Sistema real estate company

1. 
   QUESTIONS/REQUIREMENTS FROM CLIENT
   

b. SECOND – Are we familiar with the following two businesses and their principals? Do we know if these businesses or individuals are affiliated with OC, or government entities? Do we know if these businesses do business with other western firms?
1. Real Estate Company – Sistema, Principal person appears to be Deputy Chairman of the Board Dmitri Zubow

2. Food processing company -- Wimm-Bill-Dann, who their principals are. It would be awesome if we could track down that info.

SISTEMA REAL ESTATE COMPANY:
IN SHORT on Sistema Real Estate Company: they are owned by the large Sistema Bank in Russia, which is a shareholder of Magnit (which we wrote on)… this is most likely how they know Roadway is doing business in Russia. However, Sistema is one of Russia largest and most powerful companies politically, economically and financially. It has some very dubious ties, but runs a good business. It is hard to avoid them in Russia.
RED FLAGS: They are highly hooked into Moscow Mob through Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who does a lot of business through Sistema Real Estate Company… and in return Moscow Mob protects Sistema Real Estate Company
REAL DANGERS: As we’ve said in the past, any real-estate deal will be tied through Luzhkov not matter what. Sistema Real Estate is one of the big ones to go through.

They have never fire-bombed anyone, but they do use pressure tactics to get business. Luzhkov and Moscow mob knows that a company will have to use it somehow, so won’t kill anyone off. It is when companies try to go around the network of real-estate companies in Russia and go person-to-person for sales that things can get dangerous—very dangerous.

SPIDERWEB DETAILS:

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  The Chairman of Sistema Real Estate Company, Dmitri Zubow is also Vice-Chairman of the parent Sistema Holding Company—a financial, political and economic heavyweight in Russia.
  
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  Remember that Sistema’s head, Alexei Bogachev owns Labini Investments, which is a shareholder of Magnit.
  

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  Bogachev is technically Zubow’s boss.
  

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  The interesting (and worrying) thing is that Zubow is good friends with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov (who is head of Moscow mob—which we wrote about).
  
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  Bogachev and Luzhkov are in the middle of a mob real-estate war.
  

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  Sistema Real Estate and Luzhkov has a lot of financial ties, since Luzhkov has a monopoly on real estate and construction in Moscow, but Bogachev has been looking to go his own way.
  
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  Zubow and Sistema Empire head, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, seem to be the main reason Luzhkov has not personally and criminally gone after Sistema or Bogachev.
  

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  Magnit also uses Sistema Real Estate as one of their main contractors.
  

WIMM-BILL-DANN (WBD)
IN SHORT on WBD, the company has some very dubious ties, though they mainly seem to stem from trying to keep the company protected and above water during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their connection to Alfa seems as if it could not be helped, for it is normal to be connected to some giant company in Russia, like an Alfa or Sistema.
RED FLAG: But the danger really does seem to be out there with this one: but it is a risk in the agro-business which has a lot of OC fingers in it rather than the store-retail business. It is pretty low level crimes attached and suspected with WBD though and no big targets.
PRINCIPLES: Chairman David Iakobachvili, CEO Tony Maher,

TRINITY GROUP:

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  Wimm-Bill-Dann chairperson David Iakobachvili was the head of Trinity Negus during 1997-2002, a company that provided security for Wimm-Bill-Dann until 2001, but is said to still be the company’s protector.
  
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  Trinity Group engages in a lot of different sectors: agro-business, automobile distribution, security servies, casinos and construction… but is was offers security services that caught my eye… for it assuredly means organized crime protection.
  
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    Their security services company is actually one they purchased called Municipal Guard, but they are mainly made up of low level former military and conduct a pretty underwhelming low-level OC group.
    
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    They have been accused in the press of simply being a front for OC.
    

ANOTHER BLIP:

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  Wimm-Bill-Dann’s largest shareholder, Gavril Yushvayev, who holds 19.5% (after the IPO), committed some sort of violent crime in the 1980s and spent 9 years in a prisoncamp (a place where OC originates typically).
  

ALFA CONNECTIONS:

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  Evgeny G. Yasin has served as a member of Wimm-Bill-Dann’s Board of Directors since December 2001—but he is also on the board of Insurance Group Alfainsurance. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Yasin was Russia’s Minister of the Economy—the economy ministry has long been advised by Alfa 2nd in command Pyotr Aven (we wrote on him).
  
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  In 2006 another (don’t figure out who though) of the members of WBD Foods’ Board of Directors was also a member of the Board of Directors in insurance company AlfaStrahovanie.
  
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  However, none of the connections seem to lead to Alfa’s X5 and simply look more to be insurance and financing… though through X5 is most likely how WBD knows Roadway is in the country.