A Russian court on Friday sentenced businessman Oleg Kan, nicknamed the “Crab King”, to 17 years in prison after he was found guilty of ordering the assassination of a business rival in 2010, the General Prosecutor’s Office for Far Eastern Federal District, according to Kommersant, cited by The Moscow Times and RFE/RL. The verdict was given in absentia.
Kamchatka crab from RussiaPhoto: Kommersant Photo Agency / ddp USA / Profimedia
Oleg Kan, known in Russia as the “King of Crabs”, is an influential businessman who has amassed a significant fortune from exporting seafood.
Kan operated several large fishing enterprises, including a group of crab companies, on the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Pacific Ocean, north of Japan, according to the Kommersant newspaper.
Kan’s business specialized in catching and exporting Russia’s Kamchatka crab, or red king crab, a multi-million dollar business.
The court found that in 2010, Kan hired a hitman to eliminate businessman Valery Pkhidenko.
He was shot dead at a restaurant in Vladivostok, where he was lured under the pretext of business negotiations by a man hired by Kan.
Kan was shot in 2005
Kan, who was shot dead in 2005, suspected Pkhidenko of being behind the assassination attempt.
A criminal case of smuggling was also opened against the businessman, which was later merged with the one for ordering the assassination.
He fled Russia in 2018 after two criminal cases were opened against him. Kan’s lawyers later claimed their client died of cancer in the UK in 2023.
Russian officials assume Kan is alive, saying his death has not been registered with Russian authorities.
In March 2024, the court ordered the businessman to pay 358 billion rubles to the state budget as compensation for damage to aquatic bioresources.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia accused the company ui Kan of underestimating the value of crabs in exports in 2014-2015.
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