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Russian Prosecutor Seeks Eight-Year Term For Real Estate Tycoon Polonsky


Sergei Polonsky
Sergei Polonsky

A Russian prosecutor has demanded a prison term of eight years for real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky in a high-profile embezzlement case.

The prosecutor also asked the judge at a Moscow court on June 20 to fine Polonsky 900,000 rubles ($15,500).

Polonsky was charged in June 2013 with embezzling more than 5.7 billion rubles ($98 million) from dozens of property investors.

And in May 2015, he was extradited from Cambodia, where he was living in self-imposed exile.

Polonsky has rejected the charges, saying the case against him was aimed at taking control of his holdings.

Polonsky made headlines in 2012 after another Russian tycoon, Aleksandr Lebedev, punched him on a live television show.

Also in 2012, Polonsky and two associates were arrested in Cambodia and charged with beating sailors. The tycoon spent three months in detention there and later fled to Israel, where he unsuccessfully applied for Israeli citizenship, before returning back to Cambodia.

Based on reporting by rapsinews.ru and Interfax

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