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Juliette Garside: Vardanyan's claims of ignorance of Troika scheme appear implausible
- 20 December, 2025
- 11:53
The documentary The Oligarch's Design, produced by the AnewZ television channel, features assessments by international experts that cast doubt on Ruben Vardanyan's claims that he was unaware of the activities of the financial network known as the Troika Laundromat.
According to Report, Juliette Garside, The Guardian's editor for European financial affairs, told the filmmakers that Vardanyan had said he knew his clients but insisted that he was not aware that Troika companies were receiving funds linked to fraudulent schemes.
"Claims that he knew nothing look unlikely, because such operations either took place without his knowledge or with his knowledge. At the same time, some of his own funds passed through the same network of companies," Garside said.
She added that it was through these companies that funds connected to the Magnitsky case were transferred.
For his part, Jamison Firestone, a former employer of Sergei Magnitsky and a lawyer specializing in anti-corruption and human rights protection, pointed to a direct link between the Magnitsky investigation and the Troika Laundromat scheme.
"The money that Sergei uncovered was stolen from the treasury, passed through the Troika Laundromat to leave Russia, and ultimately ended up in the pockets of some very influential Russian officials," Firestone said.
The documentary The Oligarch's Design, part of AnewZ's investigative journalism series, was screened on December 19 at the Nizami Cinema Center.
The film is based on information from open sources and international investigations that exposed the Troika Laundromat financial network, through which billions of dollars were moved via offshore structures.
One of the central storylines of the documentary traces the chronology of events surrounding Vardanyan"s statements about renouncing Russian citizenship in 2022, his subsequent move to Karabakh, and his assumption of a post in the self-proclaimed separatist administration.
The film also addresses the activities of the Aurora Foundation and includes interviews with representatives of the platform, in whose work prominent figures from various countries have participated for many years.
