First Mazepin lost his F1 seat, now the Russian has copped a $114m blow
Published on Apr 14, 2022 at 11:30 AM (UTC+4)
by Thiemo Albers-Daly
Last updated on Apr 28, 2022 at 3:30 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Italian authorities have seized $114 million of property owned by former Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin and his oligarch dad.
The police operation targeted a villa – known as Rocky Ram – in the north of the island of Sardinia.
It is part of a crackdown on wealthy Russians linked to Vladimir Putin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
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Over the last few weeks, Italian police have seized villas and yachts worth about $1 billion from wealthy Russians who were placed on sanctions lists.
Nikita and his father Dmitry (who the EU said is in Putin’s immediate circle) are both on the sanctions list.
The most valuable asset seized so far in Italy is a superyacht owned by billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko. It’s worth about US$578m and was impounded in the northern port of Trieste.
The Russian driver was sacked by American F1 team Haas back in March.
Haas also dropped sponsor Uralkali, Dmitry’s company.
Nikita was replaced by former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen after a last minute deal.
Dmitry Mazepin is deputy chairman of Uralkali, the fertiliser company that had been a major financial backer of Haas.
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Thiemo is a motorsports writer and podcast producer for ‘On the Kerbs’. A film connoisseur, he can easily give a two hour long dissertation on why Skyfall is the best Bond film. Like ever.
