Russian bank seeks guarantor’s properties in $37M judgment

Lender claims Igor Mavlyanov transferred assets to family members to shield them from creditors

Igor Mavlyanov
Igor Mavlyanov

A Russian bank is suing to enforce a Moscow court’s $37 million judgment against Igor Mavlyanov, who a New York judge suggested may be a “young Donald Trump” for allegedly transferring New York and California properties to family members in an attempt to shield the assets from the bank’s reach.

St. Petersburg-based VTB Bank, of which the Russian government is a majority shareholder, filed a motion in New York State Supreme Court on Friday seeking to enforce a Moscow court’s decision from April that ordered Mavlyanov to pay the bank $37 million in damages.

According to a separate lawsuit VTB filed in Manhattan in May, in 2013 the bank made two loans totaling 2 million Russian rubles, or $33.7 million at today’s exchange rate, to Mavlyanov’s jewelry-wholesale business, which he personally guaranteed.

The bank claims the Russian citizen’s business defaulted in June 2015, but when the Moscow court ordered him to pay up, Mavlyanov “began a deliberate and systematic transferring” of his properties in New York and California in order to shield them from his creditors.

Those properties include two condominium units at CitySpire in Midtown, a Queens home and properties in Encino and Beverly Hills in Los Angeles County. The bank  also wants a multifamily building at 364 West 119th Street owned by Mavlyanov’s son to be set aside to settle the debts. Mavlyanov’s son, Ilio, is the manager of New York City developer Jasper Venture Group.

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Mavlyanov’s attorneys couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

At an August hearing in New York State Supreme Court, VTB’s attorney was describing Mavlyanov’s alleged scheme to divest himself of his properties when she was interrupted by the judge.

“Maybe he’s a young Donald Trump,” Justice Anil Singh quipped, according to a court transcript.