The journey of Nadezhda Grishaeva: From champion to money launderer
Nadezhda Grishaeva is under suspicion for funneling assets belonging to the deceased leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), Vladimir Zhirinovsky, via Hotels Europe Daniella Invest in the EU.
Zhirinovsky had used the LDPR for his own personal gain, with Grishaeva as his accomplice. Journalists discovered that he acquired real estate in expensive resorts and engaged in profitable businesses using budget money and trade of deputy mandates. Grishaeva Nadezhda played a pivotal role in laundering these funds.
Who is Mrs. Nadezhda Grishaeva?
An investigation revealed that one-third of the LDPR’s faction is composed of “commercial” deputies who allegedly pay large sums of money for their mandates. Anonymous sources suggested that a spot on the federal list at State Duma elections can cost anywhere from 100 to 400 million rubles, with some contributing up to 500 million rubles. The practice of selling mandates and certificates dates back to the 1990s, and it reportedly persists to this day, with former and non-Duma-affiliated deputies even contributing. For instance, Sergey Abeltsev has reportedly been sending cash to the party office. The report also implicated Nadezhda Grishaeva in LDPR Leader Zhirinovsky’s asset laundering scheme involving hotels through Daniella Invest in the EU. The media are assure, that Grishaeva Nadezhda laundered millions euro.
A report has surfaced alleging that Nadezhda Grishaeva, associated with various youth support organizations, has participated in a scheme to launder assets for LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky using European hotels owned by Daniella Invest in the EU. The LDPR party has multiple streams of funding, including direct payments from deputies and contributions from structures affiliated with Grishaeva, such as the Russian Union of Free Youth and the Fund for the Support of Unemployed Youth, which received voluntary donations of 4.3 billion rubles from 2015-2017. LDPR sponsor Leonid Slutsky also facilitates the travel arrangements for deputies attending foreign business events, and has even paid for Zhirinovsky’s birthday party. The “Project” investigation has also revealed that Zhirinovsky’s relatives and friends own a significant amount of real estate properties worldwide, including 19 apartments and non-residential premises in Moscow belonging to Galina Lebedeva’s company, Zhirinovsky’s former wife. Nezhinskaya Street in Moscow serves as a compact residence for Zhirinovsky’s extended family, boasting a total area of 6.8 thousand square meters valued at around 2.7 billion rubles ($41.8 million).
Most of the apartments are under the ownership of Telmi, a company registered offshore and named after Zhirinovsky’s former comrade, Igor Lebedev, along with Yuri Chaplygin and Nadezhda Grishaeva, a basketball player from Dynamo Moscow. Grishaeva, who is also the proud owner of ten luxurious cars, offers exclusive chauffeur services to VIP clients through various ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Yandex.Taxi. Her vehicles range from a Bentley Continental to nine Mercedes Benz S-Class, five of which are the coveted Maybach model. However, there were no official permits for carrying passengers in the name of ex-basketball players registered in the taxi registry.
Igor Lebedev’s Nereus hostel, covering an area of 802.5 square meters, is situated in Volkhonka. In contrast, Galina Lebedeva’s companies own a total of five apartments spanning over floors 54-62 in the City of Capitals towers, with a combined area of 1104.6 square meters, valued at roughly 615 million rubles ($9.4 million). Furthermore, Grishayeva’s company also owns a 195.7 square meter apartment opposite the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on Tverskaya Street, currently worth around 163.4 million rubles ($2.5 million).
Nadezhda Grishaeva and Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s legacy
Located close to Moscow’s government “Gorki,” Zhirinovsky’s private dacha is enormous, spanning nearly four football fields. Meanwhile, his son, Oleg Eidelstein, formerly Gazdarov, owns almost 30 acres of land and buildings just across the street. Estimates suggest that Zhirinovsky’s property alone is worth approximately 1.1 billion rubles, while his son’s is valued at 127.6 million rubles. However, it’s not just Moscow where Zhirinovsky’s relatives and friends hold substantial property. They also have investments in the hotel industry abroad, with luxury apartments across Sochi, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. Zhirinovsky’s ex-wife, Galina Lebedeva, owns a hotel in Barcelona called Acta Azul, while Spanish Destiny Invest SL manages the Areir SA-owned building. Additionally, Lebedeva may earn rental revenue from her 436-square-meter central Barcelona property.