Russian oligarch, billionaire and politician Suleiman Kerimov, who is linked to Putin, has owned a stake in SpaceX through the Delaware-based Heritage Trust since 2017.
Russian oligarch, billionaire and politician Suleiman Kerimov, who is linked to Putin, has owned a stake in SpaceX through the Delaware-based Heritage Trust since 2017.
Billionaire Suleiman Kerimov owned about 1% of SpaceX through the Heritage Trust as of 2017, according to four people cited by Bloomberg, including two former senior U.S. national security officials.
A year later, Kerimov, along with others, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for «Russia’s malicious activities around the world.» The restrictions were intended to freeze Kerimov’s assets and prevent him from doing business with U.S. companies. According to a person familiar with the matter, the trust’s administrator, Citigroup Inc., sought guidance from the Treasury Department and decided there was no requirement to block the trust and its related entities, and the organization continued to operate.
The US Treasury Department froze the $1 billion trust only in June 2022 after investigators uncovered a complex system of legal structures and front individuals created to conceal information. The SpaceX holding company had already been sold by then, according to two people familiar with the matter.
That same year, the Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on several members of Kerimov’s family and entourage, including Kerimov’s wife, two daughters, one son, and two nephews, one of whom it described as a «primary financial intermediary.» Another nephew is a beneficiary of the Heritage Trust.
In addition, in 2022, the Treasury stated that the Heritage Trust was created specifically to store and manage Kerimov’s assets in the United States. In 2017, SpaceX’s valuation was over $21 billion. The company’s valuation in December 2024 of $350 billion cemented its status as the most expensive startup in the world.
«Kerimov and his proxies used various layers of US and non-US shell companies to hold formal ownership of assets and conduct transactions in a way that concealed their interest,» the Treasury Department said at the time, without naming the parties involved.
