Prominent American investor detained in Moscow
On February 15, the founder of Baring Vostok private equity group, US citizen Michael Calvey was detained in Moscow. He was brought to the Basmanny District Court which extended the investor’s detention period by three days. The court is expected to decide on restrictive measures against Calvey on February 16.
According to the statement published on the website of the Moscow City Court, the case is being investigated under Article 159, part 4 of the Russian Criminal Court: fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale fraud.
Besides Calvey, the court also detained five other representatives of Baring Vostok: Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Partner for the Financial Industry Sector; French national Philippe Delpal; Partner Vagan Abgaryan; Alexey Kordichev, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Norvik Bank; and Maksim Vladimirov.
According to Interfax, the preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects embezzled 2.5 billion rubles, the equivalent of $37.5 million.
Michael Calvey was born in 1967 in the State of Wisconsin, USA. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and the London School of Economics. He has worked in the finance sector for seven years. Before 1994, he lived in London and New York, and worked in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, being responsible for investments in the energy sector in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 1994, Calvey founded Baring Vostok Capital Partners, specializing in private investments in Russia and CIS countries. According to the information published on the company's website, the company has invested $2.8 billion dollars in 80 companies in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries over 25 years. The headquarters of Baring Vostok are located in Moscow.