Russian Oligarch Had Secret Stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX
A Russian billionaire, Suleyman Kerimov, secretly owned a 1% stake in SpaceX, the private space company founded by Elon Musk. This was revealed by Bloomberg on January 30.
Kerimov, who is worth $9.84 billion, invested in SpaceX through a trust called Heritage Trust in 2017. The trust was managed by Citigroup and valued at $21 billion at the time. This means Kerimov’s stake was worth around $210 million.
The U.S. had sanctioned Kerimov in 2018 for supporting Russian policies that violated Ukraine’s sovereignty. However, despite this, Citigroup continued to manage Heritage Trust, reportedly seeking guidance from the Treasury Department but concluding there was no need to block the trust.
In 2022, the U.S. seized Kerimov’s $300 million yacht and sanctioned his family and associates. The Treasury then froze the Heritage Trust in June 2022 after investigators found it was structured to hide Kerimov as its primary beneficiary.
By December 2024, SpaceX’s valuation had surged to $350 billion, making Kerimov’s lost stake worth around $3.5 billion. This revelation came amid reports that the U.S. Justice Department and other agencies were investigating Citigroup’s handling of Heritage Trust.
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