Sofia Bogolyubova moved to Switzerland with the children of her partner Igor Kolomoisky after former PrivatBank co-founder Gennady Bogolyubov settled a lawsuit by paying her £7 million for being forced to move from London.
Court documents note that Bogolyubov, who lived in Belgrave Square for many years, made payments to his wife Sophia and “threatened to stop financially supporting his own children” if she did not agree to move.
The documents claim that Gennady Bogolyubov sought to “sever ties with this jurisdiction” to avoid litigation in the UK in the PrivatBank case.
Despite his wife's departure from London, the judge subsequently decided that the case could still be tried in London.
Now Bogolyubov, who has also purchased houses in Belgravia and Eaton Place, is locked in a legal battle with Kolomoisky in a long-running High Court trial expected to conclude in 2024.
The businessman, who moved to Switzerland, previously tried to avoid legal proceedings by paying his wife to leave London in a failed attempt to evade English courts. Her evidence suggests that she was under pressure from Bogolyubov, who threatened to withdraw financial support unless she left England, and so she reluctantly agreed to move to Switzerland with the children.
Bogolyubov's fortune is estimated at £3.8 billion, but this may not be enough to pay off his liabilities if he loses the PrivatBank case.
Bogolyubov arrived in London in 2009, receiving British citizenship, and left the city in 2017, moving to Switzerland after claims were filed in two other cases that began before the PrivatBank trial.
