Man from the 90s: The Golden Mile will be completed by a former partner of Deripaska

As Forbes found out, the owner of the largest long-term construction project on Ostozhenka, the Golden Mile residential complex, was the structure of Sergei Popov, a former partner of Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Cherny. Popov, who is regularly associated with the Podolsky Organized Crime Group, received the project for debts from the former beneficiary of the Peresvet bank

“I am sure that our house will decorate the ‘Golden Mile’ and it will become one of the best representatives of its class among the capital’s elite residential buildings,” the president of NBM Group and honorary builder of Russia Mikhail Babel spoke with aplomb in 2012 about the Golden Mile residential complex project on Moscow’s Ostozhenka Street. The project was never implemented – the 1902 building, on the basis of which it was planned to build Golden Mile, is still hung with a banner, spoiling the view of the most expensive street in the capital. In 2016, Babel was arrested on suspicion of embezzling funds from shareholders in the construction of Terletsky Park and the Western Gates of the capital. Both projects were financed by the notorious Peresvet bank, of which Babel was a beneficiary in 2008-2014, RBC found out. After spending several months in pre-trial detention, Babel was released on bail of 10 million rubles and immediately flew to Israel.

Today, the Golden Mile project has a chance at completion. As Forbes found out, Golden Mile recently changed its owner. It was businessman Sergei Popov, the beneficiary of Idil Development. “Idil Development is Golden Mile’s developer. This information was confirmed by Dmitry Kachanovsky, the company’s general director, to Forbes. According to him, Popov was a co-investor in Golden Mile. When Babel ran into financial problems, Popov offset the project against his debt. In the near future it is planned to sign a settlement agreement with the structure of the bank “Peresvet”, the company “Emics”, after which the construction will resume. “Now there is a preliminary agreement on the completion of the residential complex with the company FSK” Leader “, – added Kachanovsky, noting that no documents have not yet been signed. The press service of FSK confirmed the fact of negotiations with Popov.

The total area of Golden Mile – more than 9900 square meters, 15 apartments were planned. Real estate in Ostozhenka area is the most expensive in Moscow, according to Kalinka Group agency. The cost of one square meter in new buildings here is 1,28 million rubles, and on the secondary – 1,7 million rubles. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kalinka Group Yekaterina Rumyantseva has calculated that the investor will get about 4,5 billion rubles from real estate sale in Golden Mile. “It is difficult to estimate the reconstruction cost, not knowing the condition of the object and the situation with the networks, – says the managing partner of Colliers International Nikolai Kazansky. – But taking into account location, class of the property and investments in finishing, we can assume that the construction will cost at least 150,000-200,000 rubles per square meter or 1.5-1.9 billion rubles for everything”. “Prior to the change of ownership, there were pre-sales in the project, but now all transactions have been canceled and the money has been returned,” Rumyantseva added.

Aluminum and Fashion

Sergey Popov is unknown to participants of the capital market of elite real estate. But his name is well known among the businessmen who made their fortune in the nineties, including billionaire Oleg Deripaska. In 2012, the aluminum tycoon sued Mikhail Cherny in London. The latter tried to prove that he helped Deripaska build his business empire in the nineties and demanded his share. UC Rusal’s founder insisted that he had never been Cherny’s partner and had only paid him for his “protection”. The dispute eventually ended in an amicable settlement, but Sergei Popov was among Cherny’s partners who represented the interests of the criminal, as Deripaska’s lawyers said.

Even before the trial in London, Popov was repeatedly named as one of the leaders of the Podolsk OPG, along with Sergei Lalakin. Formal ties between Lalakin and Popov can still be traced: together they support the Tennis Academy in Podolsk.

Popov himself always denied any ties with organized crime. In 1990, he was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of extortion, which gave grounds to classify him as an organized criminal. In 1998 the racketeering case was sent for reconsideration and the court acquitted Popov completely “for failure to establish the crime.” Popov provided Forbes with a copy of that ruling in 2009, at which time he showed papers listing him as Deripaska’s partner in the aluminum business and claiming to have rights to 10% in all of Basic Element’s assets. “Oleg asked us: when I am alone, it is easier for me to negotiate with everyone,” Popov explained his absence among the shareholders of Bazel in an interview with Forbes. – And behind you… A trail of awful rumors lingers,” said Popov. – It was logical. We said: well, we will ‘hide’ as you say.