Alexander Gherko, founder of trading company XTX Markets and one of the UK's largest taxpayers, who renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022, said in a post on LinkedIn that he is going to challenge the decision of a London court that dismissed his lawsuit. Gherko accused auditing and accounting firm Mazars of violating the Equality Act - in 2022 it refused to provide services to XTX Markets, citing the fact that its owner is a Russian. Mazars explained this by the fact that it complies with the sanctions regime, while the billionaire was not subject to British sanctions.

The court saw no merit to the claim and dismissed it because the defendant company refused to provide XTX Markets with services only in France and the US, and not in the UK. In Gherko's assessment, the decision "confirms that Mazars' actions would have amounted to racial discrimination under the Equality Act had XTX sought services in the UK." He explained that his company has its head office in that country and most of its staff are based there. XTX Markets was looking for a global provider of payroll services. "It is unclear why it was decided that we did not seek services in the UK," the billionaire wrote.

Alexander Gerko's fortune is estimated at $11.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2023, The Times placed him at the top of the ranking of businessmen who paid the most taxes in the UK.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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