Alexey Kuznetsov is a former official of the Moscow Region Government, in which he headed the Ministry of Finance for eight years (2000-2008). After his resignation, he left Russia, and soon became a defendant in a number of criminal cases related to fraud and embezzlement. Since 2013, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has sought the extradition of Kuznetsov by the French authorities, where the former minister was hiding from justice. Finally, in early 2019, he was extradited to his homeland.
Education, career success, personal life
The biography of Alexei Viktorovich Kuznetsov originates on November 6, 1962 in Moscow, where he was born and raised. He graduated from the Moscow Financial Institute with a degree in Finance and Credit. Soon after receiving his diploma - in October 1985 - he got a job at the State Bank of the USSR. Kuznetsov worked in the main computing center of the bank as an engineer.
In January 1990 he moved to Inkombank. Having started his career as a senior economist, the young specialist has rapidly promoted his career and since 1992 held senior positions on the bank's board, and in 1994 became its vice president. The first corruption scandal in which Kuznetsov's name appeared in the mid-90s. Foreign depositors accused the management of Inkombank of stealing depositors' funds and taking them offshore. Avalon Capital, headed by American Jeanne Bullock, was involved in the case.
This woman played an important role in Kuznetsov's personal life. For her sake, he left his first wife, with whom he raised three sons. The second wife very quickly became the main assistant of Alexei Viktorovich and a faithful business partner. In addition, Jeanne gave him a long-awaited daughter, who was named Eugenia. The girl has been living with her mother in the USA for a long time.
The proceedings with the depositors of Inkombank gradually subsided after its bankruptcy in 1999. Shortly before that, against the background of default and huge losses amounting to billions of rubles, Inkombank lost its license. And even earlier, in early 1998, Kuznetsov wrote a letter of resignation, refusing to engage in foreign promotion of the bank. Of course, he did not stay without work and managed to show his career talents in several directions:
- president and founder of the Russian Investment Society, which dealt with the bankruptcy of large companies;
- General Director of Standard MTK;
- founder of the company "Fintechkom".
At the beginning of the 2000s, all these projects faded into the background, since Kuznetsov received an offer to join the Government of the Moscow Region.
Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region
Official Mikhail Babich introduced Kuznetsov to Boris Gromov, recently elected to the post of governor of the capital region. In June 2000, Aleksey Viktorovich headed the regional finance ministry, and in 2004 was appointed deputy prime minister in the regional government.
While her husband was in the civil service, Jeanne Bullock was in charge of the family business. Her companies were engaged in real estate transactions in the United States, as well as construction in the Moscow region. Meanwhile, in 2003, Kuznetsov secretly acquired American citizenship, although he later denied this fact. He left the post of Minister of Finance in the summer of 2008 "for family reasons." And very soon he went to his wife in the United States.
Criminal proceedings
Already in August, a corruption scandal related to the huge debts of the Moscow Region government began to gain momentum. Kuznetsov was accused of abuse of office. According to the investigation, he allocated plots for building to his wife's company, and as a result of the illegal transfer of land to private ownership, he caused damage to the state amounting to billions of dollars. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the former official. In autumn 2008, he was put on the international wanted list.
Other episodes of criminal cases involving Alexei Kuznetsov:
- embezzlement of three billion rubles through the Moscow Regional Investment Trust Company (MOITK);
- financial fraud, as a result of which MOITK was deprived of the right to dispose of the property of the capital region;
- illegal issuance of loans with budgetary funds, which led to the bankruptcy of MOITK.
Kuznetsov and his wife denied all charges, citing the intrigues of competitors. In the meantime, they arrested his accomplices involved in carrying out fraudulent schemes: the former deputy official in the Ministry of Finance Valery Nosov and the former director of MOITK Vladislav Telepnev. They were sentenced to almost 15 and 10 years, respectively. Zhanna Bullock was also tried in absentia. She was sentenced to 11 years in a general regime prison, and while the woman continues to be listed on the international wanted list.
Already after the start of the criminal prosecution of Kuznetsov in 2014, officers of the Investigative Committee discovered a hangar in St. Petersburg, in which the treasures of the former official and his wife were kept. The collection of paintings, antiques, furniture, rare books, according to rough estimates, was estimated at $ 50 million. This collection was awaiting shipment to the USA in the name of Jeanne Bullock. The works of art were confiscated and sent to the Hermitage for storage.
Arrest and extradition to Russia
According to the Investigative Committee, Alexei Kuznetsov was put on the international wanted list on October 25, 2010. The Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested the former official in absentia in July 2011. In total, he is accused of ten counts of fraud, nine cases of legalization of property obtained by criminal means, and three episodes of embezzlement …
Finally, in July 2013, thanks to an anonymous source, Kuznetsov was arrested on the French Riviera. During the arrest, they found fake documents on him. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia sent a request for the extradition of the former official. His property was seized. In addition to apartments, land, cars in Russia, Kuznetsov owned two hotels in Courchevel, as well as accounts in a Swiss bank.
The case of Kuznetsov's extradition to Russia was considered by French courts of various instances. They did not see in the charges against the detainee the political overtones that his lawyers insisted on. In 2015, the French Court of Cassation recognized the legality of Kuznetsov's extradition to the Russian authorities. However, bureaucratic delays delayed this process for another three years.
In April 2017, the former official was released and placed under house arrest in Paris, and on November 21, the French Prime Minister signed the papers on his extradition. The defendant's lawyers appealed against this decision, but to no avail. True, the appeal procedure took another year. Only in the first days of 2019, Alexey Kuznetsov arrived in Russia, accompanied by employees of Interpol and the Federal Penitentiary Service. Now he will face long trials at home.
