Shalva Chigirinsky

Shalva Chigirinsky is a Russian businessman operating in real estate and oil sectors.

Early life and education

Shalva Chigirinsky was born in 1950 in Kutaisi. He graduated from the Moscow Medical Academy.[1] He is a Georgian Jew.[2]

Career

In 1987, he emigrated to Spain and later to Germany, where in 1989, he became a co-founder of the real estate development company STT Group.[1] In 1990s in became a major shareholder of Sibir Energy, a London-listed Russian oil company. In 2009, the company sued Chigirinsky for at least US$325 million for a failed bid to sell his real estate assets to the company.[3] He faces several other lawsuits in different jurisdictions.[4] His stake in the company was taken over by Sberbank, pledged as loan collateral.[5] There is an investigation concerning alleged tax evasion by Chigirinsky.[3]

Connections with criminal

In 2008, Shalva Chigirinsky was summoned by Moscow police to be questioned about an alleged tax evasion crime.[6] Prior to that, Chigirinsky had fled Russia and come to London. Yet, after his credotors initiated proceedings against him in regard to his unpaid debts in London, he imigrated further to Israel in 2009.[7] One of Georgian criminal bosses, Pitia, arrested in 2008, witnessed that Shalva Chigirinsky was one of the prominent Moscow-based businessmen who helped fund his criminal activities in Moscow.[8]

Accusations of assault and sexual abuse in regard to wife and daughter, inappropriate contact with a minor

In 2019 the US Superior Court judge declined Shalva Chigirinsky request to be reunited with his teenage daughter after she had accused him of sexual assault. After they divorced in 2009, Chigirinsky and his former wife Tatiana Panchenkova had joint custody of their daughter, but in November 2015, the girl claimed she had been sexually abused by her father. The state Department of Children and Families investigated and found the claim to be substantiated.

After an attempt at reunification with the father, the girl had an “emotional, hysterical meltdown”. So Judge Mark Gould granted the mother the sole custody of the girl. The girl “is firmly locked into her position that she wants nothing to do with the defendant,” the judge said.[9]

In 2009, Panchenkova divorced Chigirinsky in Moscow; during the court hearings she claimed that the businessman had repeatedly beaten her, which once caused her to have a miscarriage.[9]

In 2016 the businessman was charged with two felony counts of risk of injury to a minor, he had turned himself in to police after “alleged inappropriate contact between Chigirinsky and a female less than 16 years of age”, Police reported. The exact charges were Risk of Injury to a Minor — Impairing Health, and Risk of Injury to a Minor — Illegal Contact with Subject under 16 Years of Age. Police did not release details, as a minor was involved.[10]

Personal life

Chigirinsky is divorced and has six children.[1] He and the mother of four of his children, Tatiana Panchenkova, divorced in 2009. She testified in a Connecticut court that he beat her for more than ten years.[11]

References
  1. "Shalva Chigirinsky". Forbes. 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
  2. "Is Russian businessman hiding in Israel connected to Moscow mayor's firing?". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  3. Katya Golubkova (2009-07-17). "Moscow eyes bigger Sibir stake amid shareholder probe". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
  4. Dmitry Sergeev (2009-08-24). "Russia's VTB says wins lawsuit against Chigirinsky". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
  5. Dmitry Sergeev (2009-08-24). "Sibir Energy secures $200 mln loan from Sberbank". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
  6. Reuters Staff (2009-07-17). "Moscow eyes bigger Sibir stake amid shareholder probe". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  7. "Lawsuits, family matters: what is known about the Russian oligarch arrested in the USA". ForumDaily. 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  8. "OligarchWatch: "Moscow Becomes the New Front in Russian-Georgian War"". www.businesswire.com. 2008-08-26. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  9. Tepfer, Daniel (2019-07-09). "Russian billionaire fails to win back daughter in Bridgeport court". Connecticut Post. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  10. Marchant, Robert (2016-03-18). "Millionaire businessman with "inappropriate contact" — cops". GreenwichTime. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  11. Tepfer, Daniel (2019-07-09). "Russian billionaire fails to win back daughter in Bridgeport court". Connecticut Post. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
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