Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian billionaire and owner of the Monaco soccer club, has been detained in Monaco for questioning in a corruption-related case, French newspaper Le Monde reports.
Citing sources, the paper said Rybolovlev was detained early on November 6 and that his house had been searched.
No further information was immediately available.
The Monaco team earlier in the day denied a report by French website Mediapart that Rybolovlev attempted to circumvent European soccer’s Financial Fair Play rules by using a fake marketing deal to funnel money into the financially struggling club.
Mediapart alleged that the money actually came from one of Rybolovlev’s offshore companies.
Rybolovlev saved AS Monaco from bankruptcy in December 2011 by buying a 66 percent stake and has provided the team with financial support.
The squad became the French champions in 2017 and also reached the final four of the Champions League.
Rybolovlev came under scrutiny in early 2017 after the 2005 tax returns of now-U.S. President Donald Trump revealed details of a real estate deal in Palm Beach, Florida.
In the transaction, the records indicated the Russian billionaire bought a mansion for $41 million in a 2004 auction and sold it in 2008 for $95 million. Some Trump critics questioned how a property's value could have risen so much during a real estate slump in the United States.
Rybolovlev was listed by Forbes Magazine as 242nd richest person in the world with an estimated $6.8 billion.
