RISE investigation: Ilan Șor's hidden villa in Russia, near Dmitri Peskov's residence
The family of the former mayor of Orhei and deputy, Ilan Șor, owns an impressive villa in one of the most exclusive areas in Russia, the locality of Rozhdestvenno, Barvikha, near Moscow, reveals an investigation conducted by RISE Moldova. The property was not declared during the time when Șor held public office in the Republic of Moldova, and integrity inspectors claim that he did not include several properties in his statements on property.
The property with an indoor pool and gym, is located in Rozhdestvenno, Barvikha, one of the most expensive areas in Russia, near the residence of Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. Real estate prices in the area can reach $11.5 million.
Journalists identified the villa after a three-month investigation, analyzing satellite images, social media and court documents. One of the first clues was a video posted on Instagram, in which the Shor couple’s minor son drives a car on a street near the house. A device called “Sergei VK’s iPhone” appeared on the car’s audio system screen, and an address number was seen in a freeze frame. Another key detail was an email address used by the Shor family, “shorhome43@…”, which suggested the number of the villa.
"The area where the Shor family bought this house is indeed an exclusive area, it is the Rublevka region, which is known for luxury palaces. I spent more than three months analyzing satellite images, and my reaction was: 'wow, wow'. What houses we see there from the satellite! If I could walk along those streets, I would probably have seen some houses that cost a lot of money," explained journalist Iurie Sanduța, the author of the investigation, in an interview for Moldova 1 TV show "In Context".
He also explained the process of locating the villa. “Initially, we went on the wrong track, analyzing images from other localities. Later, we found other data that gave us essential clues. One of them was the photo published by the Șor family on social networks. Then, we found an email address called shorhome43, and that ‘43’ could indicate the number of the villa. We also analyzed the phone numbers of close relatives and discovered that a contact was noted with the address of the locality where the villa is located. Putting these clues together, we managed to locate the house through satellite images.”
The investigation also reveals that, in 2014-2015, the singer Jasmin, Ilan Șor’s wife, filed a lawsuit against a lighting systems company, claiming problems with the system installed at the villa. The court ruled in her favor in 2020, and she obtained compensation of approximately $80,000.
Rise also writes that the National Integrity Authority (ANI) found a difference of over 10 million lei between the declared income and the assets acquired by Ilan Shor. Recently, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova obtained a final decision on the confiscation of some of Ilan Shor’s apartments and firearms, but the ANI documents do not explicitly mention the villa in Barvikha discovered by journalists.
Ilan Shor is in the Russian Federation, where he is hiding from the authorities of the Republic of Moldova. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the banking fraud known as the “Theft of the Billion”, through which three banks in the Republic of Moldova were robbed. Shor was forced to pay damages of over 5 billion lei in favor of the Moldovan Savings Bank.
