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Photo: Klaus Wiendl / Münchner Merkur
A villa on the shores of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria, long used as a holiday retreat by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, has been put up for sale in Germany due to outstanding debts. The property is listed at €25 million, making it the most expensive unit of real estate currently on the German market, Bavarian daily Münchner Merkur reported on Jan. 3, citing data from the Immowelt portal. Meanwhile, Munich prosecutors continue investigating Usmanov for alleged tax evasion.
The sale is being handled by insolvency administrator Ulrich Cramer, who was appointed by the court to settle creditor claims against Tegernsee Limited — an offshore company registered on the Isle of Man — which purchased the villa in 2011. The company also employed 12 staff for maintenance and renovations. Cramer said the insolvency occurred “because the debtor's assets consist essentially of real estate assets, which are naturally not suitable for settling outstanding liabilities.”
The villa features 735 square meters of living space, four bedrooms and bathrooms across the top two floors, a 750-square-meter spa area, and a 20-meter swimming pool. Usmanov claims he had rented the property for €77,000 per week, but after his departure on Feb. 28, 2022 — four days after Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — the villa remained vacant for two years.
Earlier, the administrator successfully sold a boathouse owned by the same company for €1 million and has since entered preliminary talks regarding the sale of a duplex house across from the villa, previously used by Usmanov’s security personnel and household staff.
In November 2024, after more than two years, Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov reached a settlement in a money-laundering investigation in Germany, agreeing to pay €4 million ($4.4 million), with €2.5 million allocated to the government and €1.5 million to charities in a resolution that implied no admission of guilt.
Usmanov, who has business interests in the Metalloinvest mining and metallurgy company as well as the Kommersant publishing house, has been under Western sanctions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In its sanctions announcement, the EU described Usmanov as having “particularly close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin” and referred to him as “one of Vladimir Putin’s favorite oligarchs.” Usmanov has denied any association with Putin.