Suleiman Kerimov

Suleiman Kerimov
Image	; Suleiman Kerimov
Born	12 March 1966 Dagestan, Russia
Nationality	Russia
Occupation	Businessman; member of the Federation Council
Known for	Former controlling interest in Polyus; sanctioned by the US (2018, 2022), UK and EU (2022)
Children	3
Education	Dagestan State University

Russian businessman and member of the Federation Council for Dagestan; built the family fortune on the gold miner Polyus

Suleiman Abusaidovich Kerimov (born 12 March 1966) is a Russian businessman and politician. He has represented the parliament of Dagestan in Russia's Federation Council since 2008 and was reappointed in October 2026.^[1]^[2] His family's fortune rests largely on the gold miner Polyus. In 2022 his son Said gave up the family's controlling stake after being sanctioned.^[1]^[3]^[4] The United States sanctioned Kerimov in 2018 and again in 2022, and the United Kingdom and European Union in March 2022.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[1] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Suleiman Kerimov and family 93rd in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$25.66 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Gold.^[1]^[8] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Suleiman Kerimov and family 99th, at US$25.7 billion.^[9]

Early life and education

Forbes describes Kerimov as a native of Dagestan and gives 12 March 1966 as his date of birth. It lists a master's degree in economics from Dagestan State University.^[1]

Career

According to Forbes, Kerimov, a trained economist, made his career investing in distressed assets in Russia and also profited from shares in Sberbank and Gazprom. Forbes says that after cashing out in 2007 he invested in Western banks, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, shortly before the 2008 financial crisis, and lost billions to margin calls.^[1]

Forbes says he recovered by buying 37% of Polyus, Russia's largest gold producer, from Vladimir Potanin for US$1.3 billion. It says that in 2015, to comply with a law barring Russian politicians from holding financial assets abroad, he transferred Polyus shares to his son Said.^[1]

Polyus stake transfers (2022)

Polyus announced on 6 April 2022 that Wandle Holdings, a company beneficially owned by Said Kerimov, had sold 29.99% of Polyus to Akropol Group, beneficially owned by Akhmet Palankoyev, a controlling shareholder of the anthracite producer Donugol. The sale was completed on 4 April 2022 after approval by Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service. It reduced Said Kerimov's interest from 76.34% to 46.35%, and he resigned from the Polyus board the same day.^[3]

On 13 May 2022 Polyus said that Said Kerimov had donated 100% of Wandle Holdings to a foundation established in 2012, which Polyus named as the "Fund for support of Islamic foundations". Polyus said the foundation now indirectly owned 46.35% of the company, that Palankoyev owned 29.99%, and that Said Kerimov no longer held any economic interest or ownership rights in Polyus.^[4]

French money-laundering case

In its 2018 designation the US Treasury said Kerimov had been detained in France on 20 November 2017 and held for two days. It alleged that he had brought hundreds of millions of euros into France, sometimes carrying up to €20 million at a time in suitcases, and laundered the funds by buying villas. The Treasury added that he had been accused of failing to pay €400 million in taxes related to the villas.^[5]

France 24 reported that he had been ordered in December 2017 to post bail of €40 million and to hand over his passport. The case concerned the alleged purchase of five villas on the Cap d'Antibes peninsula using undeclared cash routed through a shell company. Kerimov denied wrongdoing, and Moscow responded to his arrest by summoning France's deputy ambassador. In June 2018 a court in Aix-en-Provence ordered the charges dropped. The charges against the Swiss banker Alexander Studhalter, who had been accused of helping him buy properties illicitly, were dropped too.^[10]^[11] RFI, reporting the decision, put his wealth at more than €6 billion.^[11] Forbes says he spent seven months under house arrest in Nice in 2018.^[1]

Sanctions

The US Treasury first designated Kerimov on 6 April 2018, under Executive Order 13661, as an official of the Russian government, citing his membership of the Federation Council.^[5] OFAC designated him again on 30 September 2022 under Executive Order 14024. The Treasury said in November 2022 that he had also been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK.^[6]

In the same release, issued on 14 November 2022, the Treasury said it had served a notice of blocked property in June 2022 on Heritage Trust, a Delaware-based entity in which Kerimov had an interest, holding assets of more than US$1 billion. It said its investigation found that he had used relatives, advisers and opaque legal entities to hide that interest, and noted that Fijian authorities had seized the yacht Amadea in May 2022. On 14 November 2022 OFAC designated his wife Firuza Kerimova, his son Said, his adult daughters Gulnara and Amina, his nephew Nariman Gadzhiev (described as a primary financial facilitator) and four France-based property companies belonging to Gulnara.^[6]

The UK designated Kerimov on 15 March 2022 under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The UK's statement of reasons says he was a member of the Federation Council who voted for or supported the ratification of the treaties with the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. The measures are an asset freeze and travel ban, with trust-services sanctions added on 21 March 2023 and director disqualification on 9 April 2025.^[7] Forbes says the EU sanctioned him in March 2022 as well.^[1]

Wealth

Forbes lists the fortune as "Suleiman Kerimov & family".^[1]^[8]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 21 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2006. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[9]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2006	72	7.1
2007	35	14.4
2008	36	17.5
2009	196	3.1
2010	136	5.5
2011	118	7.8
2012	146	6.5
2013	162	7.1
2014	196	6.9
2015	512	3.4
2016	1121	1.6
2017	226	6.3
2018	265	6.4
2019	257	6.3
2020	135	10.0
2021	124	15.8
2022	654	4.4
2023	167	10.5
2024	200	10.7
2025	130	16.4
2026	99	25.7

Personal life

Forbes says that in 2006 Kerimov was badly burned when his sports car left the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and caught fire.^[1] The US Treasury names his wife as Firuza Kerimova and his adult children as Said, Gulnara and Amina.^[6]

Political activity

Kerimov has represented Dagestan's legislature, the People's Assembly, in the Federation Council since 2008. Interfax reported that the assembly voted unanimously on 1 October 2026 to reappoint him. Interfax says he has served on the council's committees on financial markets and money circulation, on budget and financial markets, and on rules and parliamentary procedure.^[2]

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."