Alexander Chistyakov is the executive chairman of RusPetro, an oil and gas producer operating in Siberia. In the 1990s, he worked as the deputy director of investment management at Menatep Bank, which was involved in Russia’s notorious loans-for-shares program during the post-Soviet mass privatization of state-owned assets.
In 1999, Chistyakov became an executive board member of the state electricity company Unified Energy System of Russia (RAO UES). Between 2002 and 2011, he was the first deputy chairman of Federal Grid Co., a state-owned energy company that describes itself as the “backbone of the Russian economy.”
Chistyakov primarily benefited from the Troika Laundromat through Bristol Technologies, an offshore company he owns in the British Virgin Islands. Between 2006 and 2010, Bristol received US$27 million from four Laundromat companies. Purposes listed for the transfers included “for goods,” “profit distribution,” and multiple loan repayments.
In May 2006, Bristol Technologies wired just under $700,000 to Laundromat company Brightwell Capital for a stock option purchase in Charaltyn, a gold mining company in Kazakhstan.
Later that year, another offshore company allegedly used by Chistyakov received 170,000 euros ($214,000) from the Troika Laundromat, with the payment described as having been made, simply, “for services.”
Chistyakov’s pop star wife, Natalia Ionona, better known by her stage name Glyukoza (Glucose), posts glimpses of the couple’s lavish lifestyle on Instagram.
In 2007, a New York gallery invoiced Chistyakov $75,000 for a huge, bulbous sculpture titled “Dragon Riding Bodhisattva” by the Taiwanese artist Li Chen. One week later, a Troika Dialog employee sent Ukio Bankas an amended version of the invoice, with the Laundromat company Nixford Capital Corp. replacing Chistyakov’s name. Just five days later, Nixford Capital spent another $70,000 on art from the same New York gallery, though the recipient is unknown.
Chistyakov did not respond to requests for comment.
