Moscow Court to Rule on Browder's Arrest in Absentia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Moscow court will address on 21 December the police's appeal to issue an arrest warrant for financier William Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, a spokesman for the court told Sputnik.

"The request on arrest in absentia as a measure of restraint will be examined on 21 December", the representative said.

According to the case data, Browder is charged with one count of setting up a criminal association under Article 210 of the Russian Criminal Code.

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Earlier in 2013, Russia sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion and for falsely claiming tax breaks for hiring disabled persons.

According to Russian investigators, between 1997 and 2005, Ziff Brothers Investments, a company headed by Ziffs, Browder, and Firestone, has obtained at least 200 million Gazprom shares at St. Petersburg and Moscow Exchanges in violation of the presidential order that prohibited foreigners from owning Gazprom shares at the time.

In 2006, all assets (Gazprom shares and dividends) were funnelled out of the affiliated Russian companies. The companies failed to pay taxes and were dismantled, while their assets (at least $1 billion) were transferred to Cypriot companies and then, after a very short period of time, to US companies.