Businessman Konstantin Malofeev. "God's oligarch" Konstantin Malofeev Who is Malofeev Ivan Vyacheslavovich compromising evidence

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He is also the chairman of the board of the Safe Internet League, the author of the idea of ​​the CyberDruzhina volunteer movement.

Biography

Lawyer

Malofeev was born on July 3, 1974 in Pushchino, near Moscow. In the early 1990s, he entered the Law Faculty of Moscow State University. “Kostya studied well - no C grades, he was charming and independent, he achieved everything on his own,” recalls Malofeev’s classmate. “He was very sociable, active, literally seething with energy,” says another of his classmates and close friends, Alexander Provotorov (he now works as the general director of Rostelecom). Provotorov met Malofeev in his 1st year: “We went to get potatoes, lived in the same room for a month and became friends.” The students had common interests: both were interested in Russian and ancient history. And in his 4th year, Malofeev seriously immersed himself in Orthodoxy. Together with Provotorov, they went to the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University and still go, notes Provotorov. Later they became godfathers: Provotorov is the godfather of Malofeev’s daughter, and Malofeev is Provotorov’s daughter. Another student friend of Malofeev was the son of Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov, Dmitry, who studied two years younger. Yuri Skuratov recalls that Kostya [Malofeev] and Dima [Skuratov] met at Moscow State University out of love for football. He assures that he did not provide any “state support” to his friends; on the contrary, it was Kostya who helped Dima find a job at MDM Bank when many turned their backs on the Skuratovs (after the scandalous resignation of the Prosecutor General in 1999).

In his 5th year of law school, in 1996, Malofeev got a job as a lawyer at the investment company Renaissance Capital. “At that time, we did not take seriously Malofeev’s departure as a lawyer to some unknown company,” recalls Malofeev’s classmate. “But Kostya got into the trend and guessed right.” And Malofeev was invited to Renaissance by law faculty teacher Dmitry Bakatin (son of the last chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Vadim Bakatin). “Back then there were no special options for work, what was offered was good,” recalls Provotorov, who came to Renaissance six months later than Malofeev. “The names Potanin, Jordan, Lisin didn’t tell us anything.”

“It was a time of big projects - we participated in the transaction for the privatization of 25% of Svyazinvest, the sale of 10% of Sidanko to BP, the IPO of VimpelCom,” says Malofeev. “Despite our youth and inexperience, Konstantin and I were in good standing,” says Provotorov. Their first project was the purchase of shares of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant. Provotorov recalls that it was a real corporate war. Malofeev moved from the legal department to the investment block. And then the crisis happened.

After leaving Renaissance in 1998, Malofeev went to Ukraine: “After the crisis, it was difficult to find a job, and I decided to start my own business.” He opened his own investment consulting company, Votum Consulting, but things didn’t work out: “I didn’t have enough work experience.” I had to become a hired manager again: Malofeev worked for a year as a director at the brokerage house Regent European Securities, then a little at the investment company Centerinvest, then a little at Interros (since 2001 - head of the investment department of the holding company Interros). “It was a time of great opportunities for the investment business, if we had started then... But I was not a manager, only a hired manager,” recalls Malofeev.

Banker

The first asset for Marshall, one might say, came to Malofeev himself. One of the MDM clients with whom he worked was the Nutritek holding (producer of milk and baby food). As the businessman told Forbes magazine (and confirmed to Vedomosti), the founder and owner of Nutritek, Georgy Sazhinov, tried to get a loan from MDM for business development at 10% of the shares, but the bank refused. Then Malofeev himself took out a loan for Sazhinov from Uralsib and received 10% of Nutritek’s parent company, Nutrinvestholding, for this. And in 2005, the Marshall Milk Investment fund established by Marshall Capital Partners and Sazhinov acquired 100% of Nutrinvestholding.

From that moment on, the company very actively raised funds for business development, using all possible tools - from issuing bonds to selling assets to newly created funds. In April 2007, the company held an IPO; in the summer of the same year, the London Private Equity Fund UBS introduced Malofeev and Sazhin to large Western investors AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners, says a source close to UBS management. Two private equity funds, MarCap I and MarCap II, were created for these companies, into which new investors invested $420 million, and Marshall Capital sold part of its assets to MarCap I (Nutritek). In total, more than $1.1 billion was raised over three years.

And then the crisis came. In October 2008, Nutritek announced the delisting of shares, then defaulted.

In the spring of 2009, the company was no longer able to pay even the coupon on ruble bonds - the equivalent of about $1 million. At the end of 2009, the board of directors ordered Ernst & Young a special audit of the company, which showed the true state of affairs in it. Several sources familiar with the report spoke about the contents of the audit: auditors discovered shadow receivables of the Nutritek group for 2.6 billion rubles. - debts of 11 companies, some of them were controlled by top managers Sazhinov and Oleg Ochinsky. The Ernst & Young report also indicated that in 2006-2009. Nutritek transferred 1.8 billion rubles to the offshore DRD Group (not part of the group), of which only 929 million rubles were returned to Nutritek through a chain of offshore companies. DRD Group was also used to pay “an unofficial part of salaries and bonuses” to Nutritek employees. Auditors could not find more than $30 million. And this is approximately half of Nutritek’s EBITDA in 2007, notes Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Vitaly Baikin. Former Nutritek managers told Ernst & Young that several tech companies conducted sham deals to boost Nutritek's revenue. Ernst & Young notes in the report that the company was able to provide documents for only 47% of the transactions that interested the auditor: according to the group’s employees, some of the documents were lost as a result of a car accident and a fire in the warehouse. According to sources, the Ernst & Young report was discussed at the board of directors of Nutritek, its contents are known to creditors and investors of Nutritek. Malofeev and a representative of Ernst & Young refused to comment on the report; Ochinsky assures that he is not familiar with its contents and “was not a beneficiary of legal entities that had shadow receivables to the Nutritek group, and the companies through which the group’s funds were channeled.”

In June 2010, Malofeev told Vedomosti that Ernst & Young's investigation showed that "Oleg [Ochinsky's] reputation is sufficiently protected to return him to the company." It was not possible to contact Sazhinov. As a result of the investigations, he ceased to be a shareholder. 19% of Nutrinvestholding shares owned by Sazhinov were transferred to the company during the restructuring of obligations, says Malofeev. According to the group's consolidated special purpose balance sheet according to IFRS, as of December 31, 2008, the group's liabilities exceeded its assets by RUB 1.76 billion. The company now has debts of more than $200 million. AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners did not respond to Vedomosti’s request.

Businessman-2: SMARTS

Another notable project of Marshall Capital was the purchase of shares of the mobile operator SMARTS. “We have known Mr. Malofeev for a long time, even when he worked at MDM Bank,” recalls SMARTS General Director Andrey Girev. The cooperation of SMARTS with Marshall Capital as presented by Girev looks like this. When the company thought about an IPO in 2005, it agreed that Marshall Capital would preliminarily buy 20% of the shares from SMARTS minority shareholders (after the placement they could rise in price). Moreover, this could be a joint purchase, after which Malofeev and the main owner of SMARTS Gennady Kiryushin should have each had 10%, but there could only be mediation - if Marshall Capital simply raised money for the purchase, and then all 20% would go to Kiryushin. “We convinced the minority shareholders to sell the shares, all the documents were ready, but Marshall Capital could not find the money. Minority shareholders sat over the agreement forms for six months, ready to put their signatures,” says Girev. And then Kiryushin took out a loan and bought out 20% of the shares from minority shareholders.

But Marshall Capital Partners, through which Malofeev worked with SMARTS, still has five shares of the operator. The fact is that SMARTS is a closed joint stock company and minority shareholders could not sell shares to the outside without offering them to all other shareholders. To bypass this formality, Marshall Capital Partners became a shareholder, exchanging those same five shares from the son of the chairman of the board of directors of SMARTS for the painting (however, the new owner of the painting also withdrew $260,000 from the account of Marshall Capital Managing Director Sergei Azatyan, according to the materials of the arbitration courts ). When Malofeev realized that his services were no longer needed, he offered to pay Kiryushin compensation - to buy five shares from him for $10 million. And having received a refusal, he sold the company to the famous mergers and acquisitions specialist Pavel Svirsky. He renamed “Marshal Capital Partners” to “Sigma Capital Partners” and went about his business - trials began, shares were seized, etc., the war for SMARTS continues to this day.

Malofeev and Provotorov tell the story differently. Kiryushin at some point stopped fulfilling the terms of the agreement, bought the shares from minority shareholders himself and refused to pay for the work of Marshall (Provotorov says that they were ready to give up five shares to Kiryushin for less than $10 million). And then Svirsky came and offered to buy the situation, and they sold it to him. Svirsky gave a very short comment: he knows about such a person as Konstantin Malofeev.

Businessman-3: Astelit

In 2006, Malofeev acted as a mediator in another deal that baffled analysts. Comstar-UTS, a member of Sistema, announced the purchase of Astelit, an outsider in the St. Petersburg communications market, for $7.8 million. According to iKS-Consulting, Astelit served about 100 clients and occupied 1% of the $300 million corporate communications market in St. Petersburg.

The details of this transaction were told to Vedomosti by a manager of one of the Sistema companies. According to him, co-owner of Astelit Rinat Gazizullin, the son of former Minister of Property Relations Farit Gazizullin, sold Astelit to Malofeev’s M-Telecom Holding, and he sold M-Telecom Holding along with the Comstar-UTS asset, having received $7.8 million from the company. Moreover, at the end of 2005, Alfa Group refused to purchase Astelit, considering $5 million to be too high a price. Here Malofeev again crossed paths with Yurchenko, at that time deputy general director of Comstar for mergers and acquisitions.

But Yurchenko denies his involvement in the Astelit deal. Vladimir Roman, a former MDM Bank analyst, then worked as the head of Comstar’s acquisitions department, and he prepared the Astelit presentation for the company’s board of directors, says a source in one of Sistema’s companies. Immediately after the deal, Roman moved to Marshall Capital. Yurchenko confirms that the Astelit deal at Comstar was led by Roman. Immediately after the deal, Roman went back to Marshall, he concludes. Roman actually worked at Marshall Capital for some time, agrees Malofeev. Co-owner of Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov refused to comment on this transaction, and member of the board of directors of AFK Alexander Goncharuk said that he no longer remembers its details. However, Gazizullin has no complaints against Malofeev; he does not comment on the amount of the transaction.

In 2012, Malofeev’s ill-wishers distributed on the Internet a memo prepared by the security service for the president of AFK Sistema, Alexander Goncharuk. .

2009: Rostelecom

During this period, Malofeev is not an official or a top manager of a communications company, he is just a member of the board of directors of the state holding Svyazinvest. Nevertheless, many people working in the communications market, in a conversation with Vedomosti, call him an eminence grise and say that without him, not a single more or less significant issue (for example, about frequency distribution) can be resolved at this time. And when Malofeev’s interlocutors flatteringly call him “deputy minister of communications,” he allegedly corrects them: “Not a deputy, but a friend of the minister.”

On February 10, 2009, Malofeev was elected to the board of directors of Svyazinvest. The state offered him a seat on the council. This is fully consistent with President Dmitry Medvedev’s idea to replace officials on the boards of directors of state-owned companies with active businessmen. But why did the state decide to invite the owner of a private investment company to the board of its telecommunications holding? The press secretary of the Minister of Communications, Elena Lashkina, was unable to answer this question.

“Svyazinvest” is a story not only about communications, but also about finance, investment and law, explains Provotorov. The full name of the company is OJSC Investment Communications Company (Svyazinvest), he recalls. In 2010, the reform of Svyazinvest is underway: by the beginning of 2011, the interregional communication companies controlled by it will be united on the basis of Rostelecom, which will become the national champion in the field of broadband Internet access, fixed-line and, possibly, over time, cellular communications. Reorganization is primarily a legal and investment process, Provotorov emphasizes. And Malofeev is an investment banker and lawyer.

The manager of Svyazinvest put forward two reasons why Igor Shchegolev chose Malofeev. The Minister of Communications and Mass Media, a journalist who rose to become head of the Presidential Protocol Department, took up the reform of Svyazinvest and needed professionals. Moreover, which was important for Shchegolev, they were not associated with any of the major interested groups.

“The minister is not a business person, he has no financial experience, and a government official cannot manage business processes at all. Therefore, this position was delegated to Malofeev,” Yurchenko points out.

The minister needed a trusted person. According to Yurchenko, Malofeev has known Shchegolev for a long time. Several sources close to Svyazinvest companies said that Shchegolev and Malofeev were introduced by their mutual friend Arseny Mironov. Now he heads the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, and before that he worked together with Shchegolev in ITAR-TASS and the Protocol and Organizational Directorate of the President. Mironov avoided a direct answer, and Malofeev does not comment on who introduced him to the minister. He has known Mironov since childhood. But their close cooperation, according to Mironov, began in 2006, when the Orthodox gymnasium of St. Basil the Great was created (one of the main projects of the Malofeev Foundation). Mironov says that he joined its academic council, helped develop the concept and compile new textbooks. According to him, when he was working on a literature textbook for the 10th grade of the gymnasium, he discussed the very idea of ​​the gymnasium, including with Shchegolev.

“Shchegolev is interested in history, and he was interested in this project,” says Mironov.

At Svyazinvest, Malofeev heads the strategic development committee of the board of directors. But the ideas for reorganization were not proposed by him, but by the entire team led by Shchegolev, Malofeev emphasizes.

In this team, in addition to Malofeev and Provotorov, you can consider at least three more people from Marshall Capital in key positions:

• Deputy General Director of Svyazinvest Mikhail Leshchenko (in 2005-2008 he was managing director of Marshall Capital Partners, and then became an adviser to Shchegolev),
• Deputy General Director - CFO of Rostelecom Anton Khozyainov (held a similar position at Marshall) and
• Sergei Ogorodnov (heads the Infra Engineering company, a contractor for Svyazinvest subsidiaries).

Malofeev managed to become a very serious player in the communications market in a short period of time. He has good organizational skills and very quickly delved into the topic of telecoms, notes Comstar President Sergei Pridantsev, adding that Malofeev is an influential figure in the communications market.

Now the former general director of Svyazinvest, Yurchenko, believes that Malofeev is too influential a figure.

“The decision-making center has completely shifted to past and present Marshall Capital managers. After this, decisions began to be made that did not agree with me. During negotiations on M&A transactions, neither the specialized divisions of Svyazinvest, nor representatives of regional companies and Rostelecom participated in the preparation of these transactions. All negotiations and development of documents were conducted only by former and current employees of Marshall Capital. In fact, the management of the state-owned company has passed into private hands,” he said in an interview with Vedomosti in September 2010, immediately after he wrote his resignation letter. And he explained what such a decision-making system leads to: the Moscow Internet provider Akado is priced for purchase almost twice as high as the industry average; Svyazinvest’s contracts are being crushed by a company associated with Marshall Capital: “Imagine, they come to you and say: tomorrow your company will lose all orders. If you don’t want it to go bankrupt, give me 70%, and I, from the state’s side, will guarantee the transfer of government orders to you.” And Marshall Capital can become one of the shareholders of the new, united Rostelecom, collecting stakes in the subsidiaries of Svyazinvest, equivalent to 7% of the future national champion, with the help of Gazprombank, in which, coincidentally (and, undoubtedly, in compliance with all corporate formalities) Rostelecom was holding the money at the time of the purchase.

Malofeev claims that Yurchenko is lying, and on October 8, 2010, he filed a lawsuit against him (at the same time against the Vedomosti newspaper, which distributed the interview with the disgraced general director). Neither Minister Shchegolev nor any other top official of the state has yet publicly commented on Yurchenko’s accusations.

• At the end of October 2010, Malofeev asked the Minister of Communications Igor Shchegolev not to include him as a candidate on the new board of directors of Svyazinvest. He will have to be re-elected ahead of schedule by the shareholders of the state holding. Such a letter was addressed to the minister, an employee of the press service of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications told Vedomosti. Malofeev's representative confirmed that the letter was sent, but refused to discuss the details. Instead, he redirected Vedomosti to Malofeev’s comment to the RBC Daily newspaper: “I considered it inappropriate to remain on the board, since in relation to Rostelecom our interests with the government as a shareholder of Svyazinvest completely coincide (we are interested in the growth of capitalization Rostelecom), then in relation to the remaining assets of Svyazinvest - no.”

Malofeev refused to run for the Svyazinvest board after the scandal caused by Yurchenko’s dismissal (see inset). Yurchenko himself welcomes Malofeev’s act, calling it “courageous.” Malofeev’s next step should be to resign from the board of directors of Rostelecom and vacate the position of chairman of the strategic development committee on the board of Rostelecom, Yurchenko expects, since Malofeev’s conflict of interests arises in this company. Vedomosti was unable to find out whether these expectations were justified: Malofeev did not answer calls from the newspaper either on Friday or yesterday.

Malofeev is present on the current board of Rostelecom thanks to VEB, which voted for him, says Yurchenko (representatives of VEB, which owns 9.8% of the voting shares of Rostelecom). Svyazinvest did not vote for Malofeev, Yurchenko emphasizes. But he can get on the new board as a co-owner of Rostelecom: in mid-September, Marshall Capital Partners signed an agreement to buy out from Gazprombank the fund that owns shares of Svyazinvest’s subsidiaries, equivalent to 7% of the united Rostelecom.

As a result, the MCP fund bought more than 10% of the shares of the united Rostelecom. At the end of 2013, Rostelecom bought a stake from Konstantin Malofeev’s fund for 38 billion rubles.

On January 22, 2011, Konstantin Malofeev was re-elected to the board of directors of Rostelecom.

2012

Searches in the apartment

On November 20, 2012, it became known that Malofeev was brought in as a witness in the case of VTB’s loan to Nutritek. Details of the proceedings. On the eve of the searches, Konstantin Malofeev was removed from the elections of deputies to the Znamensky village council in the Smolensk region. With the help of these elections, Malofeev wanted, according to Izvestia, to become a senator, but the local court decided that he was bribing voters. Thus, Malofeev lost the opportunity to receive senatorial immunity.

The Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Smolensk Regional Court recognized in December 2012 the decision of the Vyazemsky District Court to remove K. Malofeev from by-elections to the council of deputies in the village of Znamenskoye, Smolensk Region, as unlawful, Marshall Capital said in a statement.

On November 17, the court of first instance canceled the registration of K. Malofeev as a candidate for the by-election of the Znamensky rural settlement council, which took place on November 18. The court decision did not enter into legal force at the time of the elections, and K. Malofeev was elected as a deputy, receiving 74.85% of the votes.

At the trial, receipts from several voters were used as evidence of violations on the part of K. Malofeev, confirming receipt of 500 rubles from the businessman’s representatives in exchange for an obligation to vote for him in the elections.

“We have already contacted law enforcement agencies to identify those persons who allegedly bribed voters on my behalf,” said K. Malofeev. “It is obvious that these illegal actions and their widespread media coverage served as the beginning of an information attack on me,” he said.

Some media reported that K. Malofeev’s participation in the elections of deputies to the village council is connected with his intention to receive the post of senator from the administration of the Smolensk region.

2013: Purchase of Soyuztelefonstroy and 25% in NVision Group

In October 2013, it became known that Konstantin Malofeev became the owner of a 25% stake in NVision Group, his acquaintance told Vedomosti. He bought 50% of the shares in the authorized capital of NVision Group Management Company LLC from its founders - Dmitry Taraba, Anton Sushkevich and Alexey Glotov; she, in turn, owns 50% minus 0.5 shares of NVision Group (the rest is owned by AFK Sistema of Vladimir Yevtushenkov).

Malofeev and a representative of NVision Group confirmed the information about the deal. According to Malofeev, during this transaction the company was valued no higher than in September 2012, when the assets of NVision Group merged with those owned by AFK Sitronics and RTI. At that time, the company's share capital was estimated at 20 billion rubles. Malofeev does not disclose with what funds the acquisition was made, but says that “this is a profitable investment of money,” because within three years NVision Group should go public.

After concluding the deal with Sistema, the RTI group controlled by AFK became the owner of 50% plus 0.5 shares of NVision Group. For its share, RTI paid the company’s founders with money (3 billion rubles) and assets (two main assets of the IT company Sitronics were contributed to NVision).

Malofeev has been a large minority shareholder of Rostelecom for several years: he now owns 8.2% of the operator’s shares. And NVision Group has also been a major contractor for Rostelecom for several years - the company has been building data centers for the operator. The friendship between the two companies began back when Malofeev was the largest minority shareholder of Rostelecom and was a member of the operator’s board of directors. In 2010, Rostelecom even wanted to acquire NVision, but the deal never took place due to the fact that the parties could not agree on a price.

And recently Malofeev acquired another large contractor of Rostelecom - the Soyuztelefonstroy company. This is the main asset of the Infra Engineering company. Sources in many communications companies and construction contractors have said that Infra Engineering is related to Malofeev’s Marshal Capital since the day the former general director of Svyazinvest first spoke about this holding in an interview with Vedomosti in 2010. Evgeny Yurchenko. According to Yurchenko, Svyazinvest (then the parent company of Rostelecom) transferred more than 80% of its contracts to Infra in 2010. The head of Infra, Sergei Ogorodnov, and Malofeev have always denied this.

Neither NVision nor Soyuztelefonstroy can now be called the main partners of Rostelecom, says a source close to the operator. He recalls that in April 2013, when new management came to Rostelecom and the procurement system was revised, the operator significantly changed the terms of some contracts, saving more than 6 billion rubles as a result. This figure was also mentioned by the vice president and financial director of Rostelecom Kai-Uwe Melhorn.

Immediately after the change of management, the execution of many contracts was suspended for the purpose of audit, Rostelecom President Sergei Kalugin said earlier. A source in Rostelecom said that not only the share of participation of many companies in Rostelecom contracts has changed, but also the amounts of contracts.

2014: Criminal case in Ukraine on charges of financing separatists

In July 2014, the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened a criminal case against Russian citizen, owner of the Marschall Capital Partners (MCP) fund Konstantin Malofeev. He is suspected of financing the activities of “illegal armed groups” in the country. We are talking about the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, whose supporters are fighting with the Ukrainian army.

In May 2014, Russian citizen Alexander Boroday became Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). He was previously a political strategist at MCP. According to the recollections of one of Malofeev’s former partners, Borodai helped him “solve the problem with law enforcement agencies.”

The Minister of Defense of the DPR is another Russian citizen - Igor Strelkov (real name is Girkin). In April 2014, when Strelkov captured the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region, the Security Service of Ukraine posted a recording of his telephone conversations with “curators” from Moscow. On the tape, Strelkov communicates with Borodai and a certain “Konstantin Valerievich,” whose voice is similar to the voice of Konstantin Valerievich Malofeev.

Strelkov reported to “Konstantin Valerievich” about the successful operation to eliminate the “VIP motorcade” of the attacking Ukrainian security forces. He also asked who was traveling in it. The man with Malofeev’s voice replied that the head of the Anti-Terrorism Center of Ukraine, Gennady Bilichenko, had been killed.

“Congratulations to whoever needed to be shot,” said Strelkov’s interlocutor. “And we celebrated the holiday well (Palm Sunday - editor’s note).”

In Russia, a criminal case was also opened against Konstantin Malofeev: this was related to VTB charges of fraudulently obtaining a loan in the amount of $225 million for the purchase of agricultural assets of MCP. After the sale of a stake in Rostelecom in 2013, the bank’s claims were settled.

Malofeev’s former partner says that activities in Ukraine are not his initiative: this is supposedly “an order from above.” Let us note that Igor Shchegolev, who currently holds the post of Assistant to the President of Russia, also suffered due to the events in Ukraine: he was included in the US sanctions list.

2019

Unsuccessful attempt to enter the leadership of the A Just Russia party

In April 2019, Malofeev was denied election to the governing bodies of the A Just Russia (SR) party, the adoption of amendments strengthening his place in the SR, the receipt of a mandate as a State Duma deputy from the SR, the employment of his own personnel in the apparatus of the SR and, finally , Malofeev “refused to participate in the congress to avoid a scandal.”

Deputy Chairman of the "World Russian People's Council"

In April 2019, Konstantin Malofeev became deputy chairman of the World Russian People's Council.

• Malofeev is the godfather of two children of ex-minister Igor Shchegolev.

• The office of Marshall Capital Partners, a group of companies in which Malofeev is a managing partner, is located in the Residence on Rublyovka business center. Expensive furniture, cabinets filled with history books, a large iconostasis in the office. Malofeev says that three things are truly important to him: business, history and Orthodoxy. But he only agrees to discuss business. Malofeev does not name the size of his fortune. According to him, the amount can be calculated by multiplying the annual budget of the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation established by him by 10. But the fund's budget is not disclosed.
»

The story took a new turn almost exactly a century later. The “Union of Michael the Archangel” and others like it, a bunch of Orthodox-power-monarchist organizations under new, and sometimes under old historical names, sprang up wildly in the new century.

Entrepreneur Konstantin Malofeev is vying for the role of the new Purishkevich. German Sterligov, who looks more like a showman, does not count. The scale of personality is not the same and the amount of capital is not the same. Malofeev and his investment fund Marshall Capitals Partners are orders of magnitude more powerful than the peasant farm with a frail chain of grocery stores of the former owner of the Alice commodity exchange.

It remains unclear why someone who likes to always extol Slavic roots in everything has a truly Western name for his own company, and is not even written in Cyrillic. Other commercial and non-profit initiatives of the Russian entrepreneur by name are quite consistent with the spirit of the ideology he professes - the Tsargrad group of companies, the Tsargrad television channel, the St. Basil the Great Foundation.

Konstantin Malofeev’s “leaning” towards radical patriotism and statism overtook him during his student years. Before plunging headlong into religion, he took part in the activities of Russian-American environmental camps, but he was not fascinated by the topic, which was fashionable all over the world. In his 4th year, a law student at Moscow State University converted to Orthodoxy and became a parishioner of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Tatiana at the university. There is nothing extraordinary in such an act. Everyone is looking for their own path.

My father, an astrophysicist, a researcher of distant galaxies, knew better than ever that behind the clouds there was not a sky with angels, but endless parsecs of cold, airless space. My mother was more close to the highly spiritual. While doing quite modern programming at work, she attended an Orthodox church in her free time. The matured Konstantin accepted his mother’s choice. Two more extraordinary people who met along the way made a huge contribution to the formation of Malofeev’s personality. One of them is the long-deceased Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga John, who in the world bore the surname Snychev ─ an extremely bright personality who left a mark in the hearts of many parishioners.

After himself, the Metropolitan left a fairly extensive library of his own literary works of spiritual content. During his time at the top of the church clergy, the titled theologian fiercely criticized the current Patriarch Kirill for his commitment to ecumenism, positioning himself as an orthodox churchman.

Malofeev can easily call the Eurasian philosopher and political scientist Alexander Gelyevich Dugin his second spiritual father. During his adult life, before taking the position of Orthodoxy and state patriotism, he made a significant ideological drift. At the end of the Soviet period in Russian history, he became prominent in the nationalist movement “Memory”. In the early 90s, Dugin was one of the ideologists of the now banned National Bolshevik Party of the writer Eduard Limonov.

Then he became interested in the pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavs and the Old Believers. Now Dugin is developing the political theory of Eurasianism. It is no coincidence that Malofeev attracted the philosopher as the editor-in-chief of his Tsargrad TV channel.

Carier start

The beginning of the career of the Orthodox businessman Malofeev was in no way distinguished by a touch of patriarchal antiquity. He did not become a merchant-peddler. New Afanasy Nikitin too. Quite in keeping with the spirit of modern times, the Moscow State University graduate’s first job was as a lawyer at Renaissance Capital. Then he worked for 2 years at MDM Bank. Already at the start, Malofeev cut his teeth on direct investment activities, which is the calling card of Marshall Capitals Partners.

In the beginning, Konstantin Malofeev’s fame was brought not by business, but by active social activities. Having earned his first big money, he generously spent it on charity and historical education. This is the main reason for the existence of his St. Basil the Great Foundation. Rumors about the patriotic Russian entrepreneur especially intensified after the spring of 2014. In the east of Ukraine, the unrecognized republics of the DPR and LPR spontaneously formed, and earlier the Ukrainian Crimea became part of Russia after a popular referendum. Previously unknown names of the leaders of the anti-Ukrainian resistance have come to light. This is where it turned out that some of them were previously associated with Malofeev’s business structures.

The press claimed that the leader of the first rebel detachments near Donetsk, Igor Strelkov, previously worked as the head of the security service at Marshall Capitals Partners. True, then he bore a slightly different, but true, surname, Girkin.

Under it, two decades earlier, he fought in Transnistria. The fact of serving as a hired employee has been repeatedly denied. But the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the DPR, Alexander Borodai, certainly had a direct relationship with Marshall Capitals Partners. Malofeev himself confirmed that Borodai’s agency repeatedly provided him with consulting services. When the time came to help Boroday and the emerging power structures, Malofeev provided generous assistance to the “Cossacks” of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Under sanctions

In international legal language, such actions sounded like providing assistance in the creation of illegal armed groups. As a result, Malofeev came under sanctions. The Russian businessman’s help was sent not only to the DPR and LPR. Before “polite” people appeared in Crimea, they transferred $1 million to the “people’s” mayor of Sevastopol Alexei Chaly. In the same 2014, Malofeev contributed to obtaining a loan of 2 million euros to the founder of the Popular Front in France, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of future presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, known for criticizing the European Union and its policies towards Russia.

However, Malofeev’s money, in addition to his own and other politicians’, also benefited ordinary refugees from the area of ​​the anti-terrorist operation of the Ukrainian military. Malofeev financed the functioning of temporary camps and the further improvement of the life of families forced to permanently move to Russia. Orthodox believers owe the entrepreneur a voyage through Russian cities of the relics of St. Prince Vladimir. Malofeev’s sponsorship activities were awarded with the award of the Republic of Crimea “For Fidelity to Duty.”

Business of Konstantin Malofeev

With the professional activities of a businessman, everything is not as clear and unambiguous as with his social activities. An Orthodox businessman is not as straightforward in business as in the ideological course he chose in his youth. Being not an orthodox, but a completely modern entrepreneur, he clearly has a craving for participation in high-tech projects, most often related to modern means of communication and communication. At one time, he had a 10 percent stake in Rostelecom and until 2010 he was a member of the directors of Svyazinvest. The key position gave him the opportunity to influence the entire Russian communications market.

At one time he began to show interest in similar communication structures in neighboring countries. Malofeev sent proxies to Bulgaria, where they tried to take over a large mobile communications company that was on the verge of bankruptcy. Its transfer into the hands of a Russian entrepreneur fell through at the last moment.

Konstantin Malofeev usually acted very harshly with his competitors, far from being Christian. He initiated a purge of Rostelecom from the people of ex-Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman, who represented serious internal opposition in the company. The founder of the social network VKontakte, Pavel Durov, recently shared his memories of a dirty trick used by an Orthodox businessman in a fit of desire to take over a share in an established IT business. He skillfully and at the right moment organized an information attack on him. Perhaps then he wanted to supplement the mouthpiece of the Eurasian ideology, the Tsargrad TV channel, with another resource, but on the Internet. Malofeev has repeatedly spoken out in favor of compiling a “black” list of sites that are unpatriotic and destructive for the Russian state and supported the idea of ​​censorship on the Internet. To achieve these goals, he joined the board of trustees of the Safe Internet League organization.

In 2012, investigators became interested in his activities. Searches were carried out at the office of Marshall Capitals Partners. Naturally, visitors in uniform were not interested in ideology, but in completely mundane things. The complicated case of a loan to Rusagroprom, in which investor Malofeev took part, was investigated. His role was later determined to be that of a witness. The Russian parties to the conflict soon came to a settlement agreement.

But the threads of business connections stretched to Great Britain, and she had a completely different assessment of her actions. As a result, Malofeev's assets were frozen in London. Once again he had to take part in lengthy legal proceedings. The reason was his attempt to enter politics. He started small - with elections to the Znamensky village council of the Smolensk region, but with an eye on the position of senator in the Federation Council. A few days before the elections, the district court removed him from the race for bribing voters. The application for the candidate was written by an obvious atheist member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. It would not be difficult for a wealthy businessman to buy all the voters in a district of only a few hundred people. After 4 years, the final point was finally set. Konstantin Malofeev was found innocent, but time has already passed. All that remains is to wait for the next election campaign.

Russian manager and entrepreneur, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tsargrad group of companies, founder of the St. Basil the Great Foundation

Malofeev, Konstantin Valerievich

Biography

Konstantin Malofeev’s father, Valery Mikhailovich, is a scientist, astrophysicist, one of the world’s leading specialists in pulsars. Mother - Raisa Zinurovna - was a programmer.

The wife of Konstantin Malofeev is Vilter Irina Mikhailovna, a lawyer at Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov and Partners. Three children.

He graduated from secondary school No. 1 in Pushchino with a silver medal.

Malofeev also graduated from art school. He gives preference to sculpture.

Since 1989, Konstantin Malofeev has taken part in the Russian-American environmental camps PeopleToPeople.

In 1991 he entered and in 1996 graduated from Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, Faculty of Law, specialty "Public Law". Theme of the diploma: "Legitimacy: constitutional and legal characteristics." Scientific supervisor: Professor Avakyan S. A.

In his fourth year at the University, he seriously immersed himself in Orthodoxy, and to this day is a parishioner of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University.

Malofeev is a member of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues and Protection of Motherhood.

He is the president of the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation, which also includes ex-Minister of Communications Igor Shchegolev.

He began his career as a lawyer at Renaissance Capital, then became an investment banker, working at MDM Bank and other financial companies.

In 2005, together with his partners, he founded the investment fund MarshallCapitalPartners, managing partner.

In 2007 he founded the Basil the Great Gymnasium, chairman of the supervisory board.

In 2007 he founded the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation.

On February 10, 2009, he was elected to the board of directors of Svyazinvest, but left in November 2010.

From 2011 - present - member of the board of trustees of the non-profit partnership "Safe Internet League". Initiated the creation of “blacklists” of sites, an active supporter of censorship on the Internet. There is a possibility that the League will be given the right to maintain a register of “black sites” on the Runet.

On January 22, 2011, he was re-elected to the board of directors of Rostelecom. He has currently left his post, but on June 14, 2012, at the annual general meeting of shareholders, the managing director of MarCapInvestmentGroup in Moscow, one of the beneficial owners of which is Malofeev, was elected there. Since mid-2010, Rostelecom has been headed by the former CEO of MarshallCapitalPartners, Alexander Provotorov.

On May 18, 2012, Malofeev was awarded the Order of the Sign of the Mother of God, II degree, for his generous support of the Russian Church Abroad.

On November 20, 2012, a report was received about searches conducted by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the office of the investment fund MarshallCapital (MarCap), as well as at the place of residence of its founder Konstantin Malofeev and the head of Rostelecom, Alexander Provotorov, who worked in MarCap structures in 2005-2009.

The legal representative of the fund, Dmitry Skuratov, and the general director of the Rusagroprom company, Evgenia Kremneva, are also involved in the case. The latter was previously put on the federal wanted list and charged with large-scale fraud. Malofeev is a witness in the case of providing a loan to the Rusagroprom company.

Policy

On October 17, 2012, he proposed his candidacy, and on October 23, he was registered as a candidate for the Council of Deputies of the Znamensky rural settlement of the Ugransky district of the Smolensk region. Presumably, he participated in the elections to replace Nikolai Frolov as senator from the Smolensk region.

Before the elections scheduled for November 18, 2012, State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation N.N. Ivanov reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the bribery of voters in the villages included in the Znamenkoye rural settlement.

On November 17, 2012, the Vyazemsky District Court removed Malofeev from the elections for bribing voters, but the court decision did not have time to come into force before the elections and the candidate was not removed from the ballot.

The Smolensk governor Alexei Ostrovsky finally put an end to the political career of the entrepreneur: he announced the nomination of the speaker of the local parliament for senator, although a week earlier he came to Znamenka to personally campaign for the founder of MarKap.

On July 22, 2014, in connection with the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings against Konstantin Malofeev and the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu on suspicion of creating paramilitary or armed formations not provided for by law (Article 260 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) ).

At the end of July 2014, Malofeev was included in the list of persons against whom the EU applies sanctions in connection with the 2014 Ukrainian crisis.

On March 13, 2015, he was awarded the Order of the Republic of Crimea "For Loyalty to Duty" with the wording - for courage, patriotism, active social and political activities, personal contribution to strengthening the unity, development and prosperity of the Republic of Crimea and in connection with the Day of Reunification of Crimea with Russia.

In October 2015, the results of the “Region of Good” competition held for the first time among the regions of Russia, which was organized by the St. Basil the Great Foundation, established by Malofeev, were summed up. “We came up with the idea of ​​the competition together with the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children. We wanted to give the regions the opportunity to tell their neighbors about the good things that are happening in their country. The idea was well received - we received 305 applications from 71 regions of Russia.”

The total assets of the MARSHAL company as of 2012 are over $2 billion.

At the end of 2012 - beginning of 2013, law enforcement agencies conducted searches in the house of Konstantin Malofeev and the office of Marshal Capital in connection with a criminal case initiated by the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Art. 159 part 4 (fraud) regarding the theft of more than $200 million from VTB Bank.

VTB accused Malofeev of not repaying the loan provided to Russagroprom for the purchase of Nutritek in 2007 (its largest shareholder at that time was Marshall).

Malofeev sued VTB in London: the bank lost the case, and in February of this year the parties entered into a settlement agreement. As a result, VTB’s complaint to the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also withdrawn.

During Igor Shchegolev's tenure as Minister of Communications, the Marshall Capital company managed to obtain a 10% stake in the state-owned Rostelecom. In fact, Rostelecom acquired bills of exchange from Gazprombank for $300 million. Perhaps this money was used by Gazprombank to acquire shares in Rostelecom, which were later transferred to MarshallCapitalPartners, a structure owned by Malofeev.

At the same time, Rostelecom shares were most likely purchased at the moment when the price of the securities reached the bottom. It turned out that, at state expense, the businessman became the owner of a share worth almost $1.3 billion (about 10% based on market capitalization) of the state-owned Rostelecom.

Trying to counter this, the former general director of Svyazinvest, Evgeny Yurchenko, wrote an open letter to the Minister of Communications Shchegolev, and then made a public statement that Malofeev’s actions “are not business, but raiding, because the seizure of funds is illegal,” the newspaper writes. Vedomosti".

However, there was no reaction from Shchegolev. As a sign of protest, Yurchenko left his post as head of Svyazinvest, but this did not change the situation.

Later, the media wrote that Shchegolev was Malofeev’s main patron in power and his close friend. With the arrival of Shchegolev as minister in 2008, Malofeev’s influence in the industry began to grow rapidly.

In 2014, after the start of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, unexpected facts surfaced in the press. On May 16, Alexander Borodai, a former consultant to the head of MarshallCapital, Konstantin Malofeev, was appointed Prime Minister of the DPR. And the Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Strelkov (Girkin) is his head of the security service.

In an interview with Forbes, Malofeev said that he had nothing to do with the adventures of Boroday and Girkin in the neighboring state.

Family

Konstantin Malofeev’s father, Valery Mikhailovich, is a scientist, astrophysicist, one of the world’s leading specialists in pulsars. Mother - Raisa Zinurovna - was a programmer.

Wife of Konstantin Malofeev - Vilter Irina Mikhailovna, lawyer at Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov and Partners. Three children.

Biography

Graduated from secondary school No. 1 Pushchino with a silver medal.

Malofeev also graduated from art school. He gives preference to sculpture.

Since 1989, Konstantin Malofeev has taken part in the work of Russian-American environmental camps PeopleToPeople.

Entered in 1991 and graduated in 1996 Moscow State University them. M. V. Lomonosov, Faculty of Law, specialty "Public Law". Theme of the diploma: "Legitimacy: constitutional and legal characteristics." Scientific supervisor: Professor Avakyan S. A.

In his fourth year at the University, he seriously immersed himself in Orthodoxy, and to this day is a parishioner of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University.

Malofeev is a member of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues and Protection of Motherhood.

He is the President of the Charity St. Basil the Great Foundation, which also includes the former Minister of Communications Igor Shchegolev.

Began his career as a lawyer in Renaissance Capital, then became an investment banker, worked in MDM Bank and other financial companies.

In 2005 - founded an investment fund together with partners MarshallCapitalPartners, managing partner.

Founded in 2007 Basil the Great Gymnasium, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Founded in 2007 Charitable Foundation of St. Basil the Great.

On February 10, 2009 he was elected to the board of directors "Svyazinvest", but left in November 2010.

From 2011 - present - member of the board of trustees of a non-profit partnership "Safe Internet League". Initiated the creation of “blacklists” of sites, an active supporter of censorship on the Internet. There is a possibility that the League will be given the right to maintain a register of “black sites” on the Runet.

January 22, 2011 re-elected to the board of directors "Rostelecom". He has currently left his post, but on June 14, 2012, at the annual general meeting of shareholders, the managing director of MarCapInvestmentGroup in Moscow, one of the beneficial owners of which is Malofeev, was elected there. Since mid-2010, Rostelecom has been headed by the former CEO of MarshallCapitalPartners Alexander Provotorov.

On May 18, 2012, Malofeev was awarded the Order of the Sign of the Mother of God, II degree, for his generous support of the Russian Church Abroad.

On November 20, 2012, a report was received about searches conducted by employees Ministry of Internal Affairs in the office of the investment fund MarshallCapital (MarCap), as well as at the place of residence of its founder Konstantin Malofeev and the head of Rostelecom, Alexander Provotorov, who worked in MarCap structures in 2005-2009.

The legal representative of the fund also appears in the case Dmitry Skuratov and CEO of the company "Rusagroprom" Evgenia Kremneva. The latter was previously put on the federal wanted list and charged with large-scale fraud. Malofeev is a witness in the case of providing a loan to the Rusagroprom company.

Policy

On October 17, 2012, he proposed his candidacy, and on October 23, he was registered as a candidate for the Council of Deputies of the Znamensky rural settlement of the Ugra region Smolensk region. Presumably participated in the elections to replace Nikolai Frolov as a senator from the Smolensk region.

Before the elections scheduled for November 18, 2012, State Duma deputy from N. N. Ivanov reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the bribery of voters in the villages included in the Znamenkoye rural settlement.

November 17, 2012 Vyazemsky District Court Malofeev was removed from the elections for bribing voters, but the court decision did not have time to come into force before the elections and the candidate was not removed from the ballot.

The governor of Smolensk finally put an end to the political career of the entrepreneur Alexey Ostrovsky: he announced the nomination of the speaker of the local parliament for senator, although a week earlier he came to Znamenka to personally campaign for the founder of MarKap.

On July 22, 2014, in connection with the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings against Konstantin Malofeev and the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation on suspicion of creating paramilitary or armed formations not provided for by law (Article 260 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

At the end of July 2014, Malofeev was included in the list of persons against whom the EU uses sanctions in connection with the Ukrainian crisis of 2014.

On March 13, 2015 he was awarded the Order of the Republic Crimea "For Loyalty to Duty" with the wording - for courage, patriotism, active social and political activity, personal contribution to strengthening the unity, development and prosperity of the Republic of Crimea and in connection with the Day of Reunification of Crimea with Russia.

In October 2015, the results of the competition held for the first time among Russian regions were summed up "Area of ​​Good", which was organized by the St. Basil the Great Foundation, established by Malofeev. " We came up with the idea of ​​the competition together with the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children. We wanted to give the regions the opportunity to tell their neighbors about the good things that are happening in their country.. The idea was well received - we received 305 applications from 71 regions of Russia".

Income

The total assets of the MARSHAL company as of 2012 are over $2 billion.

Rumors, scandals

At the end of 2012 - beginning of 2013, law enforcement agencies conducted searches in the house of Konstantin Malofeev and the office of Marshal Capital in connection with a criminal case initiated by the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Art. 159 part 4 (fraud) on the fact of theft from a bank VTB more than $200 million

VTB accused Malofeev of not repaying the loan provided to Russagroprom for the purchase of the company in 2007 "Nutritek"(its largest shareholder at the time was Marshall).

Malofeev sued VTB in London: the bank lost the case, and in February of this year the parties entered into a settlement agreement. As a result, VTB’s complaint to the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also withdrawn.

During Igor Shchegolev's tenure as Minister of Communications, the Marshall Capital company managed to obtain a 10% stake in the state-owned Rostelecom. In fact, Rostelecom acquired promissory notes "Gazprombank" by 300 million dollars. Perhaps this money was used by Gazprombank to acquire shares in Rostelecom, which were later transferred to MarshallCapitalPartners, a structure owned by Malofeev.

At the same time, Rostelecom shares were most likely purchased at the moment when the price of the securities reached the bottom. It turned out that, at state expense, the businessman became the owner of a share worth almost $1.3 billion (about 10% based on market capitalization) of the state-owned Rostelecom.

Trying to resist this, the now former general director of Svyazinvest Evgeniy Yurchenko wrote an open letter to the Minister of Communications Shchegolev, and then made a public statement that Malofeev’s actions - “ This is not a business, but raiding, because the taking of funds is illegal", writes the Vedomosti newspaper.

However, there was no reaction from Shchegolev. As a sign of protest, Yurchenko left his post as head of Svyazinvest, but this did not change the situation.

Later, the media wrote that Shchegolev was Malofeev’s main patron in power and his close friend. With the arrival of Shchegolev as minister in 2008, Malofeev’s influence in the industry began to grow rapidly.

In 2014, after the start of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, unexpected facts surfaced in the press. Appointed Prime Minister of the DPR on May 16 Alexander Borodai- former consultant to the head of MarshallCapital Konstantin Malofeev. And the Minister of Defense of the DPR (Girkin) is his head of the security service.

In an interview with Forbes, Malofeev said that he had nothing to do with the adventures of Boroday and Girkin in the neighboring state.