Lithuania Receives Russian Businessman Convicted of Corruption from France

Authorities in Vilnius have confirmed the receipt of Vladimir Antonov, the former owner of Snoras Bank in Lithuania, from France. Antonov, a Russian businessman, has been convicted on corruption charges.

Antonov, who previously owned the English football club Portsmouth, was arrested in the Morbihan region in western France under a European arrest warrant in December of the previous year.

Following a French court ruling earlier this month allowing his extradition, Antonov was transferred from detention in France to Lithuania.

In 2024, a Lithuanian court sentenced Antonov to ten and a half years in prison for charges including embezzlement, asset misappropriation, fraud, handling property acquired through illegal means, accounting forgery, and document falsification.

Another executive from Snoras Bank was also convicted in the same case.

The offenses date back to the period between 2008 and 2011, during which Snoras Bank was under Russian control and ranked as the fourth largest bank in Lithuania.

The arrest warrant estimated losses of no less than 478 million euros.

Antonov was initially arrested under a British arrest warrant issued in 2011 but was subsequently released.

In 1998, amid one of Russia's worst financial crises, Antonov, then 23 years old, purchased a small bank with his father.

In the early 2000s, he gained control over several banking institutions in Russia and abroad, including Snoras Bank and Latvia's Krājbanka.

His wealth was estimated at 380 million US dollars in 2011.