Prigozhin’s Family Began Fighting Over His Fortune Days Before Fatal Crash

The family of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late Wagner Group chief, began fighting over his vast business empire and pocketing his assets before he was killed in a plane crash on August 23, an investigation has found.

Online Russian news channel “Mozhem Obyasnit” (We Can Explain) reported that the redistribution of assets from Prigozhin’s empire—which included dozens of companies and an annual revenue of hundreds of billions of rubles—has begun. But even before his death, Prigozhin’s relatives had started to transfer assets to themselves.

The Kremlin said on August 27 that genetic tests confirmed Prigozhin was one of 10 people killed when an aircraft he owned that had been flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia’s Tver region on August 23. He was laid to rest in a private burial in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

The true extent of Prigozhin’s sprawling empire is unknown, but during a raid on his St. Petersburg home after he led an uprising against the Kremlin’s top brass on June 24, authorities uncovered the seals of 600 different legal entities, suggesting that he was involved in the activities of hundreds of companies. On paper, he has established businesses in at least 15 countries.

Prigozhin is best known for the catering contracts he secured with the Kremlin, which earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.” His business ventures also included his “troll factory” which hires people to spread disinformation, a chocolate museum in St. Petersburg, a property development company, and Megaline, a company that oversees the construction of military camps.

Mozhem Obyasnit identified eight of Prigozhin’s most profitable companies—Lakhta Plaza, Lakhta Park, Megaline, Main Line, Pishchevik, Food Plant, RIA FAN and Nevskie Novosti—and found that structural changes were instigated in some prior to his death.

Days before Prigozhin died, changes were made at development company Lakhta Plaza, which builds business centers, hotels and residential buildings in St. Petersburg, and is controlled by his son, Pavel Prigozhin. On August 18, the company created a spinoff entity for tax purposes.

New general directors were appointed for the company and others owned by Prigozhin’s son on June 26, days after the Wagner chief’s failed mutiny.

It was also discovered that Prigozhin’s mother, Violetta, hid information about herself in state registers. She was the founder of the Colors of Life foundation, which organized art exhibitions.

Prigozhin’s widow, Lyubov, was reportedly removed as owner of two of Prigozhin’s largest companies and replaced by Dmitry Koshara, a long-time partner of “Putin’s chef.”

According to Mozhem Obyasnit, relations between Lyubov and her husband had deteriorated and she had been stripped of shares in a number of companies in Prigozhin’s empire. She wasn’t seen at his funeral.

The cause of the plane crash that killed Prigozhin and nine others remains unclear, but Ukraine and Russia have both denied responsibility.

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