This post was originally published on this site
The chief financial officer of Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer, PAO Novatek, has been indicted on tax fraud and tax evasion charges in the U.S., where he lives, for allegedly hiding nearly $100 million in overseas accounts.
Federal prosecutors say Mark Anthony Gvetvay, 64, hid $93 million in Swiss bank accounts and failed to report substantial portions of his income for years and pay millions of dollars in taxes he owed.
From 2005 until 2016, prosecutors say Gvetvay, who lives in Naples, Fla., allegedly attempted to obscure his connection to the assets he had squirrelled away abroad and filed phony foreign banking compliance forms which omitted the existence of the accounts.
Prosecutors say Gvetvay holds citizenship in the United States, Russia and Italy.
Messages left with Gvetvay weren’t immediately returned. He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Florida on Friday and it wasn’t immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.
A spokeswoman for Novatek said the firm had received no notice or information from U.S. authorities, but that the company’s officials were monitoring the situation. She said the charges against Gvetvay wouldn’t affect the company’s activities.
Since he became CFO of Novatek, which is the second largest gas producer in Russia behind state-owned OAO Gazprom, Gyetvay received substantial compensation in lucrative stock options, which he directed into his offshore accounts, according to court documents.
At one point, prosecutors allege Gyetvay attempted to cover up his connection to the accounts by placing them in the name of his wife, who is a Russian citizen.
Prosecutors say that despite Gyetvay being a certified public accountant, he repeatedly filed his taxes late and failed to file complete accounts of his offshore holdings as is required for all U.S. taxpayers.
In addition to being Novatek’s CFO, Gyetvay is also the deputy chairman of its management board. The firm’s leading shareholder is Leonid Mikhelson, who was the third wealthiest person in Russia in 2020, according to Forbes.
The company’s shares trade on the Moscow Exchange and as global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange. Shares were down 4.5% in London and down 3% in Moscow on Friday.
Gyetvay faces up to 20 years on wire fraud charges if convicted.
