Vladimir Antonov, the former owner of Lithuania’s Snoras bank who mysteriously disappeared many years ago, was detained on December 9 in Baden, France (Morbihan department). This sensational arrest was reported by the publication Kompromat.lv. The event is worthy of a detective novel: police arrested a man who had been the subject of an international manhunt for years and who was widely believed to be dead in Lithuania.
Lithuania is already preparing documents for his extradition. The banker faces a significant sentence there: in 2024, he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years and 6 months in prison. The list of charges is extensive, including the embezzlement of half a billion euros in assets, criminal bankruptcy, money laundering, and document forgery. Latvia is also pursuing charges: Antonov, who owned the subsidiary Latvijas Krājbanka, was sentenced in absentia there back in 2021 to six years in prison and forfeiture of property.
The Rise and Fall of the Snoras Empire
NEWSROOM IN notes: Snoras was once a financial giant in Lithuania. From 1992 to 2011, it grew to become the country’s third-largest bank by deposits (trailing only SEB and Swedbank), serving over 1.1 million clients. The bank boasted a huge network, including branches in Latvia and Estonia, representative offices across Europe from London to Kyiv, and 35 subsidiary companies.
The empire was owned by two individuals: Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov (67.28% of shares) and his Lithuanian partner Raimondas Baranauskas (25.01%).
The collapse occurred in November 2011, when a “black hole” was discovered in the bank’s balance sheet—a shortfall of securities totaling 1.2 billion litas (approximately €350 million). The Lithuanian government immediately nationalized Snoras and later liquidated it. As the court subsequently established, the shareholder duo drained €509 million in assets from the bank, causing total damages to creditors amounting to nearly half a billion euros.
The Great Vladimir Antonov’s Escape: London — Moscow — “Death”
The history of Antonov’s flight is no less convoluted than his bank’s accounting records:
The London Phase
Immediately following the bank’s collapse in 2011, Lithuania issued arrest warrants. Antonov and Baranauskas were detained in London but released on bail. Court proceedings dragged on for three years. In May 2014, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the bankers should be extradited, dismissing their claims of “political persecution.” Immediately after the court’s decision, both bankers mysteriously vanished right under the nose of British police.
Russian Asylum and Staging Death
The fugitives soon “resurfaced” in Russia, where they were granted asylum. Lithuania demanded their extradition, but in vain. Little was known about the bankers’ lives, aside from the sparse information that Antonov was sentenced in 2019 to 2.5 years in a general regime penal colony and fined 300,000 rubles in a fraud case involving 150 million rubles from Sovetsky Bank.
In Lithuania, it was even widely believed that Vladimir Antonov had died. Russian media reported his potential kidnapping or even murder, and his father filed an application with the Vilnius District Court to have his son declared deceased. The story, it seemed, was over.
“The Resurrected Ukrainian”: Plastic Surgery and a New Passport
However, thanks to an investigation by the Latvian publication Kompromat.lv, it was revealed that the mysterious banker Antonov was alive and had requested political asylum in France. The publication uncovered new details of the scandal-ridden banker’s multi-year escape, including an elaborate plan designed to help him avoid international prosecution, lift freezing orders on his Swiss bank accounts, and recover approximately $100 million worth of real estate. According to some reports, these efforts were aided by his connections to the criminal underworld and participation in an FSB witness protection program.
Investigative journalists reported that Vladimir Antonov continued managing shadow capital via offshore structures in the UAE, Cyprus, and Switzerland. To regain access to the blocked accounts and $100 million worth of real estate, he took a radical step. In the summer of 2023, the banker underwent plastic surgery to remove his most distinguishing feature: a noticeable mole on his face.
Antonov also purchased a Ukrainian passport under the name Volodymyr Ivanov, born in Yalta. According to the fabricated legend, this man had lived in Kyiv since 2014 and fled to Europe to avoid mobilization. It was using this passport that “Volodymyr Ivanov” arrived in France and cynically submitted an application for political asylum. However, this time, luck was not on his side.
The Next Steps for Vladimir Antonov’s Extradition
The fate of the second shareholder, Raimondas Baranauskas, remains unknown.
