US investor in Moscow court on embezzlement charge

Prominent American investor Michael Calvey who was charged with embezzlement and spent 19 months under house arrest testified for the first time in the Meschanskiy District Court of Moscow on Wednesday.

Calvey was arrested in February 2019 and was initially held in jail on charges of embezzlement from the Russian bank Vostochny, in which his investment firm Baring Vostok has a controlling stake.

Calvey denies any wrongdoing.

Calvey's company is one of the largest foreign investment firms in Russia and his arrest dented investors' confidence in Russia.

The case alleges that Calvey took a loan of 2.5 billion rubles ($37 million at the time) from the bank and that in turn he transferred to the bank his shares in a company called IFTG.

He said the shares were worth the amount of the loan, but were actually worth far less.