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The Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev was indicted by the Monegasque police as part of an investigation into corruption and trafficking in influence related to a multi-billion dollar art scandal.
The billionaire fertilizer, who lives in the Principality and has spent billions for the Monaco FC football club and is one of the most valuable private art collections in the world, was charged and released after more than 24 hours of questioning by the police, two people knowledgeable of the situation said the FT.
A spokesman for the Monaco prosecutor's office was not immediately able to comment. A spokesman for Mr Rybolovlev confirmed that he had been released and returned home.
The police investigation relates to a long judicial saga involving Mr. Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier, an art dealer who helped the billionaire build a collection including masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt and Amedeo Modigliani.
Mr. Rybolovlev claims that Mr. Bouvier illegally pocketed $ 1 billion in undeclared transaction costs, which Mr. Bouvier denies. The Monegasque police arrested Mr. Bouvier in 2015 following Mr Rybolovlev's allegations.
The police also accused Wednesday the Russian billionaire, Tatiana Bersheda, the lawyer of Mr. Rybolovlev, and the wife and son of Philippe Narmino, former Monegasque Minister of Justice, announced the officials.
Mr. Narmino, who was Minister of Justice during the arrest of Mr. Bouvier, took early retirement last year after the publication of cordial text between him and Ms. Bersheda.
"We regret the violation of the confidentiality of the investigation that this information represents, and we ask that the presumption of innocence with respect to Mr. Rybolovlev be strictly observed," said lawyers on Tuesday. Russian billionaire Hervé Temime and Thomas Giaccardi.
Mr. Rybolovlev, whose Forbes magazine is worth about $ 6.8 billion, made his fortune from the Russian fertilizer producer Uralkali, which he sold in 2010. In 2008, he bought Donald Trump a manor house in Palm. Beach for more than twice the price that Mr. Trump paid for it four years ago.
