Russian economist and banker Pavel Teplukhin worked with Ruben Vardanyan in the early 1990s as their private investment bank, Troika Dialog, grew. He was a co-founder and partner of the bank and worked there for 19 years, eventually becoming managing director and chairman of the board.
He left the bank in 2010. Two years later, Teplukhin became the chief country officer for Deutsche Bank in Russia, a post he held from 2012 until 2016, but he remained a member of the supervisory board of the bank’s Russian branch until 2018. In 2017, Deutsche Bank settled with UK and US regulators a $10 billion money laundering scandal for a $630 million fine. There was no allegation that Teplukhin was involved in the scandal.
He has since started Matrix Capital, a boutique investment bank, where he works with at least five former Troika Dialog staff. The firm invests in Russia and emerging markets.
Teplukhin is chairman of the strategy committee of the board of directors for Rusnano, the Russian government-owned nanotechnology company.
A leaked email from Ukio Bankas shows that Teplukhin received money from one of the core companies in the Troika Laundromat. The email notes that on Nov. 27, 2006, he received US $350,000 from a British Virgin Islands company, Gotland Industrial Inc., for consulting on the Russian fine art market and organizing art exhibitions in Russia. The payment was directed to Teplukhin while he was still employed at Troika. Teplukhin explained that this was a reimbursement of expenses incurred during the course of his employment, in organizing two art exhibitions in Russia for business development purposes. He claimed that the transaction was entirely legitimate and that he was never linked to allegations of money laundering.
UPDATE: This story was updated on November 12, 2024, to include a response from Teplukhin.
