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April 21, 2010
Congressman parries bid by billionaire for basketball team
Financial Times
by Catherine Belton
A bid by Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, to expand into the US sports world via the acquisition of the New Jersey Nets basketball team is running into trouble amid calls for a closer investigation of his Renaissance Capital investment bank's business dealings.
In a letter this week to the National Basketball Association, Bill Pascrell, a congressman for New Jersey, calls for a closer investigation of Renaissance Capital's alleged ties with Dmitry Kluyev, who was convicted in Russia in 2006 of illegally seizing shares in Mikhailovsky, a major metals plant.
According to legal filings made in a New York court, it is suggested that Mr Kluyev is at the heart of a fraudulent tax rebate scheme that cost the Russian state more than $330m (€245m, £214m).
"The New York filing highlights an apparent working relationship between senior executives of Renaissance and the convicted Russian . . . Dmitry Kluyev, who has been described in Russian courts as a 'business partner' of Renaissance who had 'regular dealings' with senior Renaissance executives," Mr Pascrell writes, according to a copy of the letter dated April 19. "I expect the NBA to hold its business partners to a higher standard."
Posted by eric at April 21, 2010 12:04 PM