Two children of alleged Kremlin allies work on the investment team at 8VC, the firm of Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.
From David JeansForbes Employee
VThe 8VC corporation, which has invested in US defense corporations comparable to Palantir and Anduril, employs two children of sanctioned Russian oligarchs. Forbes has learned this at a time when the US government is increasingly concerned concerning the proximity of foreign adversaries to Silicon Valley.
In 2022, the corporate hired Denis Aven, the son of Petr Aven – a Russian banker with an estimated fortune of $4.4 billion who was then sanctioned by the European Union and Britain. The senior Aven was later sanctioned from the U.S. Treasury Department in 2023 for his role in leading one in all Russia’s largest industrial banks.
Also on the investment team is Jack Moshkovich, who joined in 2018 and is the son of Russian billionaire oligarch Vadim Moshkovich, a founding father of the agricultural conglomerate Rusagro. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the elder Moshkovich was sanctioned by the EU, Britain, Switzerland, Canada and Australia over his alleged ties to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin (he was not sanctioned by the US).
There isn’t any evidence that any of the sanctioned fathers have financial ties to 8VC. But their sons’ roles on the enterprise capital firm come at a time when the U.S. government is paying more attention to foreign ties to the technology industry. Last month, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center a bulletin published Warning to Silicon Valley startups about foreign adversaries who access sensitive data through investment firms and endanger national security.
The EU imposed sanctions on Vadim Moshkovich for supporting “actions or policies that harm or threaten Ukraine”.
Mikhail Japaridze/TASS/Newscom
“It is not illegal to hire the son of someone who is under sanctions,” said Daniel Fried, a former State Department sanctions coordinator and longtime Russia policy veteran. But “in the event you hire the kids of people that you may reasonably imagine are under the [Russian] regime – even when they could have had private doubts at one point – you had higher exercise due diligence.”
In response to an interview request for this story, Joe Lonsdale, managing partner and co-founder of 8VC, published a 950 word essay about Xand said 8VC has “a strict compliance and legal framework and always makes sure to respect and comply with the law. We have not taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends and we don’t need to.”
8VC didn’t reply to a request for an interview with Aven and Moshkovich. Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich’s lawyers didn’t reply to a request for comment.
In the X-post, Lonsdale called the story a “pathetic smear piece… designed to paint our two Russian colleagues at 8VC as a ‘scandal.'” He described Moshkovich as a “superstar,” Aven as a “talent,” and said Moshkovich’s sanctioned oligarch father was “a successful agricultural leader,” noting, “If you’re a businessman in Russia and your boss says you should meet, then go, regardless of your views.” (The two elders agreed they shouldn’t meet.) Aven And Moshkovich met with Putin and other business leaders on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.)
Several 8VC employees joined Lonsdale in supporting Moshkovich and Aven at X. “People like @jack_moshkovich and Denis are what makes 8VC and America great,” wrote 8VC co-founder Drew Oetting. Palmer Luckey, the founding father of 8VC’s portfolio company Anduril, also responded: with the statement: “How dare we take the best people away from dictatorships!”
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Founded in 2015 by Palantir co-founder Lonsdale, 8VC invests in a variety of industries. It has develop into a distinguished backer of defense technology alongside other major corporations comparable to Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. With investments in Palantir and Anduril, which have collectively generated billions in government contracts, 8VC has expanded its portfolio to incorporate other military-focused unicorns, including drone boat company Saronic and anti-drone systems startup Epirus. In podcasts and blogs, Lonsdale has cited the rise of China as a reason for backing military startups. China is “building really advanced things that it’s starting to compete with the U.S. on,” Lonsdale said. said at a conference in March. “That was a very scary realization for us about 10 years ago, so we focused heavily on defense.”
8VC now employs greater than 70 people, including 10 investment partners. Moshkovich joined the firm in 2018 as an analyst while completing his studies at Stanford University, where he got here after growing up in Moscow and attending boarding school within the UK. While at Stanford, he returned to Moscow to tackle several summer jobs as an analyst in McKinsey’s office within the Russian capital. in keeping with his LinkedIn page.
Peter Aven was sanctioned by the US in August 2023.
Savostyanov Serge/ZUMA Press/Newscom
Moshkovich, who received a Green Card and became a everlasting resident of the USA has been working on an investment portfolio as a principal over the summer, typically specializing in seed and Series A funding rounds. He has held several board observer roles, including at AI company FieldGuide, which provides software to accounting firms, and collaboration software company Rocklane. He doesn’t appear to have been involved in any defense-related deals.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the EU imposed sanctions on the elder Moshkovich. accusatory him of supporting “actions or policies that undermine or threaten Ukraine”; he has controversial alleged ties to Putin and the Russian government and said he was not politically energetic. In June withdrew an objection to lift EU sanctions.
Aven, a longtime friend of Jack Moshkovich, left Moscow at age 12 and likewise attended boarding school within the UK before coming to the US. He attended Yale and accomplished an MBA at Harvard in 2022. According to Lonsdale’s X-Post, he hired Aven after learning that the latter had lost a possible job opportunity at a non-public equity firm because he was concerned about sanctions against his father.
His father Petr previously headed Alfa Bank, but resigned from this position after Russia invaded Ukraine and he was sanctioned by the EU due to his alleged position in Putin’s inner circle. While the EU later cancelled Some sanctions, the US imposed sanctions on Aven last August, citing its role in “operating in the financial services sector of the Russian economy.” In announcing the sanctions against Aven and several other business partners, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said said on the time: “The wealthy Russian elites should abandon the idea that they can carry on as usual while the Kremlin wages war against the Ukrainian people.”
Aven has contested the sanctions; last month, a lawyer for Aven filed a motion to lift the UK sanctions. said his personal convictions brought him into “opposition to the current regime”.
The younger Aven is currently working with 8VC to launch an unspecified project as an entrepreneur-in-residence, in keeping with Lonsdale. In his post on X, Lonsdale said that while he detests Putin, he “doesn’t think isolating the smart, wealthy Russians themselves is a good strategy for us.”
Fried, the previous U.S. State Department sanctions chief, agreed that there are “many talented Russians around the world and in the United States.” But, he added, “most of them are not the children of individuals who have been sanctioned.”
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