Mark Anthony Jitway. Photo: frame from youtube
Mark Anthony Jitway, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Novatek arrested in Florida on charges of tax evasion in the amount of $ 93 million. This is stated in the message of the US Department of Justice.
According to the agency, Jitway (has dual citizenship of the USA and the Russian Federation) is accused of not providing information about offshore assets, hiding information about income and evading taxes from 2005 to 2016.
It is also noted that Jitway participated in a “scheme to deceive the United States”, which allowed him to hide millions of dollars offshore. In the fraudulent scheme, the businessman involved his Russian wife, whom he made the beneficiary of accounts in one of the Swiss banks. As assets, Jitway could use the shares that he received while working at Novatek, according to the US Department of Justice.
After working as a certified public accountant in the United States and Russia, Jetway became the financial director of a large Russian gas company. As part of his compensation package, Jetway received profitable stock options, ” the agency noted.
The Ministry of Justice clarified that in the case of an indictment, Mark Jetway faces 20 years in prison for each episode of fraud, another five years for each episode of tax evasion, five years for each failed tax report, five years for each episode of false testimony, three years for each episode of falsifying tax returns, another year for each intentional failure to submit a declaration.
For the release of the top manager of Novatek, a court in the United States set a bail of $80 million
Who is Mark Jitway?
Mark Anthony Jitway was born on July 19, 1957 in New Jersey (USA).
In 1981, he graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and in 1995 he completed postgraduate studies at Pace University in New York (Pace University).
Over the years, he has held various positions in several independent oil and gas companies, specializing in financial and economic analysis of the sectors “exploration and production” and “processing and marketing”
In 1994, he took the position of Director of the Department of strategic consulting services for fuel and energy companies in the international company Coopers and Lybrand. In 1995, he moved to Moscow. After the merger of Coopers and Lybrand and Price, Waterhouse became a partner at PwC Global Energy, headed the department for coordinating services for fuel and energy and mining enterprises in Russia.
Mark Jitway started his career in Novatek in 2003. From 2003 to 2014, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Novatek and the company’s Investment and Strategy Committee. During the same period, Jitway served as the Chief Financial Officer of Novatek.
In 2007, he was elected a member of the Management Board of Novatek, and in July 2010, he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the company.
In July 2019, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he received Russian citizenship.
Mark Jitway is a member of the American Institute of Chartered Accountants (American Institute of CPA), as well as the American Society of Petroleum Engineers (Society of Petroleum Engineers).
In 2017 and 2018, Institutional Investor magazine recognized him as the best chief financial officer in the oil and gas industry in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Finance Monthly magazine named Mark Jitway the best chief financial officer in Russia for four consecutive years (2015-2019).
Mark Jitway’s interviews are mainly related to professional activities. On the website of Novatek, the latest news with its mention is dated July 12 of this year. In the article, the deputy chairman of the company’s management board says that the holding has been a member of FTSE4Good for the fifth year in a row (a series of FTSE4Good indices assesses the company’s activities in the field of ecology).
“The close attention that Novatek pays to corporate governance and business transparency, the values relevant to society, as well as our achievements in minimizing environmental impact and reducing greenhouse gas emissions determine the investment attractiveness of the company and emphasize our commitment to the basic principles of sustainable development,” Jitway.
There is almost no information about the personal life of the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Novatek in open sources. It is only known that Mark Jitway is married to a Russian citizen.
What does Novatek do?
PJSC “Novatek” is a Russian gas company founded in Novokuibyshevsk, Samara region in 1994 by Leonid Mikhelson (he is the chairman of the company’s management Board, a member of the Board of Directors). The company is engaged in the exploration, production, processing and sale of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons. In 2017, the Company entered the international LNG market due to the successful launch of the Yamal LNG project. Novatek’s deposits and license areas are located mainly in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
In the mid-2010s, the company was in second place in terms of natural gas production in Russia. According to Forbes Global 2000, in 2020, Novatek ranked 316th among the largest companies in the world in terms of listing volume.
According to the company, in the second quarter of 2021, the total revenue from the sale of oil and gas amounted to 264.5 billion rubles. The profit of the shareholders of PJSC “Novatek”, increased to 99.3 billion rubles (33.07 rubles per share).
How did Jitway’s arrest affect the company’s work?
Due to the news about the arrest of Mark Jitway, the stock prices of Novatek have fallen sharply, writes
In turn, Novatek said that the arrest of Jitway will not affect the company’s work. PAO also did not receive official documents from the US authorities about the situation, TASS reports.
How did the Kremlin react to Jitway’s arrest?
According to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin considers it important that the rights of the Russian top manager of Novatek, Mark Jitway, who was arrested in the United States, are secured, but he has dual citizenship, so US laws also apply to him.
“We are interested in his fate, we are interested in the circumstances of the case. And, of course, we will be ready to provide all necessary assistance from our diplomatic missions. But on the other hand, he is also a US citizen, bears certain obligations in terms of taxes, and in this case we have no opportunity to interfere in these processes, ” the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation added.
Sources of information:
www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-businessman-and-cfo-russian-natural-gas-company-arrested-tax-charges-related-93
www.novatek.ru/ru/about/management/administration/?id_19=23
tass.ru/ekonomika/12495757
ria.ru/20210924/arest-1751604220.html
