Anti-corruption activists say Russian TV doctor celebrity owns some of New Jersey’s most expensive real estate

The family of Elena Malysheva, a physician and Russian television celebrity, owns real estate worth roughly $11 million in the United States, according to a new investigative report by Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). 

Four years ago, Malysheva reportedly bought a mansion outside Manhattan (in New Jersey) worth $6.4 million. The same home fetched $11.8 million in 2008, just before the U.S. housing market collapsed, but Malysheva’s purchase was still the state’s biggest property deal in all of 2016. Studying images shared on social media, FBK researchers concluded that Malysheva’s son, Yuri, now occupies the mansion.

There is also an apartment in downtown New York registered in the name of Malysheva’s son. On social media, he has shared photographs of this home. Malysheva purchased the apartment in October 2014 for $2 million. Malysheva’s second son reportedly has a similar apartment in the same building on a different floor.

Navalny’s organization claims that Malysheva’s family isn’t possibly wealthy enough to afford this property. The TV celebrity’s husband is a professor at the Moscow Medical and Dental University. While Malysheva owns an eponymous medical center, FBK says the enterprise reported losses of 54.2 million rubles ($719,100) between 2015 and 2018. Malysheva herself has said that her salary on state television comprises the bulk of her income.

On April 29, when asked about Navalny’s corruption allegations, Malysheva told MBK Media: “I haven’t even seen what this is about. I don’t know what this is. Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. There’s a coronavirus outbreak happening right now, maybe you’ve heard? I’ll certainly take a look, but right now I don’t know what this is about.”