Being a well-known Russian investor and businessman, Grigory Guselnikov is a regular participant in the TV show “What? Where? When?”, Owns an investment fund in London, chairs the board of directors of the financial institution Vyatka-Bank. For two years in a row, he was included in the list of the most successful young people in Russia.
Grigory Guselnikov. Biography
Born in Novosibirsk on February 25, 1976. Grigory's parents were then simple Soviet engineers. His school years were spent in Barnaul. In 1998 he became a certified specialist in economics, having graduated from the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Internships took place in the UK and the USA. He started working in the banking sector in 1996. A year later, he received the position of deputy head of the department of UE Inkombank. Since 1999, he worked as the head of the corporate development department at Guta-bank. In 2000, he worked as head of the labor and motivation department at Rosbank.
In early 2001, Grigory Guselnikov movedto Binbank, where he became a member of the board and managed the retail business department. A year later he became senior vice president, later - first vice president. In 2008, he received the post of president of Binbank, and two years later he left. Since 2010 he has been a co-owner of the English company Alcantara.
Today Guselnikov is a shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of JSCB Vyatka-bank, founder of the new financial project Single, the London-based investment fund G2Capital, holder of 83.63% of the shares of Norvik Banka (a Latvian bank). The public credits the banker with ownership of the One Hyde Park real estate complex in a prestigious London area.
Community activities
Grigory Guselnikov is a participant in the TV show “What? Where? When?" for 13 years, but has never been a connoisseur. In 2010, he became the "Keeper of Traditions" of the Club. In the same year, he became an independent referee of the Brain Ring TV game.
Among journalists, the banker became famous for his manner of communication on the verge of hysteria. Each negative publication in the press causes a number of threats from the lawyers of Vyatka-Bank. In 2015, the financial institution filed a lawsuit against the publication Local Time for material on the bankruptcy of Ecoprombank. Moral compensation was also demanded.
Grigory Guselnikov. Family
Recently, the banker travels a lot, travels from Russia to England. He believes more in foreign countries, appreciates the worthy upbringing and education that this country can give. He believes that in Russia there are many negativeuncontrollable factors. Nevertheless, Grigory Guselnikov, whose wife and children live in England, considers living in a foreign country a bleak and wrong circumstance. He is pleased that from the age of seven his son has been brought up in the democratic, but at the same time harsh, Spartan conditions of a boarding school. He knows how to value money, is independent and does not grow up as a barchuk. The school has chic equipment, a swimming pool, football fields, musical instruments, but the rooms are ascetic. Both English princes studied at this boarding school.
Grigory Guselnikov and his wife Yulia consider England a country worthy of respect. The election was won by the Conservatives with the slogan: "The way to cope with the ongoing economic crisis is to spend little, save and work hard." A political leader with such slogans in Russia will never win or move up the career ladder. According to the banker, the life of his son in his homeland would have been predetermined: to enroll in a university through pull, to get a job through pull. In England, he cannot influence the fate of his son in any way, everything depends on him.
Private life
According to some reports, the banker stole the girl from Alexander Lebedev. Grigory Guselnikov and Elena Perminova first met in the New Russian Oppositionists London company, whose members were: banker Lebedev, Evgeny Chichvarkin, Guselnikov's friend Nikita Belykh and others. Through the fault of the opposition party, Lebedev lost not only his mistress, but also the place of the senator of the Kirov region. Belykh promised him this chair for a round sum, Guselnikov intervened and convinced him,having promoted their candidate, and the disgraced banker was explained that the reason for everything was "Putin's bloody regime." Grigory Guselnikov, whose personal life was not picky, according to the media, and in the past was not distinguished by cleanliness.
Friends of the couple confirmed that Perminova and Guselnikov were insanely passionate about each other, but never showed their union openly. After meeting the banker, Elena, whose long relationship with Lebedev never became official, decided to start legal proceedings and receive a decent amount of money from the entrepreneur to support two common children. At the same time, it was not clear for a long time whether Guselnikov intended to leave his family, wife and two children living in England.
Compromising data
According to the Latvian Internet agency Pietiek.com, Grigory Guselnikov is being held in Russia on four criminal cases in the FSB related to economic crimes. The banker is suspected of laundering large sums of money, their withdrawal to offshore. Latvians suspect Guselnikov of illegal withdrawal of funds from Norvik Banka, which provided services to Russian businessmen and politicians. In 2013, the Latvian supervisory authorities imposed restrictions on the activities of the bank.
Grigory Guselnikov, whose biography contains many dark spots, has invested 70 million euros in the development of Norvik Banka. Despite this, there was a high turnover of staff in the institution. The vacant positions wereare occupied by employees from the staff of the financial institution Vyatka-Bank. According to the applicants, the banker withdrew huge amounts through a subsidiary joint-stock company, acquiring shares in four companies. All four firms were registered a week before the publication of information that Guselnikov became a shareholder of Norvik Banka. The deal amounted to almost two and a half billion euros, which is exactly the amount he invested in a Latvian bank.
Two Banks
In 2014, Norvik Banka bought out 97% of the shares of Vyatka-Bank. Both institutions belonged to Guselnikov. This allowed the banker to carry out transactions with the highest risks through the Russian bank without consequences. All responsibility fell on the shoulders of Norvik Banka. According to Pietiek agency experts, Gregory laundered money in Latvia and transferred it to offshore banks through a bank. According to the agency, among financiers, Guselnikov and his banks are called big vacuum cleaners for the constant infusion of new investments that support the turnover of funds.
Window to Europe
Kirov "Vyatka-Bank" is a project on the basis of which Guselnikov created the banking group "Norvik". This happened in 2014 after the banker became the main shareholder of Norvik Bank Latvia. The deal caused an explosion of enthusiasm in Kirov: during the crisis, business from Vyatka gets a "window to Europe." The decision taken by the board of directors in March 2015 casts doubt on all perspective horizons boldly drawn by Kirov journalists under the influence of the bank's press service.
The minutes of the meeting spoke aboutan increase in Vyatka-Bank's management company through the placement of book-entry shares (more than three billion pieces) with a total value of about one and a half million by closed subscription among an unknown circle of persons. It is not clear exactly what kind of people we are talking about. Apparently, this is the wife of Grigory Guselnikov. In addition, the placement of shares was carried out among the relatives of the Guselnikovs, Bulkhovs and other persons.
Financial laundress
Vyatka-Bank's schemes were uncovered by Permian journalists and Latvian detectives. This financial institution with a tarnished reputation got into an even bigger scandal. OJSC Vyatka-Bank is controlled by the Guselnikov family. Any comments in the press threaten journalists with litigation with lawyers, but this threatening position did not allow avoiding public exposure of financial transactions of a dubious nature. This was reported by journalists from the Perm Territory and the Latvian Investigation Agency.
The problems of the Guselnikov family caused an international outcry: the Latvian Prosecutor General's Office and the American embassy already know about dubious transactions. Not so long ago, Vyatka-Bank began to be controlled from Riga. Moreover, there are facts that pompous proposals for "foreign investment" are a front for ingenious moves to launder money. Vyatka-Bank is silent - there are no comments on the official website. But explanations are required by individuals, clients who have become victims of fraud. They have been unable to return their deposits for a long time.
Scams in the B altics
About whatGrigory Guselnikov came under suspicion of illegal money laundering and draining funds offshore, the Perm-based newspaper Local Time reported, citing the Pietiek (Latvia) investigative agency.
According to journalists, the agency sent to the publication an official statement addressed to the Attorney General of the B altic state, Eric Kalnmeyer. Copies of the document were sent to all heads of anti-corruption bureaus, the security police, the economic police and the state police, the specialized prosecutor's office for combating organized crime and the anti-money laundering service.
The senders of the statement note that all the information they received was sent to the Prime Minister of Latvia and the US Ambassador in order to stop such actions in the future and not let the incident simply be forgotten.
According to the information contained in this statement, Grigory Guselnikov, whose photo is easy to find, most likely participated in the drain of funds from the Latvian bank Norvik Banka (owner of Vyatka Bank). In the autumn of 2014, the Latvian media reported that the main shareholder and chairman of Norvik Banka, Russian citizen Mr. Guselnikov, would invest in the bank an amount close to 70 million euros, increasing the equity capital of the financial institution to 123 million euros. In addition, information was published about the ambitious plans of the Russian banker related to the development of Norvik Banka. He promised to make the institution one of the most versatile and advanced intechnologically in the North of Europe.
Unique situation
In parallel with the events described above, the bank's expenses for the maintenance of the administrative apparatus jumped sharply. First, the salary of the main shareholder has become fabulously high. In fact, the senders of the application believe that Guselnikov is paying off the problems of his own Vyatka-Bank at the expense of Norvik Banka. In the fall of 2014, it became known that Norvik Banka bought a 98% stake in Vyatka-Bank. The transaction took place, but the form of payment was not money, but shares of the Kirov bank. Now Norvik Banka is actually responsible for all activities of Vyatka-Bank. A unique situation has been created when the latter has the right to take risks and make any deals, since the B altic bank, which is its owner, will still pay.
Conclusion
Specialists who sent an appeal to the law enforcement agencies of Latvia believe that Guselnikov's banking activities are open money laundering. The document states that the previous owners of the shares, although they committed acts contrary to the norms, violated the rules in order to achieve their own goals, but none of them engaged in such an open and unceremonious withdrawal of funds on a gigantic scale.
