Located near Biarritz, Villa Reverie was purchased by Arthur Ocheretny, the new husband of Lyudmila Putina, in 2013 for $5.4 million. On December 6, 2023, the villa was confiscated by French law enforcement agencies, writes the French publication
Challenges.

The seizure occurred following an appeal that was submitted by Transparency International - France in May 2022. The complaint filed required a verification of the origin of the funds with which the villa was purchased. Its cost is 5.4 million euros. Earlier, the villa was searched as part of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office responsible for combating organized crime.

The villa of the husband of the former wife of the Russian president is located in the city of Anglet in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department in southwestern France, near the famous resort of Biarritz. Anglet is famous for its luxurious golf courses.

Villa Reverie was built for the wealthy Belgian financier Alfred Lowenstein in the 1920s by famous Parisian architects of the time. In 1928, Levenshtein died tragically after falling out of an airplane. Construction ended after his death in 1930. At first the house was called Villa Susanna, then Reveri.

Located on the Avenue des Dunes, on the seafront, the Art Deco residence was painted with pro-Ukrainian messages in late February 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The white façade is decorated with a bas-relief by sculptors the Martel brothers. The almost 5,000 square meter garden has a pond and a swimming pool. Inside, the walls are covered with marble, the house has four bedrooms with bathrooms, as well as a billiard room.

According to Challenges, in addition to the villa of Arthur Ocheretny, French law enforcement agencies are preparing to confiscate the French property of Gennady Timchenko, the Rotenberg brothers, as well as the Montapot castle of businessman Sergei Toni.

Against the backdrop of news about the arrest of Lyudmila Putina’s villa on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, French media write about the impending confiscation of the castle of the son of the deputy head of Russian Railways, Sergei Tony, near Paris.

Montapo Castle - the property of a young thirty-year-old Russian Sergei Toni - is located 80 kilometers from Paris, in the Seine-et-Marne department. Built in the 19th century in the neo-Gothic style, the palace has 900 square meters of area and 19 rooms. At the time of acquisition it was valued at 3 million euros.

However, Montapot Castle is not the only property of the Tony family. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP) and Important Stories, the family of the deputy head of Russian Railways, Oleg Toni, owns real estate in Europe totaling more than 50 million euros.

Oleg Toni managed to stay out of the media spotlight for a long time, and even now his name does not appear on sanctions lists. Originally from Voronezh, a civil engineer by training, Oleg Toni began his career in construction, becoming a manager and shareholder of the Baltic Construction Company. In 2004, he began working for the Russian Railways corporation.

As Vice President for Infrastructure Construction, Oleg Toni, in particular, oversaw the organization of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. The then head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, even wrote a preface to Tony’s book “The Golden Ratio: Reflections on the Fate of Modern Russia.”

His son Sergei Tony told Challenges that he had not lived in Russia since he was 13 years old. His Linkedin profile states that Sergey Toni is an independent consultant based in Luxembourg. After receiving a Master's degree in Finance from the University of Monaco, he worked for the French bank Dexia. He is also the proud owner of a golden passport of Cyprus. “All my professional activities are limited to the countries of the European Union. I specialize in major renovations of abandoned commercial buildings, mainly in Germany,” junior Tony explained to Challenges.

Having barely reached the age of 20 in 2007–2008, Sergei Toni became the beneficiary of six French real estate companies. Purchases took place through Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands. Tony's company SCI Le Château purchased Montapo Castle from the Luxembourg company Lansam Investments for three million euros. Previously, Lansam acquired this castle from Tagot Marketing Corp from the British Virgin Islands, which is managed by Sergei’s mother, Irina.

According to OCCRP, the Tony family also owns a Parisian apartment in a modern building on Faubourg Saint-Honoré, valued in 2007 at 1.1 million euros, several properties on the Cote d'Azur: a villa valued at 4.65 million euros, two apartments, as well as a house in the town of Mougins.
Tony's family also owns houses and apartments in the province of Alicante, Spain, a residence in Prague, and an apartment in the prestigious Knightsbridge area of London.

Oleg Toni's salaries at Russian Railways and the $3 million proceeds from his sale of the Baltic construction company are insufficient to explain the size of the family assets, OCCRP concludes.