According to Monegasque authorities and sources in the French press, an assassination attempt on controversial businessman Vadym Iermolaiev, who has been under Ukrainian sanctions since 2023, occurred in Monte Carlo on the evening of June 29.
The explosive device was reportedly in a backpack left by an unknown assailant at the entrance to a residential building shortly before the explosion. It was filled with nuts and bolts. After the explosion, Iermolaiev and his wife are in serious condition, and his son suffered minor injuries.
As a reminder, Iermolaiev, whose net worth in 2021 was approximately $220 million, controlled the Crimean winemaking concern “Alef-Vinal-Krym” until at least 2023. “Alef-Vinal-Krym” products illegally exported from Crimea to the Russian market were manufactured at four Crimean facilities: wine at the illegal firm “Starokrymskoe”, cognacs at the “Bagerovo” vintage cognac factory, grapes grown by the “Burlyuk” agricultural firm, and cognac spirit produced at the “Alef-Vinal-Krym” workshop in the village of Pochtove.
Altogether, the concern employed up to 500 people. This facility managed two vineyards on the peninsula, while Ermolaev simultaneously produced “Alef-Vinal” spirits in Ukrainian-controlled territory, located in Sinelnikovo.
Until 2019, the controlling stake in this company belonged to the Austrian company “Alef Investment Holding GmbH”, headed by the same Vadym Iermolaiev. This stake was then transferred to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, “Ac-Terra International LTD”, also owned by Iermolaiev.
Moreover, the Crimean “Alef-Vinal-Krym: and its “founder,” together with four Cypriot companies, repeatedly received illegal loans from the sanctioned Russian National Commercial Bank during the occupation, and also illegally serviced “government contracts” for the occupiers totaling almost 140 million rubles.
Also in 2018, Vadym Iermolaiev and his business partner, Stanislav Vilensky, became embroiled in a scandal in Estonia, when the European Central Bank revoked the license of their “Versobank AS” on suspicion of money laundering and terrorist financing.
And in April of this year, this businessman’s son, Artur Iermolaiev, was found guilty in Estonia of organizing a large-scale fraudulent network, specializing in call centers since 2017. However, after the verdict, he was released and deported from that country.
But the most interesting thing about the current situation is that the occupiers announced the “nationalization” of Iermolaiev Sr.’s Crimean assets in 2023, after which he took steps to maintain control of his businesses.
Thus, the current assassination attempt on Iermolaiev clearly marks a new stage in the struggle to redistribute Crimean businesses, involving local collaborators and various groups of Russian intelligence agencies.
