A Russian oligarch who is one of the country's richest men has been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement.

Ziyavudin Magomedov co-owns Russia's Summa investment group and is worth $1.4bn (almost £1bn).

He was ranked last year in Forbes as Russia's 63rd richest man and, in January, was listed by the US Treasury Department as one of 96 "oligarchs" close to President Vladimir Putin.

Magomedov has been held over claims he misappropriated $35m (£25m) from the state, Russian state prosecutors said as he appeared in a cage in court.

Also detained were his business partner and brother Magomed Magomedov, and Artur Maksidov, the head of a company in the Summa group which has been involved in construction of a World Cup football venue in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.


The stadium, on part of the Russian territory that is separated from the country's mainland by Lithuania and Poland, is the closest to Europe out of all the venues due to be used in the summer event.

England is due to play Belgium at the 35,000 capacity stadium on 28 June.

Image: Kaliningrad's Baltic Arena under construction in May last year. Pic: A Savin, Wikimedia Commons

Several other group stage matches involving European teams will also be played at the venue, which is only a few dozen miles from the EU border.

Russia's interior ministry said it had conducted searches in 25 Russian locations, including Moscow, in connection with the case and documents relating to it were expected to be sent to Moscow's Tverskoy District on Saturday.

Magomedov denied embezzlement when he appeared in court in Moscow on Saturday.

The judge, Maria Sizintseva, said the Magomedov brothers and Maksidov acted as part of an organised crime group and had tried to put pressure on witnesses.

At the pre-trial hearing, the 49-year-old said: "I categorically disagree with the charges presented... The prosecution case does not stand up to scrutiny."

He was remanded in custody until 30 May ahead of a trial after the judge refused to allow bail but his legal team said they planned to appeal.

Originally from the restive Russian province of Dagestan, Ziyavudin Magomedov is co-executive chairman of Los Angeles-based tech firm Virgin Hyperloop One, chaired by Richard Branson.

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His Caspian Venture Capital fund also has investments in app-based taxi service Uber.

Although publicly loyal to the Kremlin, Magomedov is part of a group of multi-millionaire Russians who are not in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

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According to Stadium Database, the Kaliningrad island on which Summa's $300m Baltic Arena is built has proved "problematic and also expensive to deliver large buildings there due to wetland ground basis".

Project costs mounted from an initial 10bn rubles (£124m) to 17.5bn rubles (£217m), it adds.

Russian website Meduza said construction of the stadium has led to a 750m-ruble (£10m) embezzlement case.

Russia's Futbolgrad.com, meanwhile, said last week the venue, which was scheduled to be finished last December, is yet to open, despite the start of the tournament being in two-and-a-half months' time.