Silicon Valley venture capital firm GVA Capital Ltd. has been hit with a massive $216 million penalty by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The punishment was handed down after the firm was found guilty of managing a $20 million investment on behalf of Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian billionaire and politician who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018.
OFAC described the violations as “egregious,” stating that GVA Capital “willfully violated U.S. sanctions” by continuing to work with Kerimov even after receiving legal advice against doing so. Kerimov, worth an estimated $16.4 billion, is known for his close connections to the Kremlin and for representing Dagestan in Russia’s upper parliament house since 2008.
He was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 over allegations of money laundering and smuggling millions of euros into France, including carrying up to 20 million euros at a time in suitcases. At the time, OFAC’s goal was to freeze his access to the U.S. financial system — something this case suggests was knowingly bypassed.
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The illegal activity traces back to 2016, when Magomed Musaev and Pavel Cherkashin, co-founders of GVA Capital, reportedly traveled to France to meet Kerimov at his estate. There, they secured a $20 million investment from Kerimov for Luminar, a U.S. company that builds LiDAR sensors used in self-driving cars. Luminar is known for working with major auto brands like Volvo, Polestar, and Mercedes-Benz.
After Kerimov was sanctioned in 2018, legal counsel warned GVA Capital that any future dealings related to the shares could not involve Kerimov directly or indirectly. Despite this, OFAC found that the firm went ahead with one prohibited transaction and attempted three more, involving Nariman Gadzhiev, Kerimov’s nephew, who acted as a middleman using a Guernsey-based company called Prosperity Investments, LP.
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Cherkashin, who later stepped down as director, previously told local media that “investing in Silicon Valley is the sacred right of every human being on Earth.” However, OFAC concluded that the firm’s actions effectively gave a sanctioned oligarch access to the U.S. financial system — the very thing the sanctions were designed to prevent.
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The structure behind GVA Capital adds another layer of complexity. The firm is headquartered in Silicon Valley but registered in the Cayman Islands, known for being a tax haven. As of 2021, one of the directors listed in Cayman corporate records is Leonard Grayver, a California-based attorney.
Grayver, who joined as a director in April 2021, told investigators that he had acted as GVA’s legal counsel since joining, which limited what he could share publicly. However, in his statement, he emphasized the importance of U.S. sanctions in blocking foreign adversaries from accessing American finance and technology.
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Cyprus Connections Add to Scrutiny
The other listed director is Odrison Investments Limited, a company registered in Cyprus. According to past records, Odrison was linked to Cypriot lawyers Andreas Th. Sofocleous and Georgios Angeli, who were previously connected to companies under investigation for potential ties to Bulgarian organized crime. Although both lawyers denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Kerimov, their involvement raises further questions about who ultimately controls such offshore entities.
Odrison’s current listed directors include Dimosthenis Georgiou, a Cyprus-based corporate services provider, and Soloserve Limited, another Cypriot company where Georgiou also serves as director. The complicated offshore setup has drawn renewed attention to how shell companies and proxies can be used to bypass sanctions and disguise financial activity.
In its official release, OFAC said GVA Capital “undermined U.S. foreign policy interests” by helping a sanctioned Russian national access the U.S. financial system in the exact way the sanctions were meant to block.
“This enforcement action underscores the importance of gatekeepers in preventing sanctions evasion,” OFAC said, pointing to the need for stronger oversight by firms operating within sensitive sectors like finance and emerging technologies.