Who owns the Chemin des Canebiers estate? This 30-hectare complex, located in Mouans-Sartoux (Alpes-Maritimes), includes a villa with swimming pool, apartments and an equestrian center with two riding schools and two stables, nestled in the heart of agricultural land and vast woods. But no surname on the mailbox.
Since the successive purchases of the land that make up this small kingdom, between 2012 and 2015, questions have been rife about the identity of the owner. Publicly accessible documents only suggest the name of a Monegasque company: SCP Tannor 2. But, according to information from the Worldthe master of this field is none other than Boris Rotenberg, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.
According to our investigation, conducted on the basis of confidential documents and open sources, in collaboration with several international media, including the OCCRP consortium and the site iStories, Mr. Rotenberg has a vast real estate heritage on the Côte d’Azur hitherto unknown. Although the oligarch has been subject to European sanctions since February 2022, a large part of his property has escaped the freezing measures imposed by the French authorities on the other oligarchs. This offers him, in theory, the possibility of circumventing the sanctions by selling his properties.
Investigation into oligarch Boris Rotenberg
“Rotenberg Files” is a collaborative investigation lasting several months led by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) consortium and around fifteen international media, including The worldbased on an internal data leak at Russian asset management firm Evocorp.
The documents, more than 50,000 internal emails exchanged between 2013 and 2020, were obtained by the Russian investigative media iStories and shared with OCCRP partners. They shed light on the way in which Evocorp has assisted its main clients, including Boris and Arkadi Rotenberg, in the conduct of their commercial and real estate affairs throughout the world, and more specifically in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Monaco, Cyprus). The “Rotenberg Files” also reveal how the use of tax havens and straw men has helped to mitigate the consequences of American and European sanctions adopted by Western countries since 2014.
A frozen villa, six properties spared
Such a situation would stain, as the profile of Boris Rotenberg is emblematic. With his older brother, Arkadi, he rubbed shoulders with Vladimir Putin from an early age – they were judo buddies in Leningrad. Their economic success coincides with his arrival in the Kremlin in 2000. At the head of a bank and companies that have benefited from juicy public contracts, the Rotenberg brothers are billionaires. This proximity to power has earned them sanctions from Western countries. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Boris and Arkadi Rotenberg, as well as the latter’s son, Igor, have all been targeted by measures to freeze their assets in Europe.
To date, only one Boris Rotenberg property has been frozen by French authorities, according to official records : a real estate complex made up of several villas on a plot of almost 2.4 hectares with a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean, in Eze (Alpes-Maritimes).
But several other of his properties appear to have escaped the task force put in place by France to detect and freeze the properties of oligarchs under sanctions. According to an organizational chart confidential obtained by the Russian-speaking investigative media iStories in the context of a data leak from the Russian asset management firm Evocorp, Boris Rotenberg owns at least six other properties in the Alpes-Maritimes: the Domaine des Canebiers, in Mouans-Sartoux, another villa located a few jets of stone in the same town, a house in Grasse, an apartment and building land in Eze, as well as commercial premises in Carros.
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