Russia to release jailed US investor before trial

Bloomberg

Russia’s Investigative Committee has requested that Baring Vostok Capital Partners founder Michael Calvey be moved to house arrest after two months in a Moscow jail in a closely watched case that’s shocked investors.
Calvey’s next hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Moscow, when the Investigative Committee’s petition will be presented, court spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said.
Three other defendants linked to the case, including two Baring Vostok executives, saw their detentions extended by three months in court, she said.
The fund welcomed investigators’ motion on Calvey’s detention and said it hoped “the court will give due consideration” to the request. It called the rulings on the other defendants “illegal and unjustified” and said they would be appealed.
The arrest of Calvey, a US citizen who runs one of the biggest private equity funds in Russia, has alarmed foreign investors and prompted a wave of calls from prominent officials and state-company executives for his release.
He and several of his colleagues have been held since February on charges of overvaluing assets Baring Vostok contributed to Bank Vostochny, a lender the fund controls.
They deny wrongdoing and blame the prosecution on a corporate conflict with the other large shareholders in Vostochny.