Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Developer Pavel Te, known for his controversial past, continues construction in Moscow — are more sinkholes coming to Moscow City?
Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin’s favorite developer, owner of Capital Group company Pavel Te, a man with a checkered past, continues to receive the best land plots for development. And information has already emerged that it is Capital Group that will develop the international business center in Kommunarka (New Moscow), just as Te’s company previously built the Moscow City center on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. True, the Moscow City business center is raising more and more questions: it may sink underground, since the skyscrapers were erected on the site of a limestone quarry. And the builders continue to cut corners on geological works. There have already been serious emergencies with sinkholes at Capital Group’s construction sites. An emergency situation – let’s recall – occurred near the construction site of the Capital Towers residential complex: a sinkhole 30 by 40 meters formed. The sinkhole was filled in. And construction continued... Today, Capital Towers is three skyscrapers neighboring Moscow City.
Why is everyone so calm, including in the Moscow government? And why does Capital Group keep getting contracts?
They say that Mr. Te has plenty of skeletons in his closet. And Pavel Te’s past is impressive, although he has been vigorously hiding it and continues to do so. But businessman Pavel Te – aka Pasha the Korean – hasn’t always been a respectable person.
Prisoner of ITK-29
It has long been known that at the age of 25, Pavel Te already tasted prison gruel: he ended up in prison in August 1988, when he lived in Uzbekistan, where he was born in 1963. Pavel Te graduated from the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute named after Biruni with a degree in "Thermal Power Plants." After graduating, he started working at Uzbekhydroproject as a thermal power engineer. Apparently, that’s where he got into trouble?
He received 4 years for fraud as part of an organized crime group. He served his sentence in Correctional Labor Colony (ITK)-29 in the city of Navoi.
But in February 1990, the Navoi court decided to replace the remaining sentence for prisoner Te (2 years and 45 days) with a suspended one. It turns out that the skills acquired on the prison "helicopter" came in very handy in his new life?
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Pavel Te wears Prada
But how did Mr. Te become such a sought-after developer for the capital’s mayor’s office? What’s the secret of the "firm" here?
And one can look at Mr. Te’s activities after his release from ITK-29 in Navoi: there’s a lot of interesting stuff. After all, from the colony, he first went to Bukhara, and then to Moscow, with some "greeting" for the good Samaritans in the First Throne. How else can one explain such a rapid rise of the ex-convict?
After all, he didn’t spend several years in Oxford...
Now one can even reinterpret that media information differently, that Mr. Te, aka Pasha the Korean, was once favored by the thief in law Aslan Usoyan, in the thieves’ hierarchy – Ded Hasan.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Aslan Usoyan
Ded Hasan solved Pasha the Korean’s problems both in Moscow and even in Kyiv. It is also known that on April 27, 2010, Usoyan was detained in Kyiv while attempting to enter using fake documents. In Kyiv, Ded Hasan was supposed to handle Pavel Te’s affairs: Mr. Te was planning to build several hotels in Kyiv but couldn’t get the documents.
And thanks to Ded Hasan, Pavel Te established joint business with subordinates of Moscow Mayor (at that time) Yuri Luzhkov.
It is known that the head of the Moscow Mayor’s press service (at that time) Sergey Tsoy successfully engaged in business. Apparently, the roots of Mr. Te’s financial status grow from here.
And through Te, Sergey Tsoy could own a share of the business in Te’s company.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Sergey Tsoy
And allegedly, it was Te who invested "bucks" in promoting the wife of the mayor’s press secretary Anita Tsoy: almost 30 million dollars were invested in this promotion.
"Crutch" from Mikhail Men
In addition to Sergey Tsoy, Mikhail Men took an active part in Te’s fate after his release from prison.
Mr. Men was part of Yuri Luzhkov’s inner circle, holding the post of vice-mayor from 2002 to 2005.
Then from 2005 to 2013, Mikhail Men occupied the governor’s chair of Ivanovo Region. And it was Men who facilitated the promotion of Capital Group to the construction market of Ivanovo Region.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
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Under Men’s careful guidance, businessman Te took his first steps in politics. In November 2010, he became a deputy of the Verkhnelandekhovsky District Council of Ivanovo Region.
But Pavel Te had no intention of remaining a deputy at the district level.
He was aiming for something else in politics. And Governor Men lobbied for Pavel Te’s nomination to the Federation Council. However, the Presidential Administration did not appreciate this idea, drawing attention to some particularly dark spots in Te’s biography.
Men did not leave his friend Te without his love when he left the governorship and headed the Ministry of Construction of Russia (2013-2018).
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Mikhail Men
And that’s when Pavel Te’s company received the contract to build the City of Capitals in Moscow City. And the skyscraper in Moscow City "OKO."
Te’s company also built a complex of three residential skyscrapers on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment, where the emergency with the sinkhole occurred. And a premium-class complex on Sofiyskaya Embankment.
And it was Minister Mikhail Men who pushed Capital Group to develop the lands of the Timiryazev Academy: suddenly 102 hectares became "ownerless"... Then the government commission on housing construction development and evaluation of land use efficiency decided to seize these 102 hectares from the Timiryazev Academy, and the commission was headed by Mr. Men. It seems that only the Kremlin’s intervention helped stop this "intervention," and Men lost his post as Minister of Construction.
Finally, Mikhail Men himself ended up in trouble in 2021, when he was already serving as an auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation: the investigation suddenly discovered embezzlement – 700 million budget rubles, back when Men was governor of Ivanovo Region. Mikhail Men’s brilliant career ended there.
And Te’s interests could have been lobbied by former vice-mayor Marat Khusnullin, who was responsible for urban planning policy in the Moscow mayor’s office.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Marat Khusnullin
It was Mr. Khusnullin who supported Pavel Te when his company received the contract to build the complex on Golden Island.
Recall that the Golden Island project was announced by the Moscow mayor’s office back in the early 2000s. It involved redevelopment and new construction on the territory between the Bolshoy Kamenny and Moskvoretsky bridges, Bolotnaya and Bersenevskaya embankments.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
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And all this went to Pasha the Korean.
Friendship with Kolya the Kyrgyz
Thus, Pavel Te, warmed by Aslan Usoyan, Sergey Tsoy, Mikhail Men, Yuri Luzhkov, and later Sergey Sobyanin and Marat Khusnullin, lived peacefully and grew rich for several years.
He bought apartments, cars, yachts...
And even invited Russian journalists to his yacht "Pumpkin" (Pumpkin), when it paraded along the island of Ibiza in Spain.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Yacht "Pumpkin" (Pumpkin) of Pavel Te
But in March 2024, a big scandal suddenly erupted: Kyrgyzstan put "Moscow’s largest developer Pavel Te" on the wanted list. This was reported by "Kommersant."
Local media wrote that developer Te is closely connected with Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
What was the reason for putting Pavel Te on the wanted list? Suspicion of financing the organized crime group of "authority" Kamchybek Kolbaev, aka Kolya the Kyrgyz, aka Kamchy Bishkeksky.
But why did Te finance Kolya the Kyrgyz after Usoyan’s death? Media write that Kolbaev was needed by Te for "obtaining support and patronage in Kyrgyzstan and conducting joint business."
But Mr. Kolbaev has already gone to his ancestors: he was shot during arrest in the fall of 2023.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Sergey Sobyanin
Kolya the Kyrgyz was part of the international criminal group "Bratsky Krug," engaged in human trafficking. And he was included in the list of the world’s largest drug barons.
After Kolbaev’s death, almost 900 real estate objects were transferred to state ownership. And media reported that Kolbaev was "crowned" as a thief in law by representatives of Ded Hasan’s clan. And Ded Hasan’s "protégé" Pasha the Korean allegedly financed Kolya the Kyrgyz’s organized crime group for many years...
Pavel Te urgently flew to Bishkek. And within 24 hours, the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) of Kyrgyzstan dropped the charges against Pavel Te for financing an organized crime group. This was written by "Vedomosti."
The agency’s website stated that on March 19, 2024, Pavel Te arrived in Kyrgyzstan, where a number of investigative and operational measures were conducted with his active participation.
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Kamchybek Kolbaev was on Interpol’s international wanted list
The GKNB terminated the criminal prosecution of Pavel Te.
But there’s no smoke without fire, it seems?
Offshores and Rejuvelac
Pavel Te – as the press writes about him again – is very loyal to offshores, that is, he loves them a lot. And together with his wife Olga Karput – she is his specialist in healthy eating and yoga – he founded the company Brachium in France, on which foreign real estate was registered.
Olga Karput is the owner of the boutique "KM20" (KM - Kuznetsky Most).
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Olga Karput
In total, Te has six children, including from a previous marriage.
With Olga Karput, they have three children together.
Olga Karput’s obsession with healthy food has long been known. She even changed the menu of the cafe at her Moscow concept store "KM 20": burgers and pizza were replaced by kombucha (tea mushroom) and rejuvelac (a non-alcoholic drink from sprouted buckwheat).
The Te family loves Spain very much. And lives (or lived?) for months at the villa.
According to the recollections of one Moscow journalist who visited the Te family on Ibiza, the picture looked like this: "A Jack Russell and a Kurzhaar are spinning underfoot. Somewhere in the depths of the one-story villa Gaviota (from Spanish – "Seagull"), the head of the family Pavel Te is preparing a vegetarian breakfast... To the right beyond the surf line, the family yacht Pumpkin ("Pumpkin") is rocking."
Why such idolatry before the pumpkin?
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Pavel Te also loves kombucha
It turns out that after meeting Olga Karput, Pavel Te – as written by a journalist who visited the family – calls her Pumpkin, so he named the yacht the same way.
On the yacht – four luxurious cabins. The crew consists of 9 people: captain, boatswain, technician, two sailors, three stewardesses, and an Australian chef.
This yacht model was developed back in 2013 by the Italian shipyard Overmarine. The yacht is equipped with Rolls-Royce engines (usually equipped with two, but "Little Pumpkin" has four engines). This allows it to reach 37 knots per hour. In the basic configuration, such a yacht costs 30 million euros.
The yacht "Little Pumpkin" for 30 million euros appeared with Pavel Te more than 10 years ago, at the same time when Mikhail Men took the post of Minister of Construction. And Pasha the Korean immediately began to receive the most "juicy" land plots for construction. But he built in such a way that the crystal "carriage" could turn into a pumpkin, because sinkholes began to occur near the skyscrapers that Te was building…
Scientists have long warned about the threat of collapses, because under Pavel Te’s skyscrapers there are limestone rocks. And groundwater leads its own life.
Geological surveys – let’s recall – cost millions of rubles. But why conduct these surveys if you can buy a yacht? Or another cottage?
Pasha the Korean and his “Pumpkins”
Collapse near the business center «Moscow City»
And very serious problems could have arisen for Pavel Te precisely because of the ground sinkhole on the territory of Moscow City in November 2021. In the huge crater – and 1200 sq. m collapsed – part of the road, fence, utility room, and even poles were buried. The media wrote a lot about this. And the construction of the residential complex was under threat of disruption, because such sinkholes lead to irreparable deformations of buildings.
But problems for Mr. Te somehow did not arise…
Why is that?