Raids on German homes of Putin oligarch with former ties to Arsenal and Everton

Poilce in Germany have carried out raids on properties linked to Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a former shareholder at Arsenal Football Club, who also had links to Everton.

The Munich state prosecutor said comprehensive raids had taken place at the residence of a Russian citizen and four other suspects. Media reports claimed other properties belonging to Usmanov across Germany had been raided.

Authorities searched 24 properties across four states, including Bavaria, with 250 officers involved in the operation, the prosecutor said.

German broadcasters BR and MDR reported that one of the locations targeted was Usmanov‘s villa on Tegernsee lake in the southern state.

The prosecutor said the Russian national involved is suspected of having tasked a security company with observing properties in Upper Bavaria financially linked to him even after he was added to the European Union sanctions list.

His payment of that security firm is thought to have flouted a ban on the use of frozen funds, the statement said.

Usmanov, once described as one of Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”, was placed on a European Union sanctions list after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

He was a shareholder at Arsenal from 2007 until 2018, when he sold his 30 per cent stake in the club. Usmanov also has links to another Premier League side, Everton.

His holding company, USM, entered a five-year deal with the Merseyside team in 2017 for the naming rights of the club’s training ground.

That deal was subsequently suspended after Russia’s invasion.

He has a net worth of $14.6 billion (£12.7 bn), according to Forbes.