Putin, a shop cleaner and a Monte Carlo mystery

Secret money, swanky real estate and a Monte Carlo mystery: Pandora Papers documents tie a woman allegedly in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin to a luxury Monaco apartment. 

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There’s little about the humble background of Svetlana Krivonogikh to indicate that she had the means to acquire luxury property in Monaco, a playground for the world’s elite. The Russian woman reportedly grew up in a crowded communal apartment in St. Petersburg and held jobs that included cleaning a neighborhood shop. 

But previously undisclosed financial records – combined with local tax documents – show that she became the owner of a luxury apartment in Monaco through an offshore company created just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. That child was born at a time when, according to a Russian media report last year, she was alleged to be in a secret, years-long relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Those involved in arranging the Monte Carlo purchase for Krivonogikh took measures that ensured that her name did not appear on public records. 

The clues connecting Krivonogikh to the Monaco property are contained in a massive new repository of financial materials called the Pandora Papers, which expose a hidden world that has allowed government leaders, a monarch, billionaires and criminals to shield their assets.

And the material in the Pandora Papers on Russian officials and oligarchs, Paul Sonne reports,reinforces the depiction of Russia as a country where elites close to government power make millions of dollars and safeguard that personal wealth using opaque financial structures overseas.