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Alisher Usmanov
Status
Born in 1953 (age –). Living in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Criminal status: Convicted in Soviet Uzbekistan in 1980 for fraud and embezzlement; served six years in prison; conviction vacated by Uzbek Supreme Court in 2000. Designated by the US (March 2022), EU (February 2022), and UK (March 2022) under Russia-related sanctions. Settled two separate German probes in 2024 and 2025 for a combined EUR14M without admission of guilt.
Summary
Alisher Usmanov is a Russian-Uzbek billionaire who built his fortune in the post-Soviet era primarily through Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron ore producer, and a 49% stake in USM Holdings, a conglomerate spanning steel, telecommunications, and technology. He was an early and highly profitable investor in Facebook, Twitter, and Alibaba in the 2000s, netting over $1.4 billion from Facebook shares alone. Usmanov served as general director of Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprom Vestholding from 2000 to 2014.
In 2022, the EU, US, and UK imposed sanctions over his ties to Vladimir Putin's regime following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, after which Usmanov relocated to Tashkent. He remains president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) but has voluntarily suspended his day-to-day duties there since the sanctions took effect, and has been a major philanthropic donor across Russia, Uzbekistan, and Italy, with the Sunday Times naming him the most generous philanthropist on its Rich List in 2021, citing over GBP4.2 billion in total charitable giving.
Business Relationships
Usmanov co-founded Metalloinvest in 1999 with business partner Vasily Anisimov. His primary partner in USM Holdings is Farhad Moshiri, a British-Iranian investor and former majority shareholder of Everton FC. Moshiri and Usmanov previously held a joint stake in Arsenal FC through their Red and White Holdings vehicle, selling to Stan Kroenke in 2018 for GBP550 million. Through their USM relationship, Moshiri's Everton received over GBP400 million in funding from USM-linked companies before Everton suspended all USM and MegaFon sponsorship ties in March 2022.
Ownership
Usmanov holds a 49% stake in USM Holdings, the parent for his major industrial assets. USM controls Metalloinvest, one of the world's largest iron ore and hot-briquetted iron producers, and co-owns MegaFon, Russia's second-largest mobile operator. Usmanov also controls the Kommersant publishing house, acquired in 2006 for approximately USD200 million. His assets are structured through a combination of direct holdings and irrevocable family trusts established before sanctions were imposed.
Family & Heirs
Usmanov was married to Irina Viner, a prominent Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach, from 1992 until their divorce in July 2022. He has no biological children. His stepson, Anton Viner, is a real estate investor and co-owner of Rodina development group. Usmanov is related by marriage to Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a relationship that has facilitated his significant investments and philanthropic projects in Uzbekistan following his relocation there.
Evidence
2007-09-21 - 😈 - Usmanov's lawyers (Schillings) shut down Craig Murray's critical blog and collateral UK political blogs
2007-10-02 - 😇 - Usmanov bought entire Rostropovich art collection for $70M+ and donated it to the Russian state
2008-11-17 - 😇 - Sole sponsor of JMW Turner exhibition sent from Tate Britain to Pushkin Museum, Moscow
2011-12-14 - 😈 - Usmanov fired Kommersant Vlast editor for publishing anti-Putin ballot paper image
2012-11-12 - 😈 - PR firm hired by Usmanov secretly edited Wikipedia to remove his criminal conviction history
2014-12-09 - 😇 - Bought James Watson's Nobel Prize medal for $4.75M and returned it to Watson
2018-01-19 - 😈 - US senators cite Paradise Papers to call for Usmanov sanctions over alleged bribery of Russian officials
2020-02-10 - 😇 - Bought Pierre de Coubertin's original 1892 Olympic Manifesto for $8.8M and donated it to the Olympic Museum
2020-05-07 - 😇 - Donated $15M ($10M to Uzbekistan, $5M to Kazakhstan) for Sardoba dam disaster relief after the dam burst displaced 100,000 people
2020-07-31 - 😇 - Donated $10M to Uzbek doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers fighting the COVID-19 epidemic
2022-03-03 - 😈 - US government designates Usmanov under Russia sanctions for operating in the Russian economy on behalf of the Kremlin
2022-09-21 - 😈 - German police raided Usmanov-linked properties for suspected money laundering and tax evasion
2024-02-07 - 😈 - EU court dismisses Usmanov's appeal to lift sanctions, upholds description as one of "Putin's favourite" oligarchs
2024-11-04 - 😈 - Frankfurt prosecutors drop money laundering probe after Usmanov agrees to pay EUR4M to charities and the state
2025-07-18 - 😈 - Investigative report: Usmanov used FIE presidency to channel Kremlin influence into international sport
2025-12-30 - 😈 - Munich prosecutors drop sanctions evasion probe after Usmanov agrees to pay EUR10M
2026-03-16 - 😇 - Major benefactor of the Center for Islamic Civilization in Tashkent, one of the world's largest cultural-educational complexes
Analysis
Usmanov's record is dominated by documented, serious harms. Three Western governments sanctioned him for material support to Kremlin decision-makers who ordered the invasion of Ukraine, and an EU court upheld those sanctions after full judicial review in February 2024, finding that top Russian officials "benefited from personal use of luxurious residences controlled by Usmanov." Two separate German prosecutors settled financial conduct probes for a combined EUR14M in 2024 and 2025, and a 2025 investigation documented how Usmanov used his FIE presidency to channel Kremlin influence into international sport.
His pattern of suppressing accountability is consistent across nearly two decades: he used Schillings to silence Craig Murray's blog in 2007, fired a Kommersant editor for a mild anti-Putin editorial in 2011, and hired a PR firm to scrub his Wikipedia page of criminal history in 2012. The same pattern continued into the 2020s: press-freedom groups characterized his 2021 defamation claim against HarperCollins over the book "Putin's People" as a SLAPP suit that forced the publisher to delete critical passages, and in January 2026 a Hamburg court banned a German newspaper from repeating allegations about his Kremlin ties, prompting the newspaper to warn the ruling would make reporting on authoritarian-linked figures "extremely difficult." His philanthropic contributions -- including donating the Rostropovich collection, returning Watson's Nobel medal, and funding the Center for Islamic Civilization -- are substantive and verifiable, but sit alongside a documented pattern of enabling authoritarian rule and suppressing free expression.
Questions
How much of Usmanov's cooperation with the Kremlin reflected coercion versus genuine alignment, given the broader pattern of Putin's relationship with oligarchs? To what degree does his cultural philanthropy in Russia and Uzbekistan function as political influence maintenance? Given that German courts found several raids on his properties to be procedurally flawed, what does that reveal about the evidentiary quality of the underlying allegations?
Redemption Arc
Usmanov relocated to Tashkent and stepped back from formal business leadership roles after sanctions, but continues to contest his sanctions designation in court while settling financial conduct probes. The Munich sanctions-evasion settlement in December 2025 suggests continued financial activity in conflict with his 2022 sanctions status. A Frankfurt administrative court ruled in June 2026 that EU sanctions no longer cover the superyacht Dilbar, finding authorities had not proven Usmanov controls the trust that owns it, though the ruling is not yet final and can be appealed. His ongoing philanthropic work, including the 2026 Tashkent Islamic Center, demonstrates continued large-scale giving without any documented shift in political alignments.