Lithuanian authorities serve arrest warrant for Russian owner of Portsmouth and WRC

The attorney general of Lithuania has served a Europe-wide warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Antonov, the owner of the commercial rights WRC and co-owner of football club Portsmouth, according to BFM.

The Russian businessman, who owned 68 percent stake in Snoras Bank, as well as the bank’s another shareholder Raimondas Baranauskas, are both suspected of £200 million embezzlement, forgery, and misappropriation of the bank’s assets. On November 16, the local government decided to nationalize Snoras in order to save it from bankruptcy. The Central Bank of Lithuania named the poor condition of the bank’s assets as the reason for that.

Antonov, who is Russian and believed to spend most of his time in England, is the backer of Convers Sports Initiatives, who completed their takeover of Championship side Portsmouth June this year.

CSI released a statement last week, which said: «In the light of the events at Snoras Bank, Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) would like to reassure its companies, staff, and the fans of its teams and events, that it remains much business as usual.

«We are operationally unaffected by Snoras Bank entering temporary administration. CSI has been solely financed through the private wealth of its owners.

«Snoras Bank has never provided funding for the purchase of a CSI organisation, nor has it lent any money to these businesses after they have been acquired,» according to The Telegraph.