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Russian billionaire Vadim Moshkovich was remanded in custody for two months by a Moscow court on Thursday after being detained on suspicion of large-scale fraud, marking the highest-profile arrest of a major businessman in Russia in recent years, Reuters reported.
Moshkovich, who has an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion according to Forbes, appeared handcuffed in a glass cage at Moscow’s Meshchansky court, holding a copy of David Eagleman’s book The Brain, the report said.
Moshkovich, the founder of the agricultural holding company Rusagro, faces charges of large-scale fraud, the report further said, citing court documents, adding he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Moshkovich pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his legal team had requested house arrest or bail, but the court dismissed their appeals, sending him instead to a pre-trial detention centre.
According to the report, Moshkovich began his entrepreneurial journey by selling computers and later built one of Russia’s largest agricultural empires with Rusagro, a company specialising in farming, meat production, and food processing.
The exact reasons behind the arrest remain unclear, but media reports suggest that Moshkovich had been involved in a prolonged legal dispute with the founders of a major vegetable oil and fats supplier, whose assets were acquired by Rusagro in 2018. Additionally, in 2024, Moshkovich’s company reportedly moved its domicile from Cyprus to Russia, following a legal decision in a case brought against Rusagro’s Cyprus-based parent company by the Agriculture Ministry.
Rusagro confirmed Wednesday that several of its offices had been searched in connection with the investigation. The company, however, assured the public that its activities were not directly related to the operation and that all business functions were proceeding normally.
In 2024, a group of lawmakers in Russia petitioned the Justice Ministry to designate Moshkovich as a “foreign agent” on account of his company’s prior Cyprus registration, which had raised concerns about Moshkovich’s potential ties to foreign interests.
