A billionaire who has been presumed dead for many years may have been living secretly in Moscow with a younger woman, according to a New York Post report citing new evidence that has come to light.
Karl Erivan Haub, owner and CEO of the Tengelmann Group, disappeared on April 7, 2018 while skiing in the Alps.
Extensive searches conducted to locate the then 58-year-old businessman did not bear fruit and ended after six days.
In 2021, the businessman born in the US to German parents was officially declared dead by a court in Germany, according to the Seattle Times.
Recently, however, prosecutors in Colonia ordered an investigation into allegations that Haub’s brother, Christian, falsely testified in court in 2021 that he was not in possession of any credible evidence that his brother was alive.
The investigation comes after a complaint filed by journalists from the RTL channel who were reporting on Haub’s disappearance.
“Karl-Erivan Haub, ..was last seen heading up the mountain at a cable car station one morning in April 2018, but never returned to his hotel.
Authorities launched a 6-day search which saw 5 helicopters and teams of alpine rescuers canvas the area, but his body was never found.” pic.twitter.com/PxPd0Mqic1
— artisbrutal2021 (@artisbrutal2021) April 17, 2024
One of them, investigative journalist Liv Vaughan Botticher, told Capital magazine that she was aware that there are photos allegedly showing Haub in Moscow in 2021, the same year the businessman was declared dead.
“As far as I know, these photos were obtained for the account of Christian Haub and two researchers working for him by an Israeli-American company that scoured the biometric optical surveillance system in Moscow for images of Carl Erivan,” the demographer explained.
The resemblance rate between Haub and the person appearing in the photos was close to 90 percent, according to a report in Stern magazine.
Botticher says that, based on her own information, Christian Haub had access to the photos when he testified under oath in a Cologne court in May 2021 that he was unaware of any credible evidence that his brother was alive.
According to her, there are strong indications that Karl Erivan Haub faked his disappearance in the Alps, possibly with the knowledge of family members who made the mistake of testifying falsely in court and hiding the truth from the public.
She says there is evidence that Haub may have been having an affair with a younger woman in Russia.
“There were rumours of a mistress of Carl Erivan with whom he communicated frequently by telephone before his disappearance, and who has contacts with the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation FSB,”Botticher explains.
According to the Times, the 58-year-old had called Veronica Ermilova’s phone 13 times in the three days before he disappeared.
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Rumors about Haub and his alleged extramarital affair with Ermilova began circulating in 2020, the time when his wife, Catherine, openly clashed with her brothers-in-law over whether her husband should not be declared officially dead.
There were also rumours that the billionaire held a Russian passport in addition to his US and German passports, and that he had funnelled millions of euros through his company to Russia between 2010 and 2015.
Haub disappeared just a month after the death of his father, Erivan Haub.
Botticher, however, seems to believe that the reason for faking his death may be linked to the family’s business activities. “We suspect that dealings with Russia or Russian business partners may have gotten Carl Erivan in trouble in the Western world,” the journalist says.
