Sergei Pavlovich Roldugin, born on September 28, 1951, is a Russian cellist and businessman, whose name will be well known to history. Aside from winning awards in the 1980’s as a cellist, he later held a professorship at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from 2002-2005. Then, he shifted his focus to become an oil and media businessman but probably better known as Vladimir Putin’s best friend and the “secret caretaker” of Putin’s hidden wealth. Roldugin is a godfather to to Maria Putin, Vladimir’s daughter. Roldugin introduced Putin to his first wife and Roldugin’s brother Yevgenywas at KGB training school with Putin.
In 2015, 11.5 million documents were leaked by an anonymous source. They were called the Panama Papers. The documents belonged to a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.The leaked documents contain personal financial information about wealthy persons and public officials which were previously secret. Shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions. According to journalists working on the data, Roldugin “î or at least his name “î appears to be involved in network of up to $2 billion from Russian state banks has been hidden in offshore shell companies.
According to the Panama papers, there are five offshore entities lined to Roldugin; Sonnette Overseas, International Media Overseas, Sunbarn, Raytar and Sandalwood Continental, Inc. The firms are linked to Bank Rossiya. Bank Rossiya, Russia’s 17th biggest lender, according to the Treasury, was founded in 1990 by Yury Kovalchuk, Vladimir Yakunin and Andrey Fursenko, three associates of Putin who are also on the U.S. sanctions list. Kovalchuk holds about 38 percent of the bank, according to a regulatory filing. AO Bank Rossiya, a St. Petersburg-based lender owned by associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, became the first financial institution to face U.S. sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis. The measure prohibits U.S. firms or individuals from doing business with Bank Rossiya, the U.S. Treasury said .. The firm has about $10 billion in assets, “numerous relationships” with banks in the U.S. and Europe, and was targeted because its owners are part of Putin’s inner circle.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers.
