He transferred the family’s assets to San Marino shortly before the EU imposed sanctions against his mother.

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Sergei Matviyenko, son of Russia’s third-highest-ranking official, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, permanently resides in a villa in the Italian city of Pesaro on the Adriatic coast. This is reported by an investigation by Linkiesta.

The Matviyenko family’s villa was first revealed by investigators from Alexei Navalny’s team in 2022. The three-story mansion, with an area of 774 square meters, sits on a 26-hectare plot — the Matviyenko family also owns a private 650-meter stretch of shoreline. The villa is valued at 10 million euros.

According to Linkiesta, Matviyenko purchased the villa back in 2009 (when she was governor of St. Petersburg). The property was later re-registered to the Italian Dominanta Foundation, which in practice conducts no actual business. Journalists report that the family’s acquisition of the villa and entry into local business circles were facilitated by attorney Marco Ginesi, who serves as the honorary consul of the Russian Federation in Ancona, on the Adriatic coast.

Currently, Sergei Matviyenko lives at the villa together with his wife, Yulia, the founder of the luxury clothing brand JM. He has an Italian tax number for business activities in the IT sector, but in reality, Matviyenko runs no business there. The tax number is needed only to maintain residency status and access to banks, Linkiesta writes.

Shortly before the EU imposed sanctions on Valentina Matviyenko over the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine (her signature appears on the formal authorization for Putin to send in troops), Sergei transferred “a significant portion of the family assets” to San Marino, according to investigators who cite documents. Journalists believe that the lack of updates to San Marino’s legislation and the opacity of its banking system help the Matviyenko family keep their assets outside Russia.

  • The Federation Council speaker’s son is 52 years old and was born in Leningrad. In 1994, as found by an investigation by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg, Matviyenko Jr., along with accomplices, allegedly beat a man, extorted money from him, and robbed his apartment. At the time, Valentina Matviyenko was serving as Russia’s ambassador to Malta, and she was forced to return to St. Petersburg — her son was not held accountable.

  • Even then, Valentina Matviyenko’s son was working as a manager in financial organizations. After his mother was appointed as the governor of St. Petersburg in 2003, Sergei’s career took off — he began working at VTB, a Russian majority state-owned bank. In 2005, Sergei became a senior vice president of the bank, and in 2006, general director of VTB’s development division.

  • By 2009, Sergei Matviyenko had become a billionaire. During his mother’s tenure as governor, Sergei managed to build a real estate business empire and implement large-scale projects in the city: an entertainment complex in the 300th Anniversary Park, a contemporary art center opposite the cruiser Aurora, the reconstruction of buildings on Vasilyevsky Island, and others.