As per the United States Justice Department, Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov was ordered to pay roughly $509 million to resolve tax evasion allegations brought by the United States.
When the banking and investing magnate pleaded guilty on October 1 to felony charges of hiding more than $1 billion in assets in order to avoid paying taxes on them after relinquishing his U.S. citizenship in 2013, he paid the back taxes and penalties imposed by the IRS.
He is the creator of Tinkoff Credit Services, which evolved into the successful online Tinkoff Bank, and the owner of the Tinkoff Cycling Team, which competes in professional cycling competitions.
According to the Justice Department, Tinkov, who was born in Russia, became a citizen of the United States in 1996.
In 2013, he went public with Tinkoff Credit on the London Stock Exchange, putting his stake in the company at more than $1.1 billion at the time.
Three days after the IPO, he went to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and attempted to renounce his citizenship in the United States.
Tinkov filed paperwork claiming he only had $300,000 in assets as part of the citizenship renunciation procedure, despite the fact that he was supposed to reveal his entire fortune and pay taxes on it as part of the process.
In a 2019 indictment, the United States Treasury said that he owed around $249 million in taxes on his gains.
The settlement, which was announced Friday, stipulated that he would be required to pay more than twice that amount to cover accumulated interest and penalties.
The Department of Justice had requested his extradition from the United Kingdom last year so that he might face the allegations.
That was challenged by Tinkov, who revealed that he was receiving treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia at the time, which had rendered him immunocompromised and unable to travel.
