Russian prosecutors say third case against anti-Putin former oil magnate Khodorkovsky accuses him of selling embezzled stocks

Following reports that the Russian government is pursuing a third major criminal case against leaders of the oil company YUKOS, the Prosecutor General’s Office has announced the accusations being pursued in the case. The prosecutors said they suspect former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his associates of taking advantage of Russia’s privatization process following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 1995 and 2003, prosecutors allege, Khodorkovsky and others embezzled YUKOS stocks as the company was privatized and subsequently sold those stocks legally for a total of $6 billion.

Prosecutorial spokesperson Alexander Kurennoy argued that the Prosecutor General’s Office had made repeated requests for the suspects in the case to demonstrate the legality of the stocks in question but received no response. Khodorkovsky, meanwhile, claimed that neither he nor his attorneys had received any official notifications about the case.

Khodorkovsky, formerly one of the wealthiest people in the world, positioned himself in political opposition to Vladimir Putin in the early 2000s and was convicted twice in 2005 and 2010 for tax violations, fraud, and embezzlement. He denied the charges against him. After Putin pardoned Khodorkovsky in 2013, the billionaire-turned-millionaire left Russia.