Italian Authorities Seize Former F1 Driver Nikita Mazepin's Family Assets
Photo: Mark Thompson (Getty Images)
This has been a bad year for Oligarch families with the surname Mazepin. Reuters reports that Italian police forces have seized $114.45 million worth of property from Dmitry Mazepin as part of the ongoing sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Dmitry’s son Nikita Mazepin, you may remember, is a former Formula One driver with the Haas team.
Here’s a little more about the seizure, from Reuters:
The operation targeted a villa – known as Rocky Ram – located in the north of the island of Sardinia. It is part of broader efforts aimed at penalising wealthy Russians linked to President Vladimir Putin after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.
There was no immediate comment from Mazepin’s PR manager.
The seizure of the Mazepin properties is part of an ongoing effort to seize Russian assets across the world. Italian police have been some of the most productive when it comes to seizures; they’ve taken over $900 million in villas and yachts over the last few weeks, including a superyacht owned by Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, worth around 530 million euros.
And if you’ve missed out on how widespread sanctions have impacted the racing world, let me give you a quick rundown. Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, sporting agencies around the world quickly implemented bans on Russian athletes, and the FIA — the sanctioning body for F1 — was one of them.
Soon after, Russian driver Nikita Mazepin was dismissed from the Haas team to be replaced by former Haas Kevin Magnussen. The team also dropped its Uralkali title sponsorship; that mining company is owned by Mazepin’s father and has been subject to questions about its own business practices.
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Since then, Nikita Mazepin has become an anti-cancel culture crusader determined to prove that he was wrongly released from Formula One.
H/t @admford; thank you!