Leaked documents reveal Capital Group’s connection with the family of Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad

In Russian real estate circles it has been a well-known fact that from around 2007-2008 Capital Group has started to cultivate Russian and foreign government officials, developing the lucrative business of ‘wash sales’. In a ‘wash sale’ real estate is bought, sold, or rented out for the purpose of legalizing profits. For example, a corrupt official would buy residential or commercial property using physical cash (thereby evading the necessity of depositing the money in a bank and triggering anti-money laundering checks) and register it in the name of a nominal owner, such as a relative. Or the government official may rent a property at below-market rated and sub-lease it, pocketing the difference in the form of ‘legal’ income. There are literally dozens of such ‘wash sale’ schemes and Capital Group’s dealings with federal and Moscow government officials have been the subject of numerous investigations by Russian journalists and anti-corruption activists as early as 2008, when Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, publicized the ties between Capital Group shareholders and Sergey Tsoy, Moscow mayor’s press secretary. In November 2019 Financial Times published a fascinating journalistic investigation about the investments, which the family of Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad was making in Russian real estate in an effort to evade international sanctions. According to the article from 2013 Capital Group was one of the conduits through which Assad-controlled entities illegally funneled substantial amounts of money into luxury apartments in Moscow city.

Recently leaked documents, which support the conclusions of the Financial Times investigation, demonstrate how Doronin, Tio, and Berman have helped the Assads launder their money. Since March 2013 the Assad family has acquired 45 real estate assets (luxury apartments and parking lots) from Capital Group for a total of 3,399 sq.m. with a market value in the tens of millions of dollars. Some real estate was bought personally by Assad family members, such as Hafez Makhlouf (a retired Syrian colonel and former intelligence officer who was head of the Damascus branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, brother of Rami Makhlouf – a Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of president Bashar al-Assad), Iyad Makhlouf (a major in the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, brother of Rami Makhlouf), Ihab Makhlouf (former vice chairman of Syriatel, the Syrian mobile phone company owned by his brother Rami Makhlouf), Kinda Makhlouf (sister of Rami Makhlouf) and Nidaa Othman (sister of Rami Makhlouf’s wife – Razan Othman), others – through Russian limited liability companies, owned and controlled by the Assad family, such as Artemis LLC, Bellona LLC, and Khestia LLC. Information about these investments is presented in this table.

Some of the acquired properties were then leased out by the Assads, who received rental incomes from tenants among whom were such high-profile individuals as Maximillian Phillip (a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg).

With a high degree of probability, the Assad family had invested in more Capital Group projects. For example, in Moscow Hafez Makhlouf was permanently registered at the address Klimashkina street 17, apartment 1, which is an apartment in the residential complex ‘Panorama’, which was also developed by Capital Group (Vladislav Doronin also lived next door – at the address Klimashkina street 19, apartment 62).

The money received from the Assad family and other tainted sources was later reinvested by Capital Group principals Doronin, Tio, and Berman in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States, where regulators turned a blind eye to the sources of their capital. There will be more publications on demonstrating the nexus between the three partners and corruption and crime on a global scale on our website in the nearest future.