Lubov Chernukhin
Lubov Chernukhin (née Golubeva; born November 1972) is a former investment banker born in the USSR. She is the largest female political donor in British history having donated over £2 million to the Conservative Party.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
Chernukhin left the USSR for the USA as a teenager. She was educated on the U.S. East Coast, receiving a master’s degree from the NYU Stern School of Business.[1] Chernukhin moved to the UK in 1999.[5] Her career as an investment banker has included roles at several major international banks, including America's JP Morgan and Holland's ABN Amro.[6] Aside from her philanthropic work, Chernukhin acts as a VC Investor and is listed as a director of UK property firm Capital Construction And Development Ltd.[7][8]
In 2007, she married Vladimir Chernukhin, former deputy minister of finance in Mikhail Kasyanov’s government and former chairman of Russian state development corporation Vnesheconombank. In 2004, Vladimir was forced to flee to the UK from Russia after President Putin dismissed Prime Minister Kasyanov and began campaign of harassment against his associates.[9] During 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, in reaction to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chernukhin publicly condemned "all Russian military aggression in Ukraine" and urged for the "strongest possible sanctions against Putin's regime and its enablers".[10][11][12]
British Conservative Party
Chernukhin is a member of the Conservative Party's Advisory Board for significant donors.[13] In a February 2022 investigation The Times alleged that Chernukhin had repeatedly lobbied government ministers "against raising the tax burden on high net-worth individuals" and sent ministers research from Ernst and Young "on the importance of the ultra-rich for the overall economy" while a member of the Advisory Board.[13]
The majority of Chernukhin's donations to the Conservative Party came after her husband was given $8 million by Russian billionaire and Vladimir Putin ally Suleyman Kerimov through an offshore company in 2016.[14][15] Kerimov's involvement with the Chernukhin was revealed in the FinCEN files leak.[14]
References
- "Lubov Chernukhin: Tories' tennis-bidding, record-setting donor". The Guardian. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- Moskowitz, Eli. "Wife of Putin Ally Has Now Donated $2.47 Million to U.K. Tory Party". www.occrp.org. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- Davies, Harry; Harding, Luke (4 October 2021). "Revealed: top female Tory donor's vast offshore empire with husband". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- "FinCEN Files: Tory donor Lubov Chernukhin linked to $8m Putin ally funding". BBC News. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- "Wrong to tar all Russian-linked Tory donors with the same brush, Government says". The Independent. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- "Ruth Davidson hasn't had £20,000 dinner with Russian who won auction". The National. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- "Did donations to the Conservatives buy a Kremlin Brexit?". West Country Voices. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- Browning, Jonathan. "Billionaire Taunts Exiled Ex-Banker in Moscow Property Spat". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- "Ukraine crisis: Give Russia-linked donations to charities, Labour MP says". BBC News. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- Reporter, George Grylls, Political. "Lebedev and super-rich Tory donor condemn Ukraine hostilities". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- Boycott-Owen, Mason (2 March 2022). "Boris Johnson accuses Russia of committing war crimes". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- Gabriel Pogrund and Henry Zeffman (20 February 2022). "The Tory donors with access to Boris Johnson's top team". The Times. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) - "UK must radically reform to cease being haven for kleptocrats, report says - ICIJ". 10 December 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
- "FinCEN Files: Tory donor Lubov Chernukhin linked to $8m Putin ally funding". BBC News. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2022.