Russia's Supreme Court has prohibited the transfer of funds to Digimarket, a U.S.$35 million offshore company linked to Ruben Vardanyan, as legal proceedings continue over efforts to recover more than U.S.$64 million from a loan company.
The ruling concerns Digimarket, which financed the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel project in Moscow. The company was transferred to Russia's special offshore zone in Kaliningrad in spring 2026.
On 24 July, ownership of Digimarket was transferred to Vardanyan's wife, Veronika Zonabend.
The court's decision has renewed attention on Vardanyan's long-standing links to offshore financial networks dating back to Troika Dialog, the investment bank he founded.
International investigations into the bank alleged that a network of offshore companies used proxy owners to conceal the identities of their beneficiaries while moving billions of dollars out of Russia. The network was also alleged to have been used to launder criminal proceeds and disguise their origin.
According to those investigations, Vardanyan and members of his family received money through the network.
Reports said more than U.S.$3.2 million was used to pay bills on Vardanyan's American Express card, while additional funds were transferred to accounts belonging to his wife and family and used to pay school fees for his three children in the United Kingdom.
Vardanyan denied direct involvement, saying the offshore companies established by Troika Dialog served both his own businesses and the bank's clients.
Questions over Vardanyan's business activities later extended to the Swiss-based mining and metallurgy company Solway Investment Group.
In 2022, Vardanyan renounced his Russian citizenship and relocated to Garabagh, where he became state minister of the self-proclaimed and internationally unrecognised "Nagorno-Garabagh Republic".
According to Azerbaijan's State Security Service, Vardanyan helped finance and support the activities of illegal armed groups operating in the region.
He was later tried in Baku, where the Military Court sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
The court convicted him under multiple articles of Azerbaijan's Criminal Code, including crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, terrorism, and the financing of terrorism.
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said...
Georgia could gain a direct electricity link to Europe under plans for a new overland energy corridor connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye ...
Türkiye has unveiled plans for joint military exercises and defence production with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan under a new security pact that i...
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or rerouted at Catania Airport over the past week as ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing eruption continues to disrupt air travel in Sicily.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
The United Nations has urged sustained international engagement with Afghanistan five years into Taliban rule, warning that restrictions on women and terrorism concerns risk undermining gains from improved security.
Iran says the U.S. war and military presence in the region have worsened marine pollution around the Strait of Hormuz, calling for environmental protection to form part of future arrangements governing the strategic waterway.
Georgia could gain a direct electricity link to Europe under plans for a new overland energy corridor connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye and Bulgaria, potentially reshaping regional power flows.
Türkiye has unveiled plans for joint military exercises and defence production with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan under a new security pact that includes a collective defence clause.
Uzbekistan will allow eligible businesses to operate for up to three months without a licence or permit under a new regime aimed at cutting barriers to market entry and attracting investment.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment