FirstFT: UK crime agency drops two of three lines of inquiry against Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman

The UK is no longer investigating two of the three initial allegations against Mikhail Fridman four months after arresting the Russian oligarch at his London mansion.

The National Crime Agency, which tasked over 50 officers to raid Fridman’s multimillion pound home in north London in December, has stopped probing the 58-year-old businessman on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury, according to people with knowledge of the decision.

The agency is still investigating suspected money laundering offences, they said. The two sides are also in dispute over the warrant used for the raid, according to one of the people.

An NCA spokesperson confirmed the agency was no longer pursuing the lines of inquiry against a wealthy 58-year-old Russian individual detained in a raid in London in December, without specifically naming Fridman, whose arrest has been widely reported. The agency declined to comment further on the warrant. Fridman declined to comment for this report.

The reduced scope of the NCA’s investigation into Fridman is a setback to the agency’s new anti-kleptocracy cell, which was set up to target corrupt elites and Kremlin-linked individuals laundering their assets in the UK in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Credit Suisse: Expect protests from shareholders and Swiss nationals at its annual general meeting as anger surrounding the bank’s rescue continues to simmer.

• Bank of England: Chief economist Huw Pill will speak in Geneva on inflation and monetary policy.

• Nato: The western alliance will welcome Finland as its 31st member as it discusses doubling funding for Ukraine to €500mn a year, absent a timeline for Kyiv’s membership.

• Economic data: Germany will release trade figures while the EU issues industrial production data.

Finally, in the run-up to the UK general election next year, Stephen Bush and other FT journalists and experts will discuss the economy and politics at a live Inside Politics panel on April 19. Sign up for the subscriber-only event here.

As always, thank you for reading FirstFT and let us know if you have any feedback at firstft@ft.com.

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1. Beijing should play a “constructive” role in influencing Russia to rein in its war, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told the FT ahead of her visit to China with France’s Emmanuel Macron. Here’s what the two leaders hope to accomplish when they meet Xi Jinping.

2. Donald Trump has arrived in New York to face criminal charges. The former US president headed to Trump Tower in Manhattan from his estate at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, ahead of an appearance in court today, where he is due to be arraigned. We’ll bring you the latest updates here.

3. Companies took less office space in London than pre-Covid levels last year although there were a record number of office moves in the city. Here’s why, despite the nearly 600 new leases over 5,000 sq ft signed.

4. JPMorgan Chase executives allegedly joked about Jeffrey Epstein’s interest in young girls while the disgraced financier was a client of the US banking giant, lawyers for the US Virgin Islands have claimed. Read more from yesterday’s new court filing.

5. L’Oréal has agreed to buy Australian high-end cosmetics group Aesop in a $2.5bn deal from its Brazilian owner Natura & Co, the largest acquisition for the French company in decades. Here’s why a deal of that size marks a departure from L’Oréal’s usual strategy.

The Big Read

Next week, Northern Ireland will celebrate 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement. But while the Irish Republican Army has given up its long war to oust British rule, loyalist paramilitaries still intimidate and coerce people with “kneecappings” and some communities are beset by drugs and debt.

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Take a break from the news

Ask business or political leaders in Copenhagen for lunch, and the answer will invariably be smørrebrød. But ask them for dinner, and the answers will be much more varied. Here’s FT Globetrotter’s insider guide to the top five restaurants favoured by the city’s movers and shakers.

Additional contributions by Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg