our eye. This didn’t add any points to Ismailov,” recalls one of the officials who oversaw preparations for the Olympics. The project was transferred to the structures of Viktor Vekselberg.

In 2013, Ismailov returned to Chechen football. At the beginning of the year, he organized a friendly match between Kadyrov’s Terek and the Israeli club Beitar (Jerusalem), owned by his friend Arkady Gaydamak. The match ended with the score 0:0. And the club owners agreed on the transfer of two Chechen football players to Beitar - Zaur Kadayev and Dzhabrail Kadiev. This caused the anger of Beitar fans who did not want to see Muslims among the club’s players.

Partly because of the protests of the fans, Gaydamak became convinced of his desire to sell the club. And he announced that he was selling Beitar to Ismailov and his partners: State Duma deputy and Kadyrov’s adviser Adam Delimkhanov and Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakh businessman and son-in-law of the Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan. But Beitar fans ruined this deal too. After this failure, Ismailov moved away from Chechen football: Rakishev’s structure became Terek’s sponsor instead.

Kadyrov’s press secretary Alvi Karimov declined to comment, and Rakishev’s press service did not answer Vedomosti’s questions.

Who did Telman Ismailov do business with?

Photo gallery

Competition of creditors

In 2013, Ismailov transferred his companies to his sons and top managers. For example, a share in key companies group "AST-98" and “KBF AST” he distributed between his sons Alekper and Sarkhan. And AST Kolkhoz Klinsky, which owns 3,000 hectares of land in the Klinsky district of the Moscow region, was transferred to the Factoria company, founded shortly before this transaction by the general director of KBF AST, Igor Morozov.

At the beginning of 2014, Ismailov re-registered the three largest objects in Moscow - the Prague restaurant, the Tropicano business center and the AST shopping center in Izmailovo - to offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands - Tigerim Limited, Ergon Incorporated Ltd. and Thunderwide Holdings Limited, respectively. Representatives of AST then assured that they were all controlled by Ismailov.

But the business restructuring coincided with the appearance of claims from creditors. According to Vedomosti calculations, the debts of Ismailov and his former companies exceed $586 million, which is comparable to Forbes magazine’s estimate of his wealth. It seems that his family has only one asset left that creditors do not claim: this is one of the largest distributors of premium alcohol - AST-International Environment with revenue of 10.4 billion rubles. in 2014. Who lays claim to the rest?

Claims against son

In January 2015, Sobinbank filed a lawsuit in the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow against the son of Telman Ismailov, Alekper Ismailov, to collect a debt of 11.5 million rubles. on guarantee for the company "AST-Amaroli Impex", which produces children's and women's tights. In March, the proceedings in the case were discontinued - the parties entered into a settlement agreement. It lasted only four months. In July, the Dorogomilovsky court issued a writ of execution to collect the debt from Alekper Ismailov. According to the FSSP, the debt has not yet been repaid. Sobinbank did not say whether it would demand personal bankruptcy for Alekper Ismailov.

Businessman Sergei Yanchukov was the first to demand that Ismailov repay the debt. Ismailov met him in 2010, when he was looking for a partner for joint projects, Kommersant wrote. It was with Yanchukov’s structures that Ismailov discussed the idea of ​​moving the Cherkizovsky market to Odessa, the former Moscow official assures. “Yanchukov was connected with influential people in Ukraine, but there was such a seething elite there that even his administrative resources were not enough,” says Vedomosti’s interlocutor. The main owner of the Mangazeya industrial group, Yanchukov, is originally from Odessa, but has been doing business in Russia since 2006. In 2011, he married the daughter of the former mayor of Kyiv Leonid Chernovetsky, Kristina.

In 2010–2011 The company Sezaria, controlled by Yanchukov, issued loans to Ismailov’s Tandum offshore for $100 million for a period until 2013. But Ismailov very quickly stopped servicing this loan, and at the request of Sezaria, the district court of Nicosia (Cyprus) in 2014 froze the businessman’s assets for $134 million. According to “ Kommersant", these assets included Mardan Palace in Turkey, Ismailov's estate in France, the Moscow house of celebrations "Safisa", the AST Gough hotel on Bolshaya Filevskaya Street, the Moscow Printing House (AST-MPD), etc. Yanchukov purposefully bought up Ismailov’s debts - at a large discount, one of their mutual acquaintances knows.

Other creditors claimed some of these assets. For example, the AST Gough hotel and the project of a hotel complex on Nikitsky Boulevard were transferred to the structures of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) for debts, Kommersant wrote with reference to representatives of Mangazeya Yanchukov. Head of Department strategic development IBA-Moscow Leonid Mileev told Vedomosti that “the bank did not have commercial relations with the AST group,” and advised to contact the parent bank in Azerbaijan for comments. The IBA did not answer Vedomosti’s questions. However, the customer of the project on Nikitsky Boulevard in 2013 was a company close to the IBA Management Company“Fortrust Global”, follows from documents presented to the Moscow Architectural Council.

Ismailov owed more than $200 million to Turkish banks and builders of Mardan Palace. The largest creditors are Halk Bankası ($100 million and 50 million liras) and Garanti Bankası ($76 million and 40 million liras). The hotel owner also has multimillion-dollar debts on taxes, work insurance, and utility debts to the Antalya municipality. “There is a group of people in Turkey who are spreading misinformation about me. This is done intentionally. They want me out of this country. I completely refute this information. I repeat: I have no plans to sell this hotel,” Ismailov fumed in an interview with Haqqin.az in March 2015. The businessman assured that his debt to Turkish banks does not exceed $110 million.

Nevertheless, several creditors immediately initiated enforcement proceedings providing for the sale of the hotel. Thus, Garanti Bankası achieved the appointment of trading on November 2. The initial price of the hotel and villas is set at $244 million - this is almost 6 times less than the investment made, according to Ismailov, in Mardan Palace.

Mardan Palace will be closed for renovations from December 21 to March 1, the operator told Vedomosti hotline Tez Tour. The renovation of the hotel will be carried out by the new owner, assures one of the employees of this company. An employee of the hotel itself confirmed the closure for renovations, but noted that there was no information about a change in ownership.

The Bank of Moscow, which has become Ismailov’s largest creditor, is also interested in the Turkish hotel: judging by court materials, the debt of its structures to the bank reached $286 million by October 2015. An official notice from the Bank of Moscow was published in the Turkish press in October demanding the bankruptcy of two companies - AST Insaat Turizm, which owns Mardan Palace, and Olimpus Insaat Turizm Gida Otelicilik Nakliey, which manages the Ismailovs’ property in Antalya. The court will consider the Bank of Moscow's claim on December 2, 2015, a month after the proposed auction for the sale of Mardan Palace. It turns out that even if Ismailov manages to persuade Turkish creditors not to sell his hotel, he will only receive a delay of a month.

Angry creditors

Since July, the Bank of Moscow has been demanding in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow to collect the debt from Ismailov’s structures Tropicano Finance B V and Rusline 2000 and from Ismailov himself, who guaranteed the loans. The court seized the businessman's personal assets: an apartment in the village. Zarechye, land plot in the village Skolkovo, Odintsovo district, and two residential buildings in Aprelevka, Naro-Fominsk district (data from Kommersant).

“Behind the monumental façade of the dazzling palace with a beautiful view of the Medvedev project [Skolkovo innovation center] hides dazzling beauty, glitter of gold, breathtaking luxury. I have never seen anything like this in my life. And even in the cinema,” enthused a journalist from the Azerbaijani publication Haqqin.az in March 2015, after visiting Ismailov’s house in Skolkovo. However, judging by Rosreestr data, a plot of 1.7 hectares in Skolkovo and two residential buildings with an area of ​​2362 and 2372 sq. m. m Ismailov do not belong. In the summer of 2014, they were transferred to the Settlement and Credit Bank. The bank belongs to businessman Batyr Agayev, whose father, Ramzan Kadyrov’s friend Vakha Agayev, and brother Bekhkan Agayev are State Duma deputies. It was not possible to contact the Agayevs: their phones in the State Duma were not answered.

And on October 1, the day the bankruptcy law came into force individuals, The Bank of Moscow filed a lawsuit to declare Ismailov bankrupt.

The creditor is trying to take away the pledged assets for next to nothing, according to a statement from Ismailov’s press service made after the filing of the lawsuit. The Bank of Moscow has three of Ismailov’s most valuable Moscow assets as collateral – the Prague restaurant, the Tropicano business center and the AST shopping center. After failed negotiations with the Bank of Moscow, Ismailov learned that “the loan from the AST companies was transferred to the debt service of VTB.” The loan is curated by Andrey Puchkov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of VTB. He offered to “take away” all the collateral assets for $33 million, although their market price is at least $250 million, according to the statement. The VTB press service refused to comment on the situation. But from SPARK data it is clear that in June 2015, all three companies that own pledged assets changed their CEO. Now they are managed by Vladimir Tsypin, who previously worked in VTB structures.

In a press release, Ismailov recalls that the AST group received its first loan from the Bank of Moscow back in 2006 and always paid its debts in good faith: over the entire period, Ismailov paid the bank $70 million in interest and returned $50 million. In 2014, when everyone borrowers of foreign currency loans had problems due to a jump in the dollar exchange rate, Ismailov agreed with the Bank of Moscow on the sale of two objects - Tropicano and the AST shopping center. There was even a buyer - the Progress company agreed to pay $148 million and paid a deposit of $14.8 million in July 2014. The bank did not complete the deal, and Progress was able to return the deposit only through the court.

Who was this failed buyer? According to SPARK, the founder of Progress is Oleg Veselov, who has more than 20 other companies where he was the general director or founder. And the general director of Progress turned out to be lawyer Yulia Dolinskaya, until recently a member of the board of directors of Sodrugestvo Bank. Dolinskaya told Vedomosti that the founders of Progress prohibited commenting on the situation with Ismailov. Last Friday, October 16, the Central Bank revoked the license of Sodrugestvo Bank due to unsatisfactory asset quality and the complete loss of its own funds.

Ismailov is confident that everything that is happening is a raider attack, says one of his acquaintances. He says that he asked for help in communicating with VTB from one of the influential businessmen. “Ismailov needs to sell assets, there is a buyer, but the bank does not give permission for the sale, they are harshly seeking the bankruptcy of the debtor,” another person who met with him reports Ismailov’s words. “As far as I know, two major creditors of Ismailov are Bank of Moscow and Yanchukov adhere to a common tough position towards the businessman, and it will not be easy for those who want to help,” says Vedomosti’s interlocutor.