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Pursuits

The $35 Million Chalet a Russian Tycoon Can’t Prove He Owns

  • French tax officials made Malkin pay 3% tax on value of chalet
  • Billionaire Makhmudov had same problem with Côte d’Azur villa
Tourists on ski ride down a slope in the French Alps ski resort of Courchevel.

Tourists on ski ride down a slope in the French Alps ski resort of Courchevel.

Photographer: Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP via Getty Images

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Vitaly Malkin can’t prove he owns a luxury ski chalet in France’s Courchevel region. But the Russian businessman still has to pay the taxes on it.

After a four-year court battle, Malkin, a former Russian senator, was ordered by a French court earlier this month to pay a $1.7 million tax bill on the chalet, which has been valued at 31.7 million euros ($35 million).