There’s No Escape for Russian Billionaires

The detention of Dmitry Rybolovlev for questioning in Monaco on Tuesday is only the latest of the Russian billionaire’s troubles —and a signal to other wealthy Russians who might dream of getting rid of all their assets in the home country, as Rybolovlev did: In the current political climate, the West won’t be as welcoming of their money, and their ways, as it once was.

Rybolovlev is known to Americans as the man who paid Donald Trump $95 million for a Palm Beach, Florida, mansion in 2008, about twice as much as the developer had bought it for in 2004. Trump’s opponents deem the deal suspicious and allege it was part of a putative Russian bailout for Trump. Rybolovlev, however, is known as a big spender; his long-running feud with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, whom the tycoon accuses of overcharging him for a series of art masterpieces, is evidence of that. (One of the works, incidentally, is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” currently the most expensive painting in the world despite its contested provenance: It fetched $450 million at auction; Rybolovlev had bought it for $127.5 million from Bouvier, who had secured it for $80 million.) Bouvier denies Ryblolovlev’s accusations.