| Michael Calvey | |
| Birth Date: | 3 October 1967[1] |
| Birth Place: | Wisconsin |
| Occupation: | Entrepreneur, investor |
| Relations: | Kevin Calvey (brother) |
| Known For: | Co-founder and managing partner of Baring Vostok Capital Partners |
Michael Calvey (born October 3, 1967) is an American businessman and previously one of Russia's most prominent foreign investors.[2] His controversial Russian criminal conviction on embezzlement and the subsequent nullification of the case was widely publicized in Russia and the world.[3] [4]
Calvey co-founded Baring Vostok, an independent private equity firm focused on investments in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.[5]
In February 2019, Calvey and five colleagues were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the theft of 2.5 billion rubles from Vostochny Bank on the order of "hardliner" judge Artur Karpov. In August 2021, after nearly two years under house arrest, Calvey was found guilty of misappropriation and given a 5.5-year suspended sentence by a Moscow court.[6] The conviction was vacated in April 2024.
Calvey was born in 1967 in Wisconsin and grew up in Oklahoma.[7] He has Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Oklahoma and Master of Finance degree from the London School of Economics.
Calvey worked on mergers and acquisitions at Salomon Brothers and later managed the investment projects in Central and Eastern Europe and Soviet Union in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[8]
In an interview after his February 2019 arrest, Calvey revealed that his interest in Eastern Europe emerged after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Calvey noted that the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt took place just a week before he started working in Russia.[9]
Calvey co-founded Baring Vostok in 1994, with the firm becoming known for making early-stage investments in Russian companies largely from the tech and consumer-facing sectors.[5] [10] As of 2019, Baring Vostok launched 6 funds totaling $3.7 billion. By 2021, the firm has reportedly invested almost $3 billion in 80 companies, including some of Russia’s most valuable technology companies such as Tinkoff Bank, Ozon,[11] FGI Wireless (Beeline), CTC Media, Avito.ru, 1C Company, Ivi.ru, and CarPrice.[12] In Russia, Baring Vostok was best knows for its investment in Yandex: the fund returned over $1 billion from the initial purchase of 35% share in 2020 for $5.28 million.[13]
The New York Times described Calvey as a longstanding proponent of investment opportunities in Russia.[14] [15] Anatoly Chubais, a former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and a key figure in Russia’s post-Soviet market reforms, credited Calvey with personally attracting billions of dollars of investment into the country.[16] According to Bloomberg, "Calvey became a legend in the Russian market, in part because of his reputed aversion to any kind of foul play and focus on industries and companies unlikely to attract the attention of Russia’s authorities."[17]
Calvey was arrested on 14 February 2019, with three other Baring Vostok executives, on suspicion of allegedly embezzling 2.5 billion rubles (US$38 million) from the Russian Vostochny Bank.[18] On 21 February, Russian state prosecutors formally charged him with fraud.[19] The criminal case was initiated on the basis of a statement from Sherzod Yusupov, a minority shareholder of Vostochny Bank.[20] [21] As of February 2019, Calvey's Baring Vostok had a majority stake of 52.5% in Vostochny Bank.[22] Avetisyan has been described as a friend of the son of Nikolai Patrushev, former Director of the FSB and secretary of Putin's Security Council.[22] Calvey was suing Avetisyan in a separate court case in London, and winning, and Calvey maintains the charges against him were trumped up by Avetisyan who used his connections to have Calvey arrested and thus unable to effectively defend himself in the London case.[22] On 22 February 2019, Radio Echo of Moscow interviewed BBC Russian Service correspondent Olga Shamina, who claimed that the case against Calvey is based on two documents described in a BBC Russian Service publication[23] on its website. One is said to be a statement by Vostochny Bank minority shareholder Sherzod Yusupov, the other an assessment by lawyers in Luxembourg commissioned by Artem Avetisyan.[24]
Calvey claimed the allegations were unfounded and linked the criminal investigation against him to a corporate dispute he had with other shareholders of Vostochny Bank. Later the shareholders entered into a settlement agreement[25] and publicly stated that their shareholder dispute was not related to the criminal investigation.[26] [27] After signing the settlement agreement, Baring Vostok returned 2.5 billion rubles to Vostochny Bank.[28]
Calvey was held in Seaman's Silence Prison, the facility notorious for poor conditions and treatment — it is the same prison where lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was detained and died under mysterious circumstances.[22] Likewise, Calvey's case was assigned to Arthur Karpov, the same judge who prosecuted Magnitsky. U.S. government officials under both the Trump and Biden administrations commented publicly that the case was a commercial dispute that shouldn’t be resolved in criminal courts, and that the arrest of Calvey was a major barrier to improving U.S.-Russian business relations.[29] [30] [31]
In April 2019, Calvey was released to a restricted form of house arrest, although a number of colleagues remained in prison. It was reported that Putin had personally taken the case "under his control", though Putin acknowledged "the law is the law" implying he was not in control.[32] House arrest was lifted in December 2020 and replaced with other restrictions.[33]
In August 2021, Calvey was found guilty of misappropriating 2.5 billion rubles by the Meshchansky district court of Moscow. He was sentenced to 5.5 years of probation and did not go to jail. During the term of Calvey's suspended sentence, he was allowed to travel but is required to register monthly with the Federal Penal Enforcement Service of Russia, and was not allowed to change his permanent place of residence without informing Russian authorities.[34] Calvey's colleagues were sentenced to between 42 and 60 months of probation.[35] A couple of weeks after, Michael Calvey and his colleagues appealed the decision.[36]
Observers have called the sentence a victory under the circumstances, with sources including Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov saying the decision was an attempt by Russian law enforcement to “save face."[37] [38] [39]
In January 2022 the appellate court lifted the Moscow Meshchansky district court home restriction. From that date, Calvey was allowed to leave Russia and travel abroad.On 5 April 2024, Calvey’s conviction was vacated and nullified, removing Calvey's status of being a convicted person.[40]
Michael Calvey's elder brother Kevin Calvey is an Oklahoma Republican.[41]