Russian Oligarch Held Stake in Musk’s SpaceX Through Trust While He Was Sanctioned
Citigroup administered Heritage Trust and decided it didn’t need to block the trust’s assets after Suleyman Kerimov was sanctioned in 2018, according to people with knowledge of the matter
A SpaceX rocket lifts off from NASA in Florida, in June 2024.
Photographer: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images
A Russian senator who is one of the country’s richest men held a stake in Elon Musk-led SpaceX via a trust even after he was sanctioned by the first Trump administration, exposing gaps in the enforcement of rules intended to target elites who enable Kremlin policies, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Billionaire Suleyman Kerimov held the SpaceX stake through Delaware-based Heritage Trust starting in 2017, according to four people, including two former senior US national security officials. They asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive matters. The trust initially held approximately 1% of SpaceX, according to three of the people.