French prosecutors are set to unveil money laundering charges against Dimitry Klyuev, an alleged mastermind of the Magnitsky Affair, the Russian tax fraud that triggered a global anticorruption movement, according to court documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Klyuev, who is believed to live in Russia, will be tried in absentia in a Paris criminal court in a daylong procedure set for March 30, the same day the charges are unsealed.
ICIJ has obtained both the charging document, filed secretly last summer, and the notice of hearing for the trial.
The documents show that prosecutors last summer secretly charged Klyuev, 58, with “aggravated money laundering” in connection to his role in the Magnitisky case, a $230-million fraudulent tax refund scheme dating to 2007.
The affair is named after Sergey Magnitsky, a Russian tax advisor working for the American investment firm Hermitage Capital who exposed the fraud and died almost two years later after being beaten in a Moscow prison. Hermitage’s principal, Bill Browder, made the case a global cause celebre and pushed for what became the Sergei L. Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, the landmark 2012 legislation passed by U.S. legislators targeting Russian corruption globally. Klyuev was the alleged mastermind of the scheme, to falsely claim a tax refund using Hermitage subsidiaries and funnel the proceeds through offshore entities, according to U.S. sanctions against Klyuev and others announced in 2014.
The French case stems from Klyuev’s spending of the alleged proceeds of the fraudulent tax refund in France. Prosecutors allege that between 2007 and 2012, Klyuev spent more than $2.4 million, (2.1 million euros) on French soil on luxury goods, including clothing, jewelry and artwork. Investigators say the funds originated from accounts he controlled that received proceeds from the scheme.
The French trial marks the first time Klyuev has faced judicial proceedings in a Western country, Browder said in an interview with ICIJ.
“This trial sends a powerful message to Russian money launderers everywhere, that no matter how long it takes, or how far they try to hide, justice will catch up with them,” Browder said. “As Russia continues its brutal invasion of Ukraine, this message is especially important, and makes clear that Russian corrupt money is no longer welcome in the West”.
If convicted, Klyuev faces a prison term of up to ten years.
French authorities issued a European arrest warrant for him in March 2025. Klyuev was charged in August last year but the charges were kept under seal by French authorities on the chance the Klyuev would travel to the country.
According to the filings, Klyuev was involved “in the placement, concealment, or conversion of proceeds directly or indirectly derived from organized fraud committed” against the Russian State and Treasury..
Some proceeds of the scheme were allegedly routed through accounts linked to Klyuev’s Universal Savings Bank before moving offshore, including to entities registered in the British Virgin Islands with accounts at the Cyprus-branch of FBME Bank.
The case builds on earlier French enforcement actions linked to the same network. In January 2024, a now 67-year-old woman associated with Klyuev was convicted of money laundering after entering a guilty plea, receiving a two-year suspended sentence and a 1 million euro (about $1.1 million) asset confiscation. Later that year, Danske Bank agreed to pay 6.3 million euros (about $7 million) to settle related money laundering charges brought by French prosecutors.
The proceedings, scheduled to start March 30 in the Criminal Court in Paris, come amid broader efforts by Western governments to contain Russia’s influence in the West.
Klyuev could not be reached for comment.